Week 3 - Subcultures

Thornton (1996:119) claims that “the media are integral to the formation of subcultures, playing a significant role in both their origin as well as prolonging their lifecycle”.  As Thornton says that media forms subcultures, I think that the media also helps people to become a part of or join a subculture. I myself was influenced by and saw inspiration in the music channel and magazine ‘Kerrang!’ – I wanted to look like the ‘emo’ celebrities that were being shown. However, I would say that I was influenced first and foremost by other ‘emo’ subculture members at school.

When I started secondary school in year 7, I saw a group of students that looked different to everyone else in the school and I wanted to be their friend. I thought that if I dressed like they did and got into the music that they were into, then we could easily be friends.

Hebdidge (1979: 357) adds to Thornton’s (1996) argument by suggesting how “each new subculture establishes new trends, generates new looks and sounds which feed back into the appropriate industries”. I agree with this as I remember the ‘emo’ trends changing and different styles of things becoming available to us to buy in shops.

Reisman (1950) talks about how subculture audiences are different to mainstream audiences because they seek out a minority style and manipulate it so that they can symbolize their own values, rather than accepting mainstream commercial styles and meanings. Being an ‘emo’ I would actively choose to wear things that the mainstream did not. I would refuse to wear anything similar to the mainstream. I did not want to be associated with the mainstream, I wanted to be associated with being ‘emo’.

As an ‘emo’ I would wear black jeans and a colourful t-shirt, usually a Green Day or Vans one. I would always wear Converse trainers or Vans, either check board print slip on plimsolls or skateboarding trainers. Studded belts that only went through one belt loop were ‘in’ and if you wore more than one at a time - even better. I liked to wear large, patterned bandana scarves and always have a side parting in my hair – side partings seemed to be a staple ‘emo’ thing, paired with a big side fringe. I was never allowed to dye my hair any colour, but I always wanted to dye it black.

 I wore a back pack to school that would hang at the bottom of my back because the straps were so loose. I would decorate my bag in pin badges that I bought from HMV with my friends at the weekend. I covered my school planner in drawings and emo music song lyrics, signing each day with ‘love Amy, be emo!’. I did all of these things not only because I wanted to and because I liked doing these things, but also because I wanted to fit in with my new found subculture and friend group.

When I was at my best friend’s house who was a ‘chav’, I would actively refuse to watch any music channel that wasn’t ‘Kerrang!’ or ‘Scuzz’. I would only listen to punk-rock – my favourite bands included My Chemical Romance, Blink 182, Green Day, SUM41, Simple Plan and Fall Out Boy.

I remember My Chemical Romance being represented negatively in the media – it was said that they endorsed suicide and self-harm through their music. This then meant that the emo subculture was being shown in the media as moody, sad and easily influenced by music to do drastic things.

The My Chemical Romance music was actually saying that people can get through things like depression etc, and that they don’t have to turn to suicide or self-harm, as they can find help and support in their music and through the subculture.

 

 

References

Hebdige, D. (1979) Subculture in Guins, Raiford and Cruz, Omayra (2005) Popular Culture: A Reader. London: Sage, pp355-371.

Riesman, D. (1950) The lonely crowd: The study of the changing American character. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Thornton, S. (1996) Clubcultures: Music, media, and subcultural capital. Cambridge, UK: Polity.