Subcultures (informal youth movements) emo. The study of the perception of the image of the youth subculture emo
Emo in English means emotional. Now the emo subculture is heard by every teenager and youth. This movement is widespread in different countries.
The youth subculture of emo appeared relatively recently. Sometimes on the street or in public transport you can meet interesting young people dressed in all black, talking about completely mysterious things. The movement also has peculiar symbols and distinctive features that distinguish this movement from other subcultures.
Appearance of emo kids
The clothes of representatives of the emo subculture are characterized by dark and pink shades. Numerous piercings, large grinders, the eternal theme of death and suicide. In this, the emo subculture is somewhat reminiscent of ready. But there are some differences here as well. Emo are characterized by increased sensitivity, emotionality. Some emo kids also prefer pink with black.
Representatives of this subculture dress quite peculiarly for ordinary citizens. These are teenagers and young people with black hair falling over their foreheads. Girls prefer to wear often funny, childish hairstyles, bright hairpins, a few ponytails.
Both girls and boys paint their lips in a light color, use various powders and foundations to give the skin a deathly pale look. They prefer to paint their eyes with dark shadows, eyeliner. Skinny jeans with various patches, a T-shirt with the image of your favorite band, bright makeup, and bangs to the side are all attributes of this subculture.
T-shirts with children's drawings in combination with black clothes look quite funny. On their feet they wear sneakers, on their hands there are various bracelets made of beads of different shades. Pink or black polish is usually present on the nails, headphones with emo music turned on in the ears. Adolescents of this course often have suicidal tendencies.
Features of the emo subculture
A fairly common phenomenon among emo-bisexuality. Adolescents often form couples with same-sex partners. Which often shocks society. But they live by their own special rules.
Emo kids often adhere to the principles of a flow called straightedge. This is a movement that promotes a healthy lifestyle. Many of the representatives of this subculture are quite anxious and vulnerable people who usually live in their own fictional world. They suffer from depression, fence themselves off from the outside world and its aggression, hide their faces under long bangs. Sometimes you can meet a large crowd emo kids . This usually happens before the performance of some famous musical group.
Today emo youth subculture heard by almost every teenager. About ten years ago, not fully understanding all the intricacies of a peculiar style, many boys and girls willingly grew bangs, dyed their hair, put on tight jeans and behaved provocatively emotionally. Now such teenagers, no doubt, would be attributed to the number of poseurs. So, let's take a closer look at what life is like in emo style.
If you plunge into history ....
The emo youth subculture conquered the Russian youth in the 2000s, although the musical “wave” swept the Western countries back in the 90s. In fact, the musical style combines a specific version of the performance of hardcore - music, characterized by a frantic pace and sharp transitions from a whisper to a squeal or a roar (growling \ ). The founder of this direction is the vocalist of the American group - Ian McCain. To date, there are a huge number of emo groups, from which one can distinguish -, etc.
emo life
Teenagers who find themselves in this style are distinguished by their bright appearance, unusual makeup and a peculiar hairstyle. Numerous badges and improvised patches are the main attributes of the subculture.
The essence of emo culture is the open expression of sincere emotions, opposition to injustice and a true sense of worldview. Therefore, a fairly large number of adherents, unable to feel the purity of their own feelings, are limited only by external paraphernalia. In a narrow emo environment, they are called poseurs ("imitators") - devoid of a heightened perception of the world. In fact, a poser is a person who has superficial experiences, designed exclusively "for the viewer." Therefore, it is not necessary for him to wear out and attract the attention of others at school or in other public places.
Are emotions dangerous?
Sincere expression of emotions is the basic rule of emo kids. They are distinguished by particular vulnerability, a sensitive attitude and frequent depressive states. There is an opinion that emo kids who are in constant worries are prone to suicide. Let's see, is that right?
The once musical direction has become the meaning of the life of many impressionable teenagers. But the ideology of emo is not always understood correctly and quite often only the outer “shell” of the subculture attracts. Due to this, numerous rows of poseurs compensate for the subculture and displace real (true) emo.
The number of "imitators" includes adolescents experiencing mental oppression and suffering, depression and aggression. They do not hide their attitude to suicide, they openly express it on the forums, because they do not know (or do not understand) the meaning of their future life. As an example, the thoughts of one emo: “ ... Suicide is the way out of strong people. Only such a person can send everyone to ... and cross the line. I admire them! I want to be like that!...". With a high probability, there may be other followers with an unstable psyche who will quote these stupid and meaningless words.
