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by erin thursby
scopes1925@msn.com
“For the guys who wear eyeliner--and the girls who love them.”
The word emo is bandied about so much that it’s a bit hard for people to understand what it is, especially as a movement or a lifestyle. That’s why I picked up the book Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture, a mostly tongue-in-cheek information bank of all that is emo.
You might be wondering: exactly what the hell is emo? It began as a confessional, emotional form of punk called emotional hardcore or emo for short. Emo has morphed from a type of music to a culture, much like punk before it.
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First, the authors give you a taste of core emo values like depression (which is way more dramatic than just being sad), effortlessness (trying very hard to pretend like you don’t care), empathy (feeling not just your own pain, but the pain of others), insecurity and the inability to compete in sports.
They also take you through some of the misconceptions that have grown up regarding those who are emo. Emo folks do have friends, but they are generally MySpace friends. They might not often have sex (as they are too socially awkward and angsty) but they would really, really like to, and sometimes they actually do. Most emos are straight edge, but occasional experimentation with drugs and alcohol does happen. However, any emo who indulges frequently will be ousted from club emo.
There’s a helpful section on emo concert etiquette and a section on the emo sub-cultures present within emo, such as goth emo, Christian emo , Indie emo and alt-country emo, among others. A scale of emo-ness is applied to celebrities like Jared Leto and Paris Hilton, as well as to things like black eyeliner and puppies. Sprinkled throughout this first chapter on ideology (and, indeed throughout the whole book) are emo slang words which are starred and defined in footnotes.
The next chapter, my favorite out of all of them, is the chapter on emo fashion. It covers the do’s and don’ts of emo fashion, from tattoos to which band T-shirts are acceptable emo-wear. There are some fab illustrations of emo hairstyles and the list of independent emo-approved clothiers includes our own Anomaly in Five-Points. You’ll learn what piercings you should and shouldn’t sport as a certified emo-lite as well.
Because emo-types often feel displaced in face-to-face social situations, they thrive in the world of the Internet, which is why there’s an extensive section of the emo online communities and must-browse sites that every emo kid should have bookmarked. You can learn how to take the perfect emo-style MySpace picture as well as picking up handy hints on how to emo-fy your blogs.
You might be surprised at which films and TV shows get the emo seal of approval. The seemingly sunny and quirky French flick Amélie makes the emo list because of the title character’s inability to interact socially and her emo-approved Zelda haircut. Apparently, everything John Hughes wrote/directed in the 80s makes the emo cut, though Maid in Manhattan (written by Hughes) does not, because it starred J Lo and the writing was horrific. Edward Scissorhands makes the emo cut, of course, as does The Nightmare before Christmas. As the book says, to understand Tim Burton’s impact on the emo culture, one needs to look no further than the local Hot Topic store, “where tweens can currently choose from nearly eight thousand useless items with Jack Skellington’s face smattered across them.”
More surprisingly, TV shows like 24. Despite its action-oriented nature, 24 makes the emo list. The authors offer no other reason other than: “…we’re hoping it’s because they thought Kiefer Sutherland was cool ever since they first saw Lost Boys.” Not surprisingly, the short lived My So-Called Life and Freaks and Greeks are also considered the height of emo television.
The book seemed to confirm what I’d suspected. Emo has hijacked aspects of punk, goth and the socially awkward. In doing so it has become its own ideology. Luckily, the book never takes being emo entirely seriously. It’s a fun a read and a great pop-culture reference for all things emo.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
