A Question About EMO

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

(arising from discussion on http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/)

Goths of whatever stripe tend to have a web of cultural reference points/shared interests which are not primarily musical i.e. Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman, Giger I guess for the techno-goth bods, etc. (I can think of plenty of things that *I* wd consider 'typically goth' but which more knowledgeable types might scoff at)

ANYWAY what are the non-musical cultural touchstones for Emo kids? Books, comix, films, TV, designers or styles, not really fashion cos that's fairly obvious/apparent...

Comments

[cis.livejournal.com]

films:
donnie darko, yes;
royal tenenbaums and all Wes Anderson films;
even eternal sunshiyiiine maybe, that breed of slightly-off-kilter.
igby goes down! <-- this film is a bright eyes song. also it has KIERAN CULKIN and CLAIRE DANES in it, the most emo thing ever.

comix:
blue monday! and basically all things published by tokyopop? i kind of feel anime&manga is too dorky but that says maybe more about me? Akira, Evangelion, the general anime-and-manga canon.

speaking of bright eyes

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

film = watership down !!!
my so-called life -- if (present-day) emos are old enuff to recall it

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Haha I think I still have an email from Chynna Clugston 10 years ago wherein she took exception to me claiming she should give up now, never going to amount to anything etc. I still can't stand her, last I checked.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Hang on the mists of memory have parted a bit, and revealed that the subject of the terrible comic in question was... VAMPIRES!

Is she still doing immensely mod-oriented stuff these days? Ironically the one area not rehabilitated into todays youth = hooray they have slain the ghost of influence! </dubdobdee>

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Surely vampires are now old hat!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

No sorry I'm being unclear, her recent stuff is based on the premise that there exist kids outside Japan who are into actual Mod - scooters etc.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Um, I think you'll find that the whole Britpop thing was very influenced by Mod.

I think Chynna is still doing Blue Monday - she's done about 4 collections of that so far. And of course she's now Clugston-Major.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

First Britpop yes, second one very much no unless I've missed something.

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

As pointed out in the "why I hate indie kids" article, being dorks is now seen as a point of pride and another argument in favor of your individualism, although really what it means is "everyone my age uses the computer and societal standards haven't wholly adjusted to reflect that fact."