Therefore, society openly expresses its dislike and sounds the alarm. However, for a few teenagers, the emo youth subculture is not only the meaning of life and state of mind, but primarily a musical direction. Therefore, enjoy your favorite works and do not pay attention to the stereotypes put together by unbalanced teenagers that discredit the entire subculture.
Most likely, each of us met guys and girls on the street at least once, for whom the emo subculture has become an important part of life. Representatives of such a subculture dress in strange black and pink clothes, while their hair is often dyed black, there are many pierced places on the body - piercings. Also, another emo identifier is oblique bangs. In some countries, such youth are even persecuted, mocked, confused with representatives of a different subculture - the Goths.
Not everyone knows that the emo subculture has a deep history that dates back to the 1980s. Because of their ignorance, people believe that emo is just a style of clothing:
- black makeup,
- shoulder bags, on which strange jewelry in the form of baubles are hung;
- torn tights, etc.
There are also those people who believe that emo like to go to the cemetery at night and read sad poems that are dedicated to death. Defining them in the category of difficult teenagers, who are the first candidates for suicide.
The history of the emergence of the emo subculture
The history of the appearance of emo was associated with the inhabitants of the District of Columbia, who became the founders of a new punk emo subculture, representatives of which were fans of one of the musical styles. They listened not only to hard rock, but also applied tattoos, piercings to their bodies, put on “strangleholds” around their necks.
This direction was specific, and therefore spun off from punk rock and got its name emo-core. Fans of both these styles had their own foundations in life, they perceived the world differently, trying to be original, and in no case will they be repeated. That is why it so happened that slender young men who dye their hair black have moved away from guys shaved to zero and inflated to the point of impossibility.
The attitude of the representatives of emo
During the heyday of a new trend in society, many became curious to learn more about its representatives. The main feature of which was a bright, not hidden, expressive expression of personal emotions and feelings. Therefore, in some masses that are far from various currents, there are rumors that emo are very whiny, depressed teenagers, they do not want to grow up, and therefore they are able to commit suicide.
Let's not argue that the romanticization of death in this subculture is welcome, as in the Goth subculture. But this is not at all a thirst to die by one's own hands, but simply a desire to express one's feelings, regardless of whether they are cheerful or sad. Our world gives more reasons to cry, much to our disappointment.
The representatives of the subculture themselves call themselves emo-kids. This name comes from the words emotional and kid. In this case, emo emphasize the fact that they are reluctant to grow up.
Musical preferences of emo core
Each subculture has its own ideology, style and perception of the world, but you should not dismiss the fact that emo culture was born in the depths of lovers of listening to music tracks. The first creators of the subculture came from Washington, and they were able to bring their harmony into the cacophony of the mainstream.
Years later, Hindi and grunge rock influenced the course. Basically, all the performers of these songs have a high and strong voice that can turn from a whisper into a squeaky squeal.
Today, the emo style is closer to the classic core, which has something in common with hard rock, but is softer. There is another trend in emo music - Vaolens, it is distinguished by complex lyrics, hard notes, and increased aggression.
Emo punk is distinguished by its self-irony and gaiety, but it is quite difficult for an unprepared person to withstand it, although he also has his devoted fans.
An interesting fact is that many musical groups, which are in priority for emo, say that they are completely far from this trend, and therefore they try to use different styles of text performance in their creative activity.
On the territory of Russia, the leader among this subculture is the Tokio Hotel group, originally from Germany. The album of this group called "Room 483" has the status of platinum. But the Fall Out Boy group, although they deny the emo style, calling themselves pop punks, experts say that their work is characteristic of this subculture.
They did not stand aside the compositions "30 Seconds To Mars", which combined space rock, alternative, prog rock.
Today, a musical group called "Monalisa" is especially popular. The history of its appearance began in 2001, initially under the name "The Day After Tomorrow".
One cannot ignore the work of the Ocean of My Hope group, whose album is in high demand.
The time is not easy now: hipsters, ravers, emo are all around ... We impartially tell who they are - representatives of subcultures.
Hippie
Growing your hair long, listening to rock 'n' roll, hitchhiking and speaking out against violence singing "All you need is love" is enough to make you a true hippie.
