Goth Girls in Pop Culture
(TV Tropes; Wikipedia)

I've nothing at all against male goths, but this page is more specifically about female goths. I don't recall ever knowing any goth girls in real life, but there have been plenty of them in pop culture, and I've always kind of liked them. Um... there are of course any number of looks I can find appealing, and Goth just happens to be one of them. Though some of the girls I will list here are too young, particularly cartoon girls, for me to say I really find them attractive, but this isn't just about attraction, anyway. It's not just about the goth "look" (though I may find it aesthetically pleasing without attraction necessarily being involved, in any event). It's about any number of things, like just being nonconformist, being yourself (which is sometimes synonymous with being nonconformist, and sometimes not), or about being cynical and/or depressed (which are things I can relate to, even if I'm not at all goth, myself). And of course not all goths need to have depressive personalities, or anything. Sometimes it is just about the fashion (Victorian Gothic, Gothic Lolita, Gothic Punk, emo, etc.), or about any number of things, I suppose. You can be into certain elements of the goth subculture, or even just like dressing in black (and not consider yourself a goth at all, even if some others- like me- do), and possibly have an upbeat personality.

Some people (especially certain goths) may consider some goths (or emo teens) to be "posers," or not "true goths," but my feeling is that that's kind of shite. People should be able to dress how they want to dress, read what they want to read, listen to whatever music they like, live how they want to live, whatever. There's no such thing as "true goth." I don't think it matters if it's just a phase or a long-term thing (possibly a lifelong thing), nor whether you have anything really worth complaining about or rebelling against. People have a right to be who they want to be and express themselves however they please, for however long or short a time they like. They also have the right to dress or express themselves however they like without people like me labeling them "goth" or "emo" or anything else, so... just take this list with a grain of salt. I apologize if any of the people on this list (who are mostly fictional, anyway) wouldn't see themselves as belonging to any such group. However, I will not apologize to anyone who objects to my lumping goths in with emos, because that's just splitting hairs. Yes it is. Shut up. Yes. It. Fucking. Is. I'm not saying there isn't a genuine distinction between the two groups, I'm just saying the distinction is far more subtle than some people seem to think it is. (But I'm sure there are lots of goths and emos who have a healthy sense of humor about themselves, or at least recognize that everyone has a right to be themselves, whatever their motivations may be.)

Anyway, I've been meaning to start a list of goth girls for quite some time, and I finally got around to it in May 2014. Oh, and there may be a bit of crossover with Creepy Kids in Pop Culture, but not as much as you might think. And... I will usually not include actual witches, vampires, etc. here, unless they are particularly goth... I mean, they may dress in a somewhat gothlike fashion, and have dark personalities or whatever, but... I dunno, I guess I just mean that I won't list them unless I get the sense that they'd be goths even if they were ordinary humans. Or something.


10 Things I Hate About You (Mandella)

This is a show that was based on a movie (which itself was based on one of Shakespeare's plays). Mandella isn't a major character in the show, and there's not much I can say about her. But she was a goth. So I'm mentioning her.


24: Live Another Day (Chloe O'Brian)

This is a limited series that aired a few years after the end of the series "24," which I've never seen. So I'm not watching this, either... but I kind of vaguely want to. I actually started this page on the day of the series premiere, after reading a review of it in Entertainment Weekly, which included a description of the character Chloe O'Brian, "now a rogue hacktivist with an unfortunate goth-punk makeover." And I was all like, "Unfortunate? Damn, man, seeing her looking goth-punk in the ads is pretty much the one thing that made me at all interested in even considering giving this show a chance, in spite of not being familiar with the previous eight seasons." Well, it's not enough to give it a chance. The lack of knowledge of those earlier seasons is just too much for me to overcome. But still... I think she looks awesome. (In the original series, she would have fallen more under the category of geek girl.)


The Addams Family

I suppose you could sort of call the whole family of this TV series (and the later films) "goths," but they're really not. Because, you know... being goth is sort of a choice, even if you feel it's who you truly are. I mean... at least you get that being goth is not considered "normal," whereas much of the humor of this show comes from the fact that the Addamses don't seem to have any idea that they're abnormal. (Though I think they're more savvy about it in the movies.) But I do adore Morticia (mainly in the series) and Wednesday (in the movies).


