the commodified emo subculture in america through the used`s

Transcription

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id
digilib.uns.ac.id
THE COMMODIFIED EMO SUBCULTURE IN AMERICA
THROUGH THE USED’S MUSIC VIDEOS
THESIS
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of Sarjana Degree Requirement at
English Department, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts,
Sebelas Maret University
By:
RENA APRILIA TANJUNG
C 0306045
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
2011
commit to user
i
digilib.uns.ac.id
commit to user
ii
digilib.uns.ac.id
commit to user
iii
digilib.uns.ac.id
MOTTO:
“Through the storm and raging sea,
I will never be alone.
When my hope seems out of sight,
I know You will shine Your light”
(True Worshippers Youth)
commit to user
iv
digilib.uns.ac.id
Wholeheartedly dedicated to:
My Mom
My Dad
My Brothers
My Sister
Me &
“Hira”
commit to user
v
digilib.uns.ac.id
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
While the final product is the text on the pages, the true learning lies
in the unseen journey. First and foremost, I would like to thank Lord Jesus
Christ, My Redeemer, for the wonderful blessing and love given in my life.
Gratefully, I would like to thank Drs. Riyadi Santosa, M.Ed., Ph.D.
the Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. It is also an honor for me to
thank the Head of English Department, Prof. Drs. Djatmika, M.A. for
giving me a chance to write the thesis. This thesis would not have been
possible unless Dra. Nani Sukarni, M.S., my thesis supervisor, helps me in
every session with her patience and knowledge. I attribute the level of my
Sarjana degree to her encouragement and effort. Without her helps, this
thesis would not have been written or completed. I am grateful to my
academic supervisor, Mr. Yuyun Kusdiyanto, S.S, M.A. for the help dealing
with all of my academic businesses. I am also indebted to all of English
Department lecturers to support me in studying English and the contents
within particularly anything related to American Studies which has inspired
me to write the thesis up.
For my beloved family chiefly my Mom and Dad, thanks for
supporting me throughout all my studies in the university and providing a
warm home where I can complete my writing up. My lovely little twin
brothers, Yong Gi and Jonathan, both of you really enliven me every day.
My younger brother Ayub, and my younger sister Devi, thanks for being
commit to user
vi
digilib.uns.ac.id
around me when I am in the progress to finish this thesis. Forgive me it
takes so long time for me to graduate that I hope both of you can finish
your college study faster than me. I love you all.
In my daily work I have been blessed with a friendly and cheerful
Nav family, Pak Yoyok, Bu Ari, Dek Ira, Dek Dea Mbak Upik, Mbak Dina,
Mas Setyo, Ika, Dewi, Nimas, and those who I can not mention in details,
thanks for loving me, helping me, giving me a space to grow up, teaching
me how to find a better way in my adolescence phase and lifting me up
when I am down.
Kiki „Quinn‟, my drummer girl, thanks for sharing a long friendship
since we were in the junior high school. The Used is eternally in our heart.
For my besties, Letizia and Astri, thanks girls for everything, for
unbelievable jokes and silly things we have shared. Letiz, you are very nice
to me. I can not forget every good thing you have shared with me. Go girl! I
am always behind you. Astri, well, you are still my best „partner in crime‟
in learning „what‟s beyond the normal Asian culture‟. I would like to thank
to Yuliana since with her kindness, she has implicitly taught me many
things in life. And also for Dheka, my longest classmate from junior high
school, thanks for plenty meaningful lessons in the past. Definitely for all
of my friends in ED 2006, girls and boys, thank you for the nice support
and unforgettable friendship.
The 2006 American Studies, thanks for the friendship, knowledge and
anything we have been going through together in both sad and happy time
commit to user
vii
digilib.uns.ac.id
in finishing this final project. Risqi, how could I do my thesis without your
help? Thanks for the really helpful books, journals, and advices. You are the
best counselor. I am very happy for your cum-laude graduation. “Ipin”
Arifin, you are the most inspiring and most incredible friend that I know,
man! Thanks for trusting me and sharing many stories with me. Keep
fighting for everything. Pondra, the only „master of music‟ in ED 2006,
thanks for sharing many underrated yet good music with me. Aya and Rini,
thanks for encouraging me with your word “Semangat”. Iyum and Wisnu,
go guys, you can do it fast and well. For my friend Wulan in a peaceful
heaven up there, it has been my pleasure to know you and have a friend like
you. We will miss you.
