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OK...serious....umm...lemme try this. I'm not sure this relates to stereotypes exactly. Depends on how you interpret it I guess.
I went shopping at a pawn shop yesterday and bought 5 CDs. They were:
Leatherstrip--Legacy of Hate & Lust
Lou Reed--Magic & Loss
Paradise Lost--Gothic
Garbage--Bleed Like Me
My Chemical Romance--Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
I'm not a big Paradise Lost fan but I bought the CD just because it's called Gothic. I mean, how can I pass that up; especially since it was only $3 and yesterday was payday? The Garbage CD completes my collection and I have all their CDs now but I made sure to buy them all used because I don't want to give my money to a mallgoth band and if people accuse me of being mallgoth I can tell them I bought them all used and cheap so how could I resist (which is true). The same logic applies to my buying MCR. This is the 1st MCR CD I ever bought because they're just mallgoth sellouts and I wouldn't have gotten it at all except that it was $3 too.
Basically, there are bands or products that I want because of their "gothness" but which I refuse to buy new because I'm very conscious of where my money goes and who I'm supporting by spending it. OTOH, I buy some CDs new specifically to support those bands or because they seem more genuinely goth and less mallgoth. Many of my friends shop the same way.
What does that say about my relation to the goth stereotype? I'm not sure either. Perhaps there is a desire to own/participate in typically mallgoth things while at the same time finding ways to distance yourself from them or justify your interest in them?
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