The Emo In All Of Us

A teenage kid stands at the train station on a saturday night. He just stands there; ipod blaring in his ears, pale skin and dyed black hair, with tight black skinny jeans and a black jacket as his attire. The use of black eyeliner evident on his green eyes and piercings in his left ear and lip reflects from the station light. All of a sudden the kid is struck by a fist on his cheek and falls to the ground. Clutching the side of his face, he looks up, only to see a group of teenagers laughing and jeering at him. Unlike this kid these teenagers are totally different, wearing football shorts and designer brand t-shirts clinging to their big muscular upper bodies. The kid stands up, only to be spat upon by one of the other kids. "Stupid emo kid," he says with his sneering and taunting voice, "Why don't you go slit your wrists or something." The "emo" kid looks at him. He is not stupid enough to fight him, because there is too many of them. Instead of hitting the abusive kid and setting him in his place, he just stands there, with spit on his black jacket and a big red mark on his face, stinging him while he stands in front of a large group of teenagers. The spitter just stares at him and laughs. Walking away, the "emo" boards the next train and sits in the nearest seat he sees. He holds his cheek in pain, yet is relieved to be heading home where no more trouble could possibly be caused. The other teenagers, after having their entertainment for the day, laugh some more and talk between each other, before sitting on the train seats and pulling out their mp3 players. The spitter, who is an obvious leader of the group, puts his headphones in his ears to listen to his favourite songs, ironically of which comes from emo bands like "Hawthorne Heights", "AFI", "My Chemical Romance" and "Panic! At the Disco". He goes to his house to go to sleep in a bedroom filled with posters of emo bands like "The Used" and "Taking Back Sunday". His favourite t-shirt is a jet black t-shirt with the words "EVERYTHING SUCKS" in big bold capital letters. Obliviously to this 17 year old football playing jock, he lives and breathes the emo subculture.

The urban definition of the word "emo" : a fashion or subculture which is usually defined to have its roots in punk fashion and subculture, as well as some attributes of Gothic fashion and subculture (as seen in wikipedia). To contemporary society, it is a well known social group which constantly expands in numbers due to its alarmingly growing popularity. However, to the majority of society, it is an unaccepted social group, outcasts amongst a normally functioning society. The funny thing is, how much "emo" is there in an individual of any social group, like a jock or a cheerleader? Think about it. As a teenager, you are not expected to like much going in life. The only difference between a "normal" teenager and an "emo" teenager is the way of going about things, for example where a normal teenager will just whine to a friend or workout in order to cope with a break up in a relationship, an emo will stereotypically become depressed to the possible point of suicide. The point of the matter is, there is a little bit of "emo" in all of us. It can be hypocritical to criticize and completely ostracize a social group when as supposedly "normal" people, we ourselves behave or engage in activities that are emo-like.

Think about popular culture. Songs we listen to, movies or tv shows we watch. Anything in contemporary society that we engage in. Most of these things if not all are influenced in some way by the "emo" subculture. Yet it is one of the main social groups that is not as privileged as the others. People like the "jocks" or the "cheerleaders" of modern day schools are raised on pedestals, yet the emo's and nerds as such are often the victims of teasing and other things that detriment them as a social group. And everybody does it. We look upon the emo, nerd and geek subcultures as nothing but pathetic. As aforementioned, they are the outcasts of society yet ironically, emo has influence over popular culture unlike any other. The top 40 songs in most countries consist of "emo" like bands, such as the aforementioned "Panic! At The Disco", "Fall Out Boy", "My Chemical Romance", "30 Seconds To Mars" and even "Blink 182", the latter of which has been seen one of the greatest punk bands in the world. Although these bands can be labeled "punk" or "alternative rock", it was a part of the punk culture that the emo subculture and alternative rock music started from. In saying this, the mentioned rock bands themselves engage in "emo"  subculture in concerns to things like fashion and even the popular culture they engage with themselves.

There is also a question of societies' majority beginning to change. The emo culture continues to grow, and could one day become the strongest out of all teenage subcultures. Societies majority could possibly consist of the emo social group, and us as "normal" people could be dethroned so to speak. There could one day be an era where the emo subculture could soon become acceptable. Whatever was "cool" or the latest trend in the future, could possibly be considered as emo in the society of this present day.

Yet if this happens, "emo" will be the new "jock". People all over school will start to wear black clothes, start to white eyeliner and have piercings in their lips or nose. Dyed Black Hair with long fringes over a single eye will become popular, and everyone around the world will sport one someday. However, this is a way of conforming is it not? By conforming, isn't that hypocritical towards the emo subculture?

We can swear that the emo culture will never affect us, or that there is no way that as an individual we will never conform if emo subculture becomes the latest fashion or trend. The trouble is, we already have engaged in it. Whether it is songs, movies or fashion, we all at one stage or another have either worn, watched or listened to something "totally emo". However this can be seen about any stereotypical social group. If a jock studies to do good in a test, they become like a "nerd". If a cheerleader takes an interest in joining the school band, then they have the characteristics of a "band geek". These are the sort of groups that have that conflict, or have that sworn enemy depictions with each other. Yet if they were to partake in activities like that, they would still be accepted individuals in their respective subcultures.

So the questions that need to be asked is this: Why criticize a stereotype that we have indirect interests in? Why use the word "emo" as a bad word, when there is a huge possibility that this word represents a huge part of what you value, or what you believe in? Why do we reject this word and its meaning when it has a huge influence over the popular culture that contemporary society engages in? Whether we like it or not, we are all indirectly apart of the emo subculture. We as individuals, are criticizing a subculture that we engage in. We assert the fact that we hate anything "emo" when it is clearly evident through music billboards, the fashion of teenagers and television that "emo" is in. As much as we deny it, the teenage society of today is a big fan of the emo subculture.