I can not accomplish my work without the supports from my friends
who stand up for the idealism they choose: those who are previously
labeled as Emo Kids, HxC Kids and Straight Edgers. Thanks to Bocud Adit,
Neng Ireen, Bang Vivid, Kak Na Marina, both of Mr. Jack Jerk Skellington,
Joojo „Joe‟ Wilson, Reno, David Loserkid, Mbak Feri‟s gang and others.
Thank you all for giving me lots of colorful memories and inspirations for
writing this unusual thesis. I am also obliged to Twitter friends especially
Mbak Puspa, thanks for accompanying me in both surreal and real world.
Finally, for Bert McCracken, Quinn Allman, Jeph Howard, Branden
Steineckert and Dan Whitesides, the members of the most amazing band in
this world, The Used, thanks a million for making the best songs, sounding
youth‟s pain, inspiring me, connecting me with other eccentric youngsters
commit to user
viii
digilib.uns.ac.id
in various remarkable youth subcultures and opening my eyes for the true
identity I should go for.
Surakarta, October 12, 2011
Rena Aprilia Tanjung
commit to user
ix
digilib.uns.ac.id
PRONOUNCEMENT
Name
: Rena Aprilia Tanjung
NIM
: C0306045
It is hereby pronounced that the thesis entitled The Commodified
Emo Subculture in America through The Used’s Music Videos is
originally made and written by the researcher. It is neither a plagiarism nor
is made by other. The things related to other‟s people work are written in
quotation and included in bibliography.
If it is proved that this pronouncement is dishonest, the researcher
willingly accepts any penalty from English Department of Faculty Letters
and Fine Arts, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta.
Surakarta, October 12, 2011
The Researcher
commit to user
x
digilib.uns.ac.id
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THESIS APPROVAL …………………………………………………….. i
PRONOUNCEMENT …………………………………………………...
iii
MOTTO …………………………………………………………………. iv
DEDICATION …………………………………………………………..... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………….…
vii
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………..
xi
CHAPTER
I
:
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of Choosing Subject ……………………………
B.
Problem Statement …………………………………………... 13
C.
Objective of Study ……..………………………………….
D.
Scope of Study ………………………………………….…… 13
E.
Research Significance …………………………………….…...14
F.
Method of Research …………………………………….…… 14
G.
Theoretical Approach …………………………………………. 17
H.
Thesis Organization …………………………………………… 21
CHAPTER
A.
II
:
1
13
LITERATURE REVIEW
Emo As A Youth Subculture in America …………..………….. 24
1. The History of Emo ……………………………………..
27
commit
to user
2. The Identity of Emo
………………………………………..
34
xi
digilib.uns.ac.id
B.
The Used‟s Biography …………………………….………… 47
C.
Youth Subculture as a Commodity …………………..……… 50
D.
American Social and Cultural Condition in 2000s …..……… 55
E.
Semiotic of Music Video ……………………………….…… 57
1. Charles Sanders Pierce‟s Semiotic Theory ……………… 57
2. Semiotic of Music Video ………………………………...
CHAPTER
A.
III
:
60
ANALYSIS
The commodification of Emo Fashion in The Used‟s Music Videos
69
1. Clothing ………………………………………………….. 72
i.
Upper Body ……………………………………… 72
ii.
Lower Body ……………………………………...
100
2. Hairstyle …………………………………………………..
107
i.
Medium Long Straight Hair ………………………..
107
ii.
Side Bang (Fringe) …………………………………
111
iii.
Gunshot Wound …………………………………….
113
3. Accessories ………………………………………………….
116
i.
Shoes ………………………………………………..
116
ii.
Wristbands ………………………………………….
118
iii.
Lips and Ear Piercing ………………………………
120
iv.
Tattoos ………………………………………………
122
4. Make Up……………………………………………………..
commit to user
123
xii
B.
digilib.uns.ac.id
i.
Eyeliner …………………………………………….
123
ii.
Black Nail Polish …………………………………...
126
The commodification of Emo Behavior in The Used‟s Music Videos
127
1. Youth Rebellion ………………………………………...…..
CHAPTER
130
i.
Blue and Yellow…………………………………..
132
ii.
A Box Full of Sharp Object……………………….
135
iii.
I Caught Fire………………………………………
138
iv.
Blood on My Hands ………………………………
140
2. Youth Anxiety …………………………………………….
142
i.