All-Star Superman (Nasthalthia Luthor)

Um... I don't remember her well, but I liked her.


Avatar: The Last Airbender (Mai)

I saw Mai listed on TV Trope's goth page. It wouldn't have occurred to me to include her, because the world in which the show is set doesn't really have goths, per se. But I could totally see her being a goth, if she happened to live in our world. In any event, I like her a lot.


Beetlejuice (Lydia Deetz)

Lydia seems sort of, I think, like a Victorian (or elegant) goth in the movie, and in the spin-off animated series, she's more of a creepy goth. But she's basically a nice girl in both iterations, even if she has a keen interest in dark subjects. Or whatever. I dunno. She's one of my all-time favorite goth girls, anyway (at least in the movie). It's also possible that Beryl (one of the Deetzes' dinner guests) would qualify as goth, at least in personality.


Bizenghast (Dinah Wherever)

Dinah is sort of a Victorian Gothic or Gothic Lolita type of character, with a very troubled past, who can see ghosts and stuff. So... there's darkness in her life, but she's not a super-dark character, herself. But she does suffer some serious depression, and she has her share of character flaws, but basically she's a nice person, and I like her. And I love her fashion sense.


Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Drusilla)

Dru is one of the few vampires I'd call truly gothic, but it's complicated. I mean, she's not just a vampire, she's also kind of psychic, and she's insane, and she can be rather childlike, as well as potentially monstrous. She has a sort of Victorian Gothic/Gothic Lolita vibe, and it's often a toss-up whether to call her incredibly dark and frightening, or just adorably silly. Anyway, I always loved her. And while I'm on the subject of this show, I should say that Willow Rosenberg was definitely rather goth for awhile, later in the series....


Charlotte's Web 2 (Joy)

I don't remember for sure, but I think I may have had a sense that Joy the spider (who was ironically named) was vaguely gothlike.


Clone High (Joan of Arc)

Joan was kind of goth, but I don't remember the show well enough to say how goth she was. I know I liked her, though.


The Craft (Nancy Downs)
You might say that the three original witchy girls in this movie, and later to a lesser extent the newcomer, Sarah, are all kind of goth-y, but Nancy is by far the gothiest of them all.


Danny Phantom (Samantha Manson)

Sam is sort of an eco-goth, I guess. Definitely a nice person, if somewhat cynical/sarcastic, and one of my favorite goth girls.


Daria (Andrea)

I can't say much about Andrea; she didn't have a speaking role as often as I would have liked. But she was a decent character, and if I was going to admit to there being such a thing as "true goths," she'd be among them.


Death Note (Misa Amane)

An Elegant Gothic Lolita type; a popular idoru whose fans probably have no idea she's actually a sociopath.


Detention (Shareena Wickett)

Shareena Wickett (aside from having a really cool name) always seemed like a relatively perky goth type. I think. I don't remember the show too well, but I know I liked her.


Downtown (Serena)

I liked this show a lot, and I must have liked Serena, but now I don't really remember her. I need to see the show again someday.


Emily the Strange

I've got a couple little books and one comic book about her. I dunno what to say except she's pretty cool.


Even Stevens (Tawny Dean)

I don't remember Tawny very well, but she was sort of gothlike, I guess. And I think she was my favorite character on the show, even if she wasn't in it as much as I would have liked. (Then again, I don't think I watched the show as often as I maybe should have.)


Fillmore! (Ingrid Third)

Ingrid is someone I've always been hesitant about calling a "goth," even if she dresses in black and isn't the most sociable person around. I wouldn't call her anti-social, but... she's very smart and I guess has an independent spirit that doesn't always fit in with the other kids at school. But even if I don't really think of her as a goth, I kind of do... and anyway I really like her, so I wanted to mention her, here.


Forever Knight (Janette DuCharme)

Janette is a vampire, whom I think I'd call sort of gothlike, but I don't remember the show well enough to say for sure. I totally need to see it again someday.


Frankenweenie (Elsa Van Helsing)

Not sure if she's really a goth girl, but in my review I did say I thought she "seemed almost like a goth chick waiting to happen," whatever that means. Anyway, I liked her, and wished she would have had a bigger role in the movie.