For fidelity, you can still hang yourself with baubles, get carried away with meditation and Zen Buddhism, decisively give up meat and go to some American commune. After all, it was in the United States in the 1960s that the movement of flower children was born.
The main value for hippies is freedom, which can only be achieved by changing oneself from the inside. Among the adherents of hippie ideas, there are many nudists and lovers of "expanding their consciousness" with the help of hallucinogens.
Not to be confused with hipsters and rastas.
Goths
People in black with a gloomy outlook on life regularly become victims of condemnation and aggression from the public, while their protest against mass culture is exclusively passive, mostly aesthetic.
The Goths are famous for their tolerance and apoliticality. The homeland of the first is ready - their "fathers" are punks. Clothing style can vary from punk to medieval, but it is always mourning (sometimes erotic), black hair and nails, lined eyes, often a lot of makeup.
Rastafans
For those who wear the three cherished colors of the Ethiopian flag - red, green, yellow - and listen to reggae, Rastafarianism is nothing more than a subculture.
The rest should be attributed to religious rastamans - true admirers of Jah, who despise “Babylon” in the form of a pragmatic Western society and believe that when the end of the world comes, God will recognize all “his own” by the dreadlocks on their heads and pull them out by the hair. The massive spread of the subculture was facilitated by the growing popularity of the work of the Jamaican singer Bob Marley. Each representative of the movement is a creative person engaged in the search for truth.
emo
The emo subculture has its roots in American hardcore in the 1980s. Crying, moaning, whispering, breaking into a scream - this is what distinguishes the music preferred by those who openly express their emotions. And their spectrum is small: sadness, melancholy and love.
If it’s not easy to touch you, then you won’t be able to become a real emo. Even with black bangs that cover one eye, dark makeup, tight pants and T-shirts with your favorite band.
Emo clothing tends to be black and pink, slightly unkempt, and full of accessories like badges and bracelets. It is no coincidence that the subculture is associated with tearful teenagers-maximalists: while the Goths spend time in cemeteries, emo parents do not let them go there.
Punks
It seems that punk is an uncultured rebel, dressed in leather clothes with spikes, with a colored mohawk on his head, happily neglecting the rules of personal hygiene and always ready to shock others. But the punk philosophy is more than just noise. This is an active struggle for freedom of choice, for the renewal of dying social attitudes and traditional culture. However, not all punks understand something in political theory, but they unanimously support the principles of denying the existing system.
Their alternative is anarchism. The music of punk bands is aggressive, short tracks on three chords. The appearance and style of the game was given to the world by the New York band The Ramones.
Otaku
Among the Japanese today, the word "otaku" refers to obsessed fans. In Russia, it is customary to call it this way mainly for fans of Japanese cartoons - anime. To be called an anime fan, it is not enough to sympathize with the beautiful creations of Miyazaki. You need to at least stare at anime with Japanese voice acting and subtitles, read manga, know what a “title” is, and compare the number of views with other “true”.
The so-called cosplays are very popular among otaku - Japanese folk fun, the essence of which is to dress and make up like your favorite characters.
Hip-hop
Today, jumping Bogdan Titomir seems not so much outrageous as funny. It was with his work that Russian hip-hop and Russian rap began, although traditionally it was considered the culture of black men, since it originated in the African neighborhoods of the Bronx.
The hip-hop subculture includes elements such as breakdancing, graffiti, beat-boxing, DJing and MCing - a rapper is called an "MC". If it seems to you that hiphopers wear clothes that are several sizes larger than their own, you should know that this is part of the style. Wide jeans, many pockets, sweatshirts with a hood, baseball caps, sneakers and, of course, unimaginably massive key rings and chains.
Skinheads
It is today that the political views of skinheads range from ultra-left to anti-fascists, and initially this subculture was absolutely apolitical. Skinhead guys in plaid shirts, thin suspenders, rolled up jeans and high boots listened mostly to ska and soul.
In Russia, a trend has spread that has nothing to do with them - the Nazis "white power". These are dressed in leather jackets, t-shirts with slogans, army boots, overly tattooed and aggressive towards national minorities, as well as various “evil spirits” like rockers, punks, role players and anime people.
hipsters
“Your grandmother’s sweater, Bob Dylan-style glasses plus denim breeches, Converse sneakers and a Pabst can – bam, here’s a hipster for you,” Time magazine sneers.
In the 2000s, middle-class youth, who are fond of elite foreign culture and art, as well as indie rock, art house and modern literature, began to be called hipsters.
