Cultural Examination – the sin of emo?
The emo culture is one we often take for granted as either the latest expression
of teenage rebellion or, in more extreme and conservative views, a “germ” that
will infect society with sullenness and dangerous discontent.
However, the stereotype many of us
associate with this sect of adolescent subculture is based on the caricature of
a petulant teenager whose dramatized depression manifests itself with studded
belts and girl’s jeans. The original emo culture – before it was corrupted
by main stream society and commercialism (how many of you went to Warped Tour?)
– was very different; it represented a legitimate outlet for justified angst,
informed discontent, and intense emotions.
Looking into the emo culture, it is pretty clear that it consists of two
different groups. The first of these is what we could reluctantly call the ‘real
deal’ – kids who actually are depressed and possible even suicidal.
For them, the emo culture is a means of
expressing their darker emotions through the use of music as an outlet.
According to one source, “…listening to
emo music and going to emo web chats encourage fans to wallow in self pity and
despair, [but] cheer them up in a strange ‘safety in numbers’ sort of way - that
is, if this many kids feel this bad, it must be ‘normal’.”
Today we recognize that many people with
true depression may have chemical imbalances in the brains or personality
disorders or other uncontrollable ailments.
However, in today’s emo culture, for every kid that is actually depressed there
are five who are just buying into the fad (literally). Teenage rebellion
has always been fashionable. The
Beatniks of the 1950’s (these were the ones smoking weed and flat-ironing their
hair while everyone else teased it up like Jackie O); to the LSD-induced hippies
of the 1960’s; ‘peaceful’ Vietnam War protesters in the 1970’s; Aerosmith’s
brand of drugs, sex, and rock & roll in the 1980’s and 90’s – all manifestations
of the timeless, universal, adolescent determination to break away from the
generation before. Despite the obvious sketchiness of guys wearing eye
liner, today’s emos are markedly more wholesome than their predecessors.
Missing from their trademark symbols of “life sucks” memorabilia are the
dangerous drugs and “free love” habits of past generations.
And, like with so many edgy fads, the emo culture has earned society’s stamp of
approval: commercialization.
Think again to Warped Tour: the remarkable day-long festival of emo music is
accessible to the American teen for the low, low ticket price of $29.75.
Brilliant advertising.
Once you get there, though, the thing is
a market – cds, stickers, and band shirts on sale everywhere, plus coupons to
buy online once you get home.
Our stereotype of a mildly depressed upper-middle class teenager rocking out to
Death Cab for Cutie while drawing on the soles of their Converses in black
Sharpie may be entertaining, but it glosses over the finer characteristics of
this significant minority in adolescent society.
The original emo kids may have been legitimately depressed; some of
those in the present may still be.
Admittedly, they probably needed more psychotherapy and anti-depressants and
less Rites of Spring, but we don’t get to condemn them or their
successors for expressing their emotions. Mainstream
society has accepted and capitalized on the emo fad; that acceptance can’t
coexist with continuing prejudice.
By Elizabeth Atkins, Nicole Rothman,
and Amy Nunez
( November 2007 Volume 5, Issue 1 )