Buried Myself Alive ……………………………...
144
ii.
Taste of Ink ……………………………………….
150
iii.
Take It Away ………………………………………
152
iv.
All That I‟ve Got ………………………………….
155
v.
The Bird and The Worm ………………………….
158
IV
:
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
A.
Conclusion …………………………………………………..…
B.
Recommendation …………………………………………….
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
commit to user
xiii
161
165
digilib.uns.ac.id
ABSTRACT
Rena Aprilia Tanjung. C0306045. The Commodified Emo Subculture in America
through The Used’s Music Videos. Undergraduate Thesis. 2011. English
Department, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University,
Surakarta.
This research is purposively made to analyze the commodified Emo
subculture in America found in ten of The Used‟s music videos. With regard to the
contested position of American youth, youth subcultures arise from various genre
of music to give the alternative space for young people to grow up. The early
function of youth subculture is to provide a place for young people to express the
ideas which is out of dominant parent culture. However, the exclusivity of youth
subcultures has been commodified by the media that the meaning of early
subculture is lost.
The commodified youth subculture can be seen in the commodification
of fashion, music and behavior as the symbolic system of communication within a
certain youth subculture. In analyzing the commodified Emo subculture, ten of
The Used music videos are analyzed to give the clear explanation about the kinds
of subcultural commodification found in it.
The research is held using the descriptive qualitative technique which
means that all of collected and analyzed data are in forms of words and pictures
rather than numbers. Besides, the analysis is made to test the theory and apply it
to the observed phenomena rather than to find the new theory from the
observation toward the subject matter.
In the scope of American Studies, it is necessary to consider the
application of interdisciplinary studies in studying a cultural object as a
representation of American way of life. The interdisciplinary requires the
relationship between text to be studied and the contexts from which they come. To
find the context behind the American cultural object, the analysis cannot be
simply observed based on a perspective of certain discipline but from the
assortment of perspectives related to the subject matter being discussed.
Therefore, this research is apprehended using the combination of popular culture,
semiotic and sociocultural approach to reveal the context within the data which
are analyzed.
In the end of analysis, it is concluded that Emo subculture has been
commodified in fashion and behavior clearly found in ten of The Used music
videos. The commodified Emo subculture in America is under the influence of
media related to the social and cultural background at the certain time when Emo
is phenomenally thriving.
commit to user
xiv
THE COMMODIFIED EMO SUBCULTURE IN AMERICA
THROUGH THE USED’S MUSIC VIDEOS
Rena Aprilia Tanjung1
Dra. Nani Sukarni. M.S.2
ABSTRACT
2011. English Department, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts.
Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta.
This research is purposively made to analyze the commodified
Emo subculture in America found in ten of The Used’s music
videos. With regard to the contested position of American youth,
youth subcultures arise from various genre of music to give the
alternative space for young people to grow up. The early function
of youth subculture is to provide a place for young people to
express the ideas which is out of dominant parent culture.
However, the exclusivity of youth subcultures has been
commodified by the media that the meaning of early subculture is
lost.
The commodified youth subculture can be seen in the
commodification of fashion, music and behavior as the symbolic
system of communication within a certain youth subculture. In
analyzing the commodified Emo subculture, ten of The Used music
videos are analyzed to give the clear explanation about the kinds of
subcultural commodification found in it.
The research is held using the descriptive qualitative technique
which means that all of collected and analyzed data are in forms of
words and pictures rather than numbers. Besides, the analysis is
made to test the theory and apply it to the observed phenomena
rather than to find the new theory from the observation toward the
subject matter.
1
2
Mahasiswa Jurusan Sastra Inggris dengan NIM C0306045
Dosen Pembimbing
In the scope of American Studies, it is necessary to consider the
application of interdisciplinary studies in studying a cultural object
as a representation of American way of life. The interdisciplinary
requires the relationship between text to be studied and the
contexts from which they come. To find the context behind the
American cultural object, the analysis cannot be simply observed
based on a perspective of certain discipline but from the assortment
of perspectives related to the subject matter being discussed.
Therefore, this research is apprehended using the combination of
popular culture, semiotic and sociocultural approach to reveal the
context within the data which are analyzed.
In the end of analysis, it is concluded that Emo subculture has been
commodified in fashion and behavior clearly found in ten of The
Used music videos. The commodified Emo subculture in America
is under the influence of media related to the social and cultural
background at the certain time when Emo is phenomenally
thriving.