God, the Devil and Bob (Megan Allman)

She's only marginally goth, and even then she comes close to being someone I'd call a poser. Really she's just a rebellious, angsty teenager without any problems that would seem particularly serious to anyone other than a 13-year-old girl. Still, I might as well list her. After all... I don't think it really matters whether your problems seem serious to other people, all that matters is whether they feel serious to you.


Golan the Insatiable (Dylan Beekler)

I dunno what to say. Dylan's just... adevilable. (That's like "adorkable," but with "evil" instead of "dork." I just made it up. Just now. Or you can say it's with "devil" if you prefer. Either way works... although it might be better with "evil" because then you pronounce it with a long "e" whereas with "devil" it would be a short "e" which isn't the way I mean for you to pronounce it, so never mind. It's eeeevil. Anyway, feel free to turn "adevilable" into a thing. Please, I insist. Do it.)


The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (Mandy)

Mandy is, in spite of dressing nothing like a goth, perhaps the most truly goth-in-spirit character I've ever seen, and I really like her. She's not really depressed, but she's about as cynical as a person can be without ever contemplating suicide (or homicide). She is very controlling, and seems to have a deep disdain for pretty much everyone in the world. Her personality is about as dark as you can get without actually being evil... although now and then I might say she crosses into evil territory. Sort of. Maybe.


Growing Up Creepie (Creepie Creecher)

I haven't seen a lot of this show, but it's not bad. Creepie herself seems goth because of the way she dresses, and her pale complexion and, you know, the fact that she was raised by bugs. But I'm not sure she's really goth. Might as well list her, though.


The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (Cassie Keller)

I really don't remember this movie well enough to say anything about Cassie, but whatevs. I might as well list it here, anyway.


Hotel Transylvania (Mavis)

Mavis is the daughter of Dracula, so it's natural that she has a kind of goth look, though it would be impossible for her to actually be goth, since she knows nothing at all of the human world, let alone subcultures. So, like... it's not really a choice she's made to dress a certain way, or anything. But still, I dig her style.


Humbug (Scarlet)

Scarlet hates Christmas, but her neighbor Betty knows how to fix that...


Invader Zim (Gaz)

Gaz has a very gothlike appearance and personality, but I'm not sure she's really a goth. Still, I might as well list her.


Krampus Is Here (Hannah)

This is a very short short film, which has a grandmother, a father and mother, and a teenaged daughter/granddaughter. We don't really get to know any of them, but Hannah seems good at making up alternate poetry verses on the fly... even if that turns out to be highly unadvised.


The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (Ophelia Ramirez)

I don't remember the secondary characters of this show nearly as well as I'd like, but at least I vaguely remember liking Ophelia for seeming like a goth. I'd really love to see this show again sometime.


Lost in Oz (West and Langwidere)

This is a CGI webseries. West is a witch who's probably about twelve years old. She dresses in a goth-like style, which in this series isn't particularly common for witches. She's also got a very goth-like mix of angst and attitude, which she mainly conveys through sarcasm. Langwidere is her aunt, who has a similarly dark fashion sense (but with a more refined style). She's much more confident than her niece, but her attitude is pure, self-serving evil (albeit with the ability to convey anything from charm and flattery to sarcasm, condescension, or contempt, depending on her mood or what demeanor she thinks will best serve her interests in the moment).


Millennium Trilogy (Lisbeth Salander)

I'm really not sure if it would be reasonable to call Lisbeth "goth," but she has a very goth-punk appearance (she dresses in black and has various piercings and tattoos), and has a gothlike personality. It is also speculated that she has Asperger's Syndrome (with which I can identify, even if her personality is in many ways the polar opposite of mine). She's an anti-social hacker and a bit of a sociopath (even if she's technically one of the "good guys"). Anyway, she's an amazing literary and cinematic character, and if you can call her a goth, then she's one of the most internationally popular ones of the Aughts (and 2010s).


Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls (Lilith)

One of the main villains, who works in a traveling "Hall of Horrors." So the goth look (or as she calls herself, "an enchantress") is totally apt.


Morganville: The Series (Eve Rosser)

I don't know much about her as yet, so I hope the show gets a second season.


My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Maud Pie)

Pinkie Pie's sister Maud isn't really a goth, she's just... phlegmatic. (That's what the MLP wiki calls her, and I'm sure I've seen the word elsewhere while working on this page, today, because it does describe some goths, or emos. It's not a word with which I was really familiar, though I must have heard or read it before without knowing what it meant.) Anyway, even if she's not a goth, I wanted to mention her here because her personality can make her seem depressed or anti-social or whatever, even though she's really not. And I like her. (And it's cool that her personality so perfectly counterbalances Pinkie's hyper-genki personality. But in spite of how different they are, they totally love each other.)


