Emo (slang)

Stereotypical emo fashion, portrayed in the style of common American signage.

Emo is a slang term used to describe a subculture; the term comes from the word "emotional". Emo is best known for its fashion style and attitude, which are said to have come from emo music. Although the origin of emo music is difficult to pinpoint, it is suggested that it's a derivative of the hardcore/punk scene which was popular Washington DC in the late 80's. The culture is also wad continued to develop through the 90's and into the new millennium, reaching the height of its popularity to date.

Fashion

Caricature of stereotypical emo fashion

Emo fashion is usually characterized by several prevalent features. Very dark or black clothing, hair, makeup and jewelry is the most common trend in emo fashion. Other emo styles include: tight or skinny jeans (also called cigarette pants) on males and females alike, as well as males often wearing females pants; tight t-shirts which often bear the name of a rock band; studded belts and or belts with large buckles; shoes include Chuck Taylor All-Stars, skater shoes, or other black shoes, usually well worn in; fringe bangs often brushed to one side of the face, and hair is usually dyed black and straight; thick, black horn-rimmed glasses are also worn. Some other trends in emo fashion include preppy clothing, such as fitted sweaters and button down shirts, as well as shopping at thrift stores and wearing second hand clothing. An early trend was haircuts similar to those worn by the Romulans and Vulcans in Star Trek

Personality

The term emo comes from the word "emotional". "At its core, emo is all about being upfront with your emotions" and because the focus of emo music is "dealing with sadness and love and angst...also characterized by particularly dramatic vocals which, at best, left the audience in an emotionally charged state" there is more to being emo than just being sad. One common expression of "feeling emo" writing poetry. Poetry addresses feelings such as confusion, depression, loneliness, angst, anger, being misunderstood, and feeling disconnected from the rest of the world. Some of the following are common themes in emo poetry : a highly emotional tone, stream of consciousness writing, a simple (ABAB) or nonexistent rhyme scheme, references to the body, especially the heart, heavy use of dark or depressing adjectives, and concern over the mutability of time, love or both. The cliché "life is pain" and similar variants are also common.

Criticism

An anti-emo image exemplifying the backlash against emo subculture

The stereotype of “emo kid” has become a part of every day diction and discussion from that of teenagers, children and adults. The origins of the word “emo” began in the seventies and was used to describe a genre of music that was then known as “Emotionally Hardcore”. This name was usually attached to such bands as The Beatles and more recently, bands on a more wide spectrum of sound. The label of “Emotionally Hardcore” was shortend to “Emocore”, which soon came to be attached as a stigma to respected bands such as the original A.F.I. (a Fire Inside), Green Day, and the original Fall Out Boy, all bands that have been around for over a decade. In the last two years, the “Emocore” stigma became popular once again and was shortened again to just simply “Emo”. The even broader spectrum of sound attached Taking Back Sunday, Three Days Grace, Nickleback,Hawthorn Heights,Panic! At the dico,Manilyn Manson,Devil Driver, Hinder, Green Day, A.F.I. and other bands thought to have totally different sounds in the same genre. This has slowly evolved into not only a lumped together myriad of bangs and music to a clothing style, a haircut, a certain behavior and even to be known as such expectations from one person to another.

Popular Opinion would have one believe that what are now called “emo” kids are unusually depressed and overly expressive, often using it as a façade to gain the respect of those who believe that life isn’t worth living. This in itself is a conformity to a self-created stereotype that is too-often correct. The stereotypical “emo” kid often is just that, an exact replica of what has come to be known as such.

In the years since emo music's rise in popularity, both emo music and emo subculture have attracted sometimes severe criticism. The term emo itself is sometimes used pejoratively, to suggest that the target is "overly emotional." Emo in general has been characterized as a fad which will be discarded and forgotten in the near future. Emo music has also been compared to the teen pop of 1990s boy bands. Critics cast the music as lacking any artistic merit, the fashion as "embarrassing" and members of the subculture as imagining or pretending that they lead harsh, painful lives when they actually live in comfortable, upper- to middle class homes. Some feel emo culture is a psychological construct created to counterbalance guilt from an increasingly capitalistic society’s ills and parents’ ill-earned income. Members of the emo subculture are portrayed by critics as melodramatic, self-pitying teenagers who pour their efforts into writing bad poetry and spending a great amount of time on MySpace. The current emo subculture has been called a "sad caricature" of what it once was.

Some have accused emo subculture of celebrating self-harm. Some assert that it is cool within the emo subculture to pretend to be suicidal and harm one's self. Critics have gone so far as to contend that the emo subculture or emo music are likely to cause youth to commit suicide. This manifested itself particularly strongly in Australia, albeit over a brief time frame, following the suicide of two teenage girls in 2007. The girls, who expressed interest in emo culture, made a suicide pact with one another, and possible clues of their intentions were later found on their band's MySpace page.

The backlash against emo music and subculture has become so prevalent that it may itself have become a cliché: one commentator notes that "hating emo kids these days is as hackneyed as emo itself."

Grammatical usage

The word emo is primarily used as an adjective.

Adjective (1): All my friends are emo.
Adjective (2): I feel emo today.
Noun: That person is a total emo.