1
digilib.uns.ac.id
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Choosing Subject
‗America is the fountain of youth‘ is a metaphorical term coined by
Robertson (in Campbell and Kean, 1997) to explain America‘s past perspective on
youth. The view of parent generation as the Old World and their children‘s
generation as the New World puts American youth in a contested space. Children
are filled with abundant expectations from their parents that encourage parents to
control youth‘s life which parents think it is good to create a better upcoming
generation. However, what Americans think it is good for their children does not
accomplish adolescents‘ desire of having their own way in defining the future. As
Campbell and Kean (1997) write, this order might run well in colonial age but
social system in America was continually formed with destabilizing and
established order to challenge the next generation. The system shows that there is
always a confrontation between parent and youth culture. Youth as a phase which
is filled with spirit and desire of acquiring identity has an obsession toward the
culture that encourage adolescents create their own space to oppose the dominant
culture. Subsequently, the need of having the space free from parent culture
triggers youth-based subcultures to emerge.
The basic idea of subculture comes from the accumulation of meaning and
commit
to user groups to oppose the dominant
also means of expression from the
subordinate
1
2
digilib.uns.ac.id
meaning system (Murdock in Calluori, 1985: 44). Concerning on the contested
position of American youth, American youth subcultures emerge due to the lack of
support from parents in assisting them entering the adolescence phase.
Adolescence is a state when human trapped between ‗no longer being children‘
and ‗not yet being completely adult‘ (Weinstein in Eipstein, 2002: 4). In this state,
young people can not find the ultimate identity instantly because there is a tension
between childhood freedom and adult responsibility that reportedly proves to be a
fruitful ground for the growth of alienation (Calabrese in Eipstein, 2002: 4). The
asymmetry relationship between parents and children persuades adolescents to
experience a transition period using the alternative ways outside of their daily
zones which mostly acquired by parents culture like home, social institutions and
school. The condition has inspired various youth subcultures to come out since
through subcultures, adolescents obtain a space to find their identity.
In expressing the anxiety and alienated feeling in adolescence phase, young
people are often fitted with music. They are susceptible to be affected by music
because in this phase, they need to feel, to experience and to be motivated by
something or to allow themselves to be deeply affected by it (Pipher in Anastasi,
2005: 313). Since adolescents have more time to search out and listen to music,
those who have similar taste of music possibly make a certain subculture to
represent the similar ideology. Most of youth subcultures emerge from music
scenes because of this phenomenon: a tight relationship between music and
identity acquirement like what Williams explains as follows:
First, there is a dialectic relationship between music and identity, wherein music is
seen as consequential in the commit
creation toofuser
subcultures as well as consequence of
3
digilib.uns.ac.id
them. Second, through music and the musical experience—both making and
listening to music—individuals are able to locate themselves in specific subcultural
formations. (Williams, 2006: 174)
The preference of young people‘s music often defines certain subculture they
belong to. Each music preference brings each different idea. Therefore, youth
subcultures like Teddy Boy, Mods, Punk, Skinheads, Ravers, Metalheads, Goths,
Gangstas, Emo, and others are basically varied based on different music
preferences. The idea of each youth subculture is practiced through the symbolic
systems of communication which is also exclusively different from one subculture
to another.
Primarily, youth subculture is a space when young people are able to resist
the dominant system of a society controlled by parent. The members of youth
subcultures communicate each other using the symbolic system of communication
to emphasize that the members are assembled in a similar subculture. As Storey
states those symbolic systems are firstly used as means of communication among
the members of a specific youth subculture to show that they are engaged in the
similar kind of subculture also resist the dominant culture because they can fight
for their beliefs and ideology (Storey, 1996: 119). Currently, the resistance has
significantly changed because of an overconsumption of subculture symbolic
system of communication like fashion, music and behavior within a wider society
out of subcultural area.