NCIS (Abby Sciuto)

I've never seen this series, but I guess Abby is supposed to be a sort of perky goth or something (as well as a geek girl). I can't really comment, but I've always had a vague interest in possibly someday watching the series just because of her. Maybe someday I will, I don't know.


Non Sequitur (Danae Pyle)

This is a comic strip that I don't get a chance to read very often... well, I suppose I could read it online, if it occurred to me. But anyway, Danae has always been my favorite character in the strip, whenever I have read it. I don't know that she's goth per se, but she has a sort of goth look and attitude. I guess.


Not Like Everyone Else (Brandi Blackbear)

This TV movie is based on a true story, so Brandi is a real person. Which makes me especially hesitant about including her on this list, but... hey, if they make a movie or show about you, then you kind of become part of the public domain, I guess. Anyway, her story is kind of important, and represents how unfairly people with gothlike tendencies or interests can be treated by "normal" people.


The Oblongs (Creepy Susie)

I had included Susie on my "Creepy Kids" page before I started this page, but really, she might actually fit better here. Maybe. I'm not really sure.


Phineas and Ferb (Vanessa Doofenshmirtz)

I'm not sure if she think of herself as goth or not, but she kind of dresses that way.


Pokemon (Marley)

Marley is a character whom I've only seen in one episode of the anime, and I don't know if she'll ever appear in it again. But she dresses in a gothic lolita style, and I think, if I recall, she has a rather reserved personality. Not dark at all, but um... well, I don't really remember. But one might think of her as sort of goth, I guess.


Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (The Hex Girls)

The movie has a hot vamp-goth band in it.


Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Roxy Richter)

Roxy's kind of a ninja-goth, or at least she looks that way in the movie. I dunno about the comics. And I dunno what else to say.


Scout's Safari (Sherna Puckett)

Sherna's not a major character in the show; in fact, she's almost exclusively seen when Scout talks to her on her computer via webcam. (I think this was a few years before "Skype" existed, but not before similar things.) So I don't know much about her, but I do sort of recall thinking she seemed kind of gothlike. Sort of. I guess.


Soul Survivors (Raven)

I don't remember the movie or the character well, but my review did call Raven "goth-looking".


South Park (Henrietta Biggle)

There's a group of four Goth Kids who are recurring characters on this show. The one girl in the group is Henrietta, but actually I don't tend to think of her or any of the others as individuals, I usually just think of them all collectively, and never remember their actual names. The kids are often upset about people confusing them with other subcultures like "vamp kids" or "emo kids," and I can't really blame them for that. But I also don't worry too much about it. I said before that there's no such thing as "true goth," and that no one should be called posers, but... even so, these kids are definitely borderline posers, or would be if I admitted that such a thing existed. It doesn't mean I don't like them, because I do. I just feel like they take themselves way too seriously.


Teen Titans (Raven)

Raven has sort of witchlike powers, and she's one of the few such characters that I'd consider goth. Though I'm not sure if she thinks of herself that way. She looks like a goth, more or less, and she's quite stoic and rather cynical/sarcastic, but she has some very good reasons for that. I mean seriously good reasons. Not many true goths have reasons that even remotely approach the level of reasonable reasoniness for gothlike dispositions that her reasons provide. Seriously. Anyway, I really like her. Oh, and a villain named Jinx is also kind of goth.


Total Drama Island (Gwen)

Gwen was the main reason I watched this show as long as I did, which wasn't long at all. I liked her, but if I recall, pretty much everyone else was just annoying.


Urban Legend (Tosh)

She's the roommate of the movie's main character, but unfortunately, Tosh herself is a pretty minor character.


The Venture Bros. (Triana Orpheus)

Triana is kind of goth, and kind of the most normal person on the show. And I like her a lot. And that's all I can think to say.


What It's Like Being Alone (Aldous)

I don't remember the show well enough to say anything about Aldous.


X-Men: Evolution (Rogue)

I guess Rogue was sort of goth in this incarnation of the franchise, but I don't really remember the show as well as I'd like to.



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