Goth is a media-based culture that has roots all the way back to the 1970s. It is usually characterized by darker colors and black and white makeup, but there are several different Goth styles such as Romantic Goth and Cyber Goth.
While the term ‘Goth’ has been used to describe different things throughout history, such as architecture, the subculture developed within the alternative youth in the 70s alongside other alternative subcultures like Punk. It was mostly confined to the UK, but with the help of things like magazines, it slowly pushed outward and made its way to other countries, changing a little within the different cultures. 
Subcultures like Goth are considered ‘alternative’ due to their non-conforming societal and political views. Most people in the alternative scene tend to have more Liberal views and go against the ‘norm’ when it comes to politics. While this is usually characterized to be specific to Punk within the media, this is usually the descriptor for the use of ‘alternative’ when it comes to scenes like Goth.
Recently, the Goth scene has gotten popular with the rise of Gothic TV shows and movies like “The Addams Family,” “Wednesday,” “Elvira Mistress of the Dark,” and Tim Burton’s stop motion animation movies like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Beetlejuice.” These movies have brought Goth into recent pop culture, along with music from bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode.
While a good majority of people tend to see Goth as something scary, most Goth people tend to be welcoming and kind, especially to people starting to get into things related to the scene. Obviously there are people who gatekeep being Goth, but every scene has people like that, not just alternative scenes.
Goth has been around for a long time and is something that will probably always be around. There are so many people who criticize Goth culture because they think it’s stupid, scary, or don’t know much about it. It might not be the most popular alternative subculture as opposed to Emo or Grunge, but it was one of the first and can be a beautiful thing.