All adolescents nowadays ironically can easily affirm themselves as
members of certain youth subculture by applying the similar subculture symbolic
system of communication through fashion, lifestyle, music preference and
commit to user
4
digilib.uns.ac.id
behavior without considering the basic idea of a youth subculture. The resistance
toward the dominant culture has died. The media have a significant role on how
the early function of a subculture shifts. Stalling affirms that in one side, media
control the information of youth subcultures in a good way that it can be well
accepted by society, on the other side, the media abuse the basic functions of
youth subcultures through the exploitation of fashion, music preference and
behavior discarding youth subculture‘s ideology (Stalling, 1999). Through these
two opposite functions, youth subcultures are progressively popular that makes
everything related to youth subculture including its symbolic systems of
communication become public‘s attention. The media has purposively
encouraged people to buy new hip products, cool ideas and exciting lifestyle
equipment. They have consistently searched the outer limits of society to find
products to pasteurize repackage and sell to the mainstream (ibid). Therefore,
symbolic styles of youth subcultures gradually become profitable commodities
because these stuffs are potential to be the next hipping products considering its
uniqueness coming from the ‗rebellion‘ ideas of young people.
The changing function of youth subcultures symbolic systems from
exclusive means of communication within a youth subculture into the marketable
products consumed by wide people is often included in the commodification
process. The commodification process of youth subcultures happens in various
media. These media give all of youth subculture‘s elements like fashion, music
preferences and behavior a strong exposure. Commodification process omits the
original value and ideology of youth subculture. Media build a strategy to
commit to user
5
digilib.uns.ac.id
familiarize youth subcultures to the society but for a hidden purpose like
advertising the symbolic systems of subcultural communication appears on the
video, magazine, posters and others. The unoriginal types of youth subcultures
slowly emerge as a result of this process. Brooks affirms that young people easily
identify themselves as resistors toward the mainstream parent culture by adopting
particular music or lifestyle which in fact, they are in effect sustaining the
commercial viability of the commodification of youth subculture (Brooks in
Saray, 2007: 25). The commodification process of youth subcultures can be seen
from the phenomenon of mushrooming music videos on television and internet.
Music video is an effective tool for promoting bands, singers and others
musicians‘ image to the public. Through audio and visual representation, the
music video does not only function to display the performers but also to create
them (Peeters, 2004: 9). The performers within the music videos can be the
effective ideological tools because according to the process of identification,
there is a period when audiences become attached to the performers ranging from
emotional affinity to projection, by which fans try to become their idols through
imitating speech, movements and consumer patterns (ibid). If the audiences have
become emotionally attracted to the performers, they will follow what performers
do including wearing, imitating and consuming everything appears there, not only
based on the appearance of the performers but also rely on the musical style and
the subcultural group to which the performers refer. By showing the subculture
symbolic system of communication such as fashion and behavior, the performers
have represented certain subculture they belong to.
commit to user
6
digilib.uns.ac.id
This phenomenon has miserably encouraged the commodification of youth
subculture through the exploitation of its symbolic system of communication in
the media. The market constantly sees this uniqueness subculture appears on the
music videos as something profitable. Some the obvious commodifications of
American youth subculture can be found through the exploitation of Hippies in
1960s and Grunge subculture in the late 1980s until early 1990s when Nirvana, a
phenomenal Grunge band, became the media spotlight. As Stalling writes:
At some point, someone notices. Society starts to recognize the subculture and
explore it a little. Think of record label execs going to rock shows in Seattle in the
late '80s to check out what the hullabaloo is about Mudhoney and that grumpy
band Nirvana. Think of fashion designers sneaking into political protests in the
‗60s to check out those strange clothes all the longhaired protesters are wearing…
Somehow, someone notices something different, something that just might be of
interest to the rest of the country. What gets noticed is what‘s easy to see and easy
to sell: a new look, a new sound, a few innovative accessories (Stalling, 1999)
Nirvana, for example, has been incredibly popular in America after their music
videos were being regularly aired on MTV. Through their music videos, young
audiences get the ideal illustration of Grunge subculture icons, which had been
known as fresh, new and attractive youth style in the late of 1980s and early
1990s. The young audiences adopted grunge style exemplified by the appearance
and performance of Kurt Cobain and other Nirvana band members on the video.
The formula of inventing something new has been applied by media time by time
that through their power, the media knows how to control the next trend which is
variable from time to time. Therefore, early American youth subcultures, which
were popular in the ‗60s, ‗70s, ‗80s, ‗90s, are not popular anymore as the media
have found the other fresh, new and attractive subcultural trend.