If we talk about fashion, then it is certainly all vintage, bags, bags and various "cult" items, for example, records of famous bands. A combination of old and new: Moleskine and iPhone. Critics often accuse hipsters of being too materialistic, which "replaces the inner content", and the inability to create something new.
Ravers
A rave is a large disco that plays electronic music. The ravers subculture grew out of the acid drinker movement. Until the end of the 1980s, psychedelic and other electronic music attracted thousands of dancers and sips of ecstasy in London clubs, and in the 1990s the movement took on a mass form.
Today, the rave cult is endless night parties, pacifism and unisex. In clothes there are bright colors, plastic glasses, colored strands of long hair for girls, piercings, provocative costumes, fishnet tights, shorts and short skirts. The biggest raves are Ibiza, Lovparad and Sensation White.
Furry
Everyone who sympathizes with “humanized” animals dreams of feeling like “brutalized” people. Furries are communities of ardent admirers of anthropomorphic animals, expressing themselves in a variety of art forms - from painting to fantasy literature.
Fluffy mammals remain the most adored, although reptiles and birds also do not stand aside. Some furries make their own animal costumes to participate in conventions, parades, promotions and festivals, while others create their own characters in virtual reality - fursons - for online role-playing games.
roleplayers
These fans of live action role-playing games appeared in Russia in the 1980s with the development of science fiction clubs. In addition to literature, roleplayers are distinguished by their own jargon, their own original music and their own envelopes - meetings where community members can discuss past and upcoming games, practice historical swordsmanship and more.
The movement of Tolkienists, admirers of J. R. R. Tolkien's work, gained the greatest popularity. They reconstructed the paintings described by the author, including the clothes and weapons of the characters: elves, orcs, dwarves, hobbits, etc. The first Tolkienists were even engaged in scientific research of works.
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com, flickr.com
Emo - short for "emotional" - a term that refers to a special kind of hardcore music, based on crushing strong emotions in the vocalist's voice and a melodic, but sometimes chaotic musical component. Screeching, crying, moaning, whispering, breaking into a scream - the distinctive features of this style. Lyrics are personal in nature - about the experiences of the author, according to the Wikipedia website.
Today, this style of music is divided into: emocore, emo rock, cyber emo, punk emo, emo violence, screamo, french emocore hardcore san diego, etc. Fans of emo music, identified as a special subculture, are called emokids .
The concept of emo is very common among today's youth. In addition to the bright outfit, hair and makeup, these guys have other ways to express themselves. Through music and heightened emotions about everything that happens in their lives.
There are several theories about how the Emo movement as a whole began.
The first suggests that "emo" originated in the 1980s as a way to describe a branch of hardcore punk that emerged in the 1980s, and "emo" is short for "emotional hardcore" that eventually resulted in grandcore-reshaped punk music.
However, most people who follow the emergence of new subcultures believe that "emo" means "nervous kids who post their photos on MySpace and cut themselves."
Others believe that emo began in the early 1980s.
This is the story from Wikipedia:
In late 1983, the hardcore punk scene that had erupted in 1981 seemed to be losing momentum and fresh ideas within the emerging Washington hardcore sound. The dreary, posthumous Minor Threat disc Salad Days was released in 1984 and hammered the final nail into the coffin of Washington hardcore. Bands all over the country began to look for new directions: DRI and Bad Brains started playing light metal, 7Seconds went to U2 jungle alternatives, and so on. Washington's style began to change towards mostly melodic rock with a punk sensibility.
1984 marked the release of Minneapolis-based Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, testifying to their new luscious sound, combining soft, negative vocal delivery and mid-range guitars with slowed down rock tempos and lighter, more chaotic songwriting.
In the spring of 1984, members of The Untouchables, Faith and Deadline formed a new band called the Rites Of Spring. This band retained the punk speed and frenzy, but mixed in a whole new vocal technique. Singer Guy Picciotto maintains a frenetic punk style of singing almost all the time, occasionally delving into very personal lyrics tinged with emotion and spiritual quest. At the climax, his voice turns into a guttural, hoarse, girlish moan.
First wave (1985-1994)
The summer of 1985 became known as "Revolutionary Summer" when a new wave of rock-tempo, musicianship-oriented, and melodic vocal-focused bands emerged from the Washington punk punk pool: Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition, Marginal Man, Fire Party, Rain, Shudder to Think, etc. Some bands have retained their fast hardcore punk-based sound with new vocal techniques, Dag Nasty being the notable exception.
