Forgive me for saying that really isn't all that enlightening? Obviously there isn't going to be a one-size-fits-all stereotype or codification for the Goth cliques, but it can't be that there's no basic, common reason one would choose to become a Goth either. Like, you could say the same thing about Cheerleaders, right, there's a whole lot of different ways and different motivations to be a cheerleader, but that doesn't preclude the existence of baseline stereotype of the ultra-feminine image-obsessed circle of popular girls from forming about them, nor a development of a lot of reasonable subtypes. Maybe you're like Sarah, and you really want the feelings of power and respect that the social status implies; or maybe you're a Tiffany, and really crave attention from the opposite sex on a fundamental level; maybe you're naive like Amber, and genuinely appreciative of the bubbly girly happy-go-lucky aesthetic; maybe you just enjoy the drama and the gossip such circles tend to attract, a la Melissa; maybe just a plain old sense of belonging, a la Erika; maybe this, maybe that, it could be a lot of things. And these are avenues in that all make a degree of sense to me, y'know? Like, there's something a person would reasonably want that the cheerleader's lifestyle clearly offers, and so forth, more than enough to justify the effort, money, and time such a lifestyle would demand.
I... don't really have the same sort of understanding of Goth styles, though. Like, if I imagine someone slamming Zoe against a wall and saying "Tell me why you're a Goth or else I'll turn you into a toad with the stone," I don't really have any good idea how it is she'd respond. The very best I can think of is that she indulges it in emulation of her closest friend Athena, who herself is a Goth because Goth culture coincidentally happens to be quite tolerant and accepting about her unorthodox religious beliefs (ie. In witchcraft and the occult), when few other communities are. I guess it works, as explanations go, but it isn't very satisfying or insightful. If you asked that to Trevor, I'd have even less of an idea what makes the Goth look appealing, and you asked that about Zelda, worse than just having no idea, I'd have a negative idea: why the hell isn't a computer nerd as gifted as she is hanging out with the likes of Jay Duncan, Leonard Drullers, Kyla Leeson and Yuki Meshida? How do you even get that level of computational proficiency from the Goth crowd? I don't flippin' get it! Where's the glue keeping her stuck to the Goth crowd?
(I do kinda "get" Sabrina, though, but that's mostly since she's coming to Goth by way of Punk first; tough life, mad at the world, makes a fuck-you-all sort of attitude that the antagonistic Punk style just screams, but since the Lake Point Punk scene doesn't really exist aside from her, adopting Goth elements for a semblance of companionship with them fits naturally.)
I'm rambling a bit again, but, y'see what I'm saying? Even in the headspace of just individual characters it's a bit hard for me to wrap my head around just how Goth ought to be written. Is there anything to it that's more helpful than just "Anything Goes"?