Emo is a typical of American
youth to
subculture
which has also gone through
commit
user
7
digilib.uns.ac.id
this kind of commodification process. Emo is an American youth subculture
emerged from Hardcore and Punk music scenes in 1980s and became widely
popular in 2000s. Unlike Hardcore and Punk music which used youth power to
rebel the monotonous and dominant system in the society, Emo music gives a
space for young people to experience vulnerability in facing their adolescence
phase through a sensitive way. Emo term is derived from ―Emotional Hardcore‖
indicating that the music composition is actually similar to Hardcore music but
more emotional and personal in lyric. This is compatible with what Bailey states
as follows:
Emo short for ―emotional music‖ is an evolving and complex American youth
subculture that listens to a specific genre of music, which is characterized by
feelings of vulnerability and a willingness to express heart-felt confessions about
adolescence. (Bailey, 2005:1)
The ―Emotional Hardcore‖ music is originated from various Washington D.C.
hardcore bands in the middle of ‗80s such as Rites of Spring, Embrace and Rain.
Gradually with the notion ―Emotional Hardcore‖, they started to define
themselves as hardcore punk bands by adding melodic elements to their songs.
Sadness, love, and sense of guilt were some of the most written topics found in
the bands‘ lyrics. Emo continues to develop and becomes steadily popular among
American young people in 90s when the band like Sunny Day Real Estate and
Jimmy Eat World created more melodic Emo songs by leaving the standard of
hardcore music behind. Lately in 2000s, the media give Emo stronger exposure
that turns it into a famous youth subculture which has influenced most of the
American adolescents‘ lifestyle. In this 2000s period Emo has been dejected and
commodified by the media because
it is found
commit
to userthat Emo in 2000s has been out of
8
digilib.uns.ac.id
the original idea of Emo in 1980s. In 1980s, Emo was involved as an underground
youth subculture practicing DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic which avoided the
interference of mainstream media, by contrast, Emo today deprives the idea of
underground subculture based on hardcore and punk into a kind of marketable
subculture of which fashion, music and behavior have been traded.
The meaning of emotional in the early term of ―Emotional Hardcore‖ is
exploited in 2000s Emo. It occurs because the term ‗emotional‘ is always related
to the sense of vulnerability, weakness, despair, nostalgia, broken heart, hope, self
hatred, anger and the other similar themes. This is what makes Emo today is
contrast to other youth subcultures. Emo is different not only from fashion and
music preferences, but also from the perspective of understanding the ambient
reality of adolescence (Aslaksen, 2006: 6). This fact, however, is very different
from the early 1980s Emo which showed the power of the members in facing
adolescence through the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic which was absolutely far away
from the concept of being too weak and vulnerable although most of early bands
Emo created more personal hardcore songs. Characteristically, the vocalists of
today‘s Emo bands usually exploit high falsetto voice to express emotional topics
assembled with fast violent guitar chord contrasting to the 1980s Emo bands
which practiced the pure hardcore music with yelling and wailing instead of
screaming in falsetto voice. The changing sound of Emo music in 2000s is
influenced by the mixture of 1980s Emo music filled with hardcore-based music
and 1990s Emo which was more ‗pop‘. The mixture of this different music from
two different Emo period results in a fresh sound which young listeners have not
commit to user
9
digilib.uns.ac.id
yet listened to. Obviously, the media catch it as the next potential stuff to sell.
Besides music, like other youth subcultures, the members of Emo subculture
show their identity in various symbolic system of communication through fashion
and behavior. As the underground subculture, the members of 1980s Emo
subculture often indicate themselves with hardcore-based fashion signified by the
simple clothing like T-shirt and three-quarter jeans. This kind of fashion was still
continually used until the second wave generation of Emo in 1990s. Later, with
the exploitation on Emo‘s emotional term by the media, fashion of the 2000s Emo
members changes dramatically. It usually comprises on the stuffs like black
skinny or stovepipe jeans, dyed black hair, side-parted long fringes, tight t-shirts
which often bear the names of Emo bands, studded belts, black wristbands, black
sneakers or skate shoes (http://www.gurl.com/findout.label.html). Overall, 2000s
Emo fashion is correlated with the gloomy and sad theme as the result of
‗Emotional‘ term that has been commodified by the media.
