Goth Subculture Analysis

Punks and Goths have coexisted for decades and continue to be, distinct social movements built upon different music, films and fashion characteristics. The Goth subculture has survived much longer than others from the same era, for instance Mods, Skinheads, Hippies and Rockers. However the movement first emerged in England in the early 1980s (Subcultureslist.com, 2016) which continues to diversify, to respond to social and cultural changes. Post punk and Goth bands such as Bauhaus, Rosetta Rose, The Cult, Alien Sex Friend, Sisters of Mercy and The Crüxshadows (AllMusic:2016) have had an enormous influence and impact in forming and developing the movement we see today in the 21st century. In this essay we will be analysing the Goth subculture

However, recent readers of subcultures and modern Goths would dispute Hebdige's generalisation as it has become an international culture spreading to countries such as United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and South America (Christian Research Institute, 2016). The Goth culture is not thoroughly ordered as there are various subsets within the movement for example Goth Punk, Fetish Goth, Cyber Goth, Neo Victorianism and Gothic Lolita (Whatisgoth.com, 2016) which have their own social group, inspirations, fashion style, beliefs, music and characteristics. As a lifestyle, Goth is as diversified as its adherents. There is a wide range of ages in the Goth subculture as not only teenagers linked with this subculture some people who were Goths at the beginning of the movement in the eighties and nineties are still Goth's to this day. Goths are all so different there really is no true unifying stereotype or dress code within the subculture. Not all Goths are depressed, nor do they all wear black, listen to the same music, or employ the same modes of self-expression. Mainstream society and horror fans who like gothic films such as Batman and Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street do not class themselves as being related to the Goth subculture. You see, as mentioned earlier, one of Goth's defining characteristics is the need to take the underlying darkness which can be linked in with the Goth's subtext of the manifesto it is all futile, everything is pointless, death not love conquers all. destruction, pain and insecurity were the new teen angst"(Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright,