Is Necrophilia Goth as Fuck?
Date Friday, March 29, 2024 - 06:45 AM PST
Topic Questions


“Why do you want to be an embalmer? “
“Because of the bodies. “
“What do you mean? “
“I make love to them. “
“Really? “
“Yeah... dead bodies. “ –From Lynne Stopkewich's
Kissed

I would say it was about 1 am. I was channel surfing while I was painting. When I paint I like to watch bad T.V. There is something I find inspiring about bad T.V. For me it always makes good art, because, if I want to be entertained while watching bad T.V. it is pretty much up to me to make the entertainment.

One of the interesting things about Korea is that they show movies here all the time. I get to see all sorts of crazy stuff, with no commercial interruptions. It’s like having HBO for free. Rather nifty when you get down to it.

It was about 1 am and I was looking for something in English to watch while I was painting and I stumbled upon this strange movie where, after listening for a few seconds, I was convinced that the characters were talking about corpses.

I was not to be disappointed, as the movie continued, I lost interest entirely in the pieces that I was creating, because I was fascinated and a wee bit disgusted by the movie I had found, called simply Kissed.

The main character Sandra is in love with death. Not the concept of death or dying, or a need to kill herself or inflict harm. She is in love with the dead, and indeed makes love to them. She is learning to become an embalmer because she is fascinated with death and needs to be close to it in a way that is sexual in nature. Sandra says

“It was like diving into a light... suddenly cold, and silence. Their bodies floated, solemn and shimmering. I watched their lives flow out-- who they were, what they've done. My hands burned like I was touching dry ice. And all I could see was the light... I looked right into it.”

Alas for Sandra she becomes the object of desire and pursuit of a classmate, Mark, who is obsessed with her obsession with death. He cannot understand it, wants to become it. He tries to entice her to make love to him while he lies completely still, clothed in his best suit, wearing make-up. He tries to understand it from the position of the corpse. He wants to watch Sandra with the dead, and even, in a last attempt to make love to the dead himself as a way of understanding her, and showing Sandra his love.

At 1 am a number of things will go through your mind when watching two people talk passionately about corpses. I wondered if this desire to possess the dead sexually would really fall into the category of Goth.

An interesting thing about the movie representation of this is Sandra’s love of the “stillness” of the bodies. When Matt pretends to be dead he cannot become as quiet and as still as a corpse and so he fails in his attempt to offer himself to Sandra dead while still living.

I’ve discussed fantasy and sexuality and the subject of necrophilia has of course come to the top of the discussion more than once. I’ve heard one girl describe being placed in a bathtub full of ice so she could play dead for her boyfriend. I found it weird, but not nearly as disturbing as the representation I watched last night.

Kissed is not a Goth movie and yet it is. Sandra does not dress in black, she is not abnormal in look or appearance. She is not overwhelming beautiful or ugly. She is average, normal. Her only deviation is her love for the dead. Matt stops her once when she comes to his apartment for their nightly tryst. He grabs her hands and says, “There’s still blood under your nails”. Sandra later complains that his apartment is too noisy, too warm. Unspoken is the comparison she is making between the apartment and the morgue, where her real lovers rest.

What makes this movie so fascinating is it’s rather frank and stark portrayal of this female necrophile. She is not spectacular or amazing in any way. Perhaps this is because her character is underdeveloped, or because as an audience we do not spend enough time with her (the movie is only 80 minutes long).

And so I found myself wondering after this, is Necrophilia goth as fuck. Death, blood, blackness, and orgasm are some of the key components of Gothos. However the true connoisseur, one who must really love the dead, would they? could they? ever really be Goth? Or, because of their addiction to the dead, are they not more Goth than we could ever hope to be?

Online Reviews:

Fuck Death
Kissed




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