Behavior or mannerism of Emo subculture in 1980s was actually similar
with what can be found on hardcore and punk subculture. In 1980s, the
application of DIY, the ethic of being independent, was also found on Emo
subculture. The ethic made 1980s Emo was not exploited by mainstream media
since they did all things independently. Since 1990s, the second wave of Emo has
gained popularity through the thriving of Emo music promoted by Sunny Day
Real Estate. DIY ethic as the behavior of the subculture was not applied
thoroughly anymore because MTV started to enter the Emo world of which result
could be seen later in the third generation of Emo in 2000s. The 2000s Emo
commit to user
10
digilib.uns.ac.id
behavior is usually close with themes of anxiety in adolescence phase, terrible
loneliness, mental illness due to the lack of self ability in overcoming youth life
problems, the broken-heartedness of love life, sensitive rebellion in adolescence
phase
and
another
similar
(http://www.ehow.com/about_6657497_emo_kids_depression.html).
topic
The
application of Emo behavior in American youth‘s life even makes parents worry
about their children‘ condition because the gloomy theme of Emo has issued to
increase youth suicidal action and self mutilation in America (ibid).
Nowadays Emo‘s popularity in America is engulfed mostly by the constant
and regular broadcasting of Emo bands‘ music videos on MTV. Through music
video, Emo is incredibly familiar among young people through the exceptional
fashion and behavior shown by the performers. Most of Emo bands are really
representative in echoing what young people feel in their adolescence phase. They
have accomplished the cries of the adolescents‘ heart and give young people an
opportunity to try them on and participate in this crying out (Anastasi, 2005: 316).
The listeners who are involved in Emo music represented by Emo bands are not
satisfied enough by only listening to their song in audio form. They want more
from the bands which lately cause higher demands upon other products such as
visualization of the audio form.
Since music is not sufficient for satisfying the needs of fans, the existence of other
media such as pictures, poster and finally music video are created to give the fans
the visual representation to fulfill their need in idolizing the musicians (Peeters,
2004: 8). However, like what have been stated before, music video is proposed to
commit to user
11
digilib.uns.ac.id
advertise the performers‘ images to the audiences through everything appears
there which means that besides giving the visual representation of Emo icons, the
music video are also developed into a selling machine which has successfully
commodified all elements of this subculture to be consumed by the audiences.
There are numerous bands of which performances and appearances are
represented the identity of Emo subculture. Most of them are widely popular in
MTV and internet. My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard
Confessional, The Used, are just to name a few popular Emo bands in America
which has also encouraged the commodification of Emo.
A well-known Emo band which has successfully got high response from
Emo fans is The Used. The Used comes from Utah and gains popularity through
an aggressive Emo music they play. The Used produces more chaotic sound of
Emo as the mixture of post hardcore, pop and punk under the mainstream record
label, Reprise Record. The different sound of music, the unique appearance closed
to Emo style and rebellious performance of The Used‘s members on the stage
make this band popular in America. With Bert McCracken as the vocalist, Quinn
Allman as the guitarist, Jeph Howard as the bassist and Branden Steineckert
replaced by Dan Whitesides in 2008, as the drummer, they have released four
studio albums and EPs (Extended Play) or mini album from 2002 until 2009. The
albums are The Used (2002), In Love and Death (2004), Lies for The Liars
(2007), and Artwork (2009) while the EPs are Berth (2007) and Shallow Believer
(2008) (http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Used/Biography). The existence of The
Used in music industry is considered as a significant icon for the growth of Emo
commit to user
12
digilib.uns.ac.id
subcultures in America. This band is able to embody the general American
adolescents‘ problem sensitively since each band member has experienced similar
adolescence problem that is when they grew up in a low middle class environment
in Utah.
Having got huge number of fans, The Used‘s music videos are produced and
aired regularly on MTV and popular internet video sharing sites such as YouTube
and MySpace. Some of The Used‘s popular videos are Taste of Ink, I Caught Fire
(In Your Eyes), All That I’ve Got, Buried Myself Alive, A Box Full of Sharp
Objects, Blue and Yellow, Take It Away, The Bird and The Worm, Blood On My
Hands, and Empty With You. Those music videos have been released in several
years from 2002 until 2009 and highly appreciated by American adolescents who
define themselves as Emo Kids. By the regular airing of their music videos, The
Used gains more popularity. This phenomenon is really interesting to analyze
since the formula of making The Used‘s music videos is basically similar like the
formula used by general music videos which is purposively to sell the image of
the performers. It means that the other description of Emo subculture as a result of
commodification process is also found in the video. it is possible that everything
appeared on The Used‘s music videos is possibly made to offer the audiences the
right description of Emo youth subcultures. Certainly, everything appears on their