Ian McKay is one of the founders of the Emo movement.
Minor Threat vocalist Ian MacKaye sings for the band Embrace (compare the band's name to earlier DC bands Minor Threat, Void and State Of Alert), whose lyrics were emotional and introspective, yet still clear and unambiguous. Musically, the group (formed mostly by ex-Faith members) writes somewhat noisy mid-tempo music with a lot of pop guitar influences. McKay's vocals retain their trademark solid delivery, with occasional glimpses of emotional delivery. Ian McKay is also the founder of the sXe movement, which has become popular with emo and hardcore players.
The sound of these bands eventually became known as the "classic Washington sound." Part of this sound was derisively labeled "Emo", short for "emotional". One source claims that the term first appeared in a Flipside interview with Ian McKay. Shortly thereafter, the Washington groups were labeled "Emocore".
A little later (in 1986) some bands began to focus on the "Emo" element as such. Apparently, The Hated in Annapolis (near Washington) was the first to do this after the Rites of Spring. Shortly thereafter, Moss Icon appeared in the same city, dismantling the Emo element to the very core and adding a large amount of sophisticated, arpeggiated guitar melody (Tonie Joy, later in Born Against, Lava, Universal Order of Armageddon, etc.) with a strong accent on loud and soft transitions. The vocals also break new ground, soaring to a real scream at the limit of the lungs in the climaxes of the songs.
By the beginning of the 90s, this style gained sufficient popularity in an independent musical environment and resulted in a separate subculture, new subspecies of this style appeared.
Second wave (1994-2000)
In 1994, thanks to the release of the debut disc of the Sunny Day Real Estate group "Diary", Emo became known to a wide range of listeners. At the same time, he underwent significant changes in terms of music - he became more listenable, influenced by other styles such as grunge and indie rock. There were many groups similar to Sunny Day Real Estate in style - Mineral, Christie Front Drive, Braid, Boys Life, etc. Thus, thanks to these groups, Emo got into rotation on radio and television programs.
Third wave (2000-present)
At the moment, Emo is firmly entrenched in youth culture, more and more commercially successful projects appear, such as The Used, Funeral For A Friend and others, but in terms of sound they are already far from the original Emo bands. Emo style has spread not only to music, but also to the clothes of emo kids.
The most important desire of an emo kid is to find great pure love. Having fallen in love, they surrender to the all-consuming feeling no worse than Romeo and Juliet (and do not forget that the main representatives of emo culture are about the same age as the heroes of Shakespeare's tragedy). But God forbid it turns out that they were wrong and this person is not a real soulmate! There will be no end to the suffering of emo-kids, they will devote the next hours to reflections on the imperfection of our world. But this is not forever: after crying for a couple of days, they rush to further search.
Love is the perfect feeling that cannot be hidden, emo kids assure. Therefore, if the heart is torn to pieces, emo will not be silent about it - he will openly be sad, worry and, if necessary, cry uncontrollably.
Music evokes especially strong emotions in emo-kids. At emo festivals, crowds of emo kids in bright clothes are unable to cope with their emotions and almost flood the dance floor with tears. But these, of course, are extremes: true emo (true emo, from English truth - truth, truth) can cry to a sad motive, but they will never make a show out of this.
Emo culture in Russia
Russian teenagers quickly picked up the Western current of emo culture. Obviously, there are much more detractors of this trend in our country than admirers. The former speak of the unnaturalness of such a phenomenon in Russia. In their opinion, tracing paper taken from the West contradicts the true culture of the former Soviet Union. Others argue that representatives of this trend are distinguished by their young age, and such experiences are just typical for young, failed and emotional teenagers, that is, you should not take such a culture seriously. Still others argue that the desire of emo-kids to be “themselves” and at the same time strictly follow instructions such as “what true emo should look like” is more than paradoxical. Admirers, however, argue that in Russia there are several musical groups that founded the emo direction. For example, Psyche. However, even the famous Russian singer Mara decided to release an emo album. If representatives of show business rely on a relatively new movement, it means that it is becoming more and more popular in our country. On the Internet you can find a huge number of resources where they offer to order patches, t-shirts, badges, bracelets and even wall calendars in emo style. Time will show how this direction will take root in our country, “Russify” or leave an imprint on the culture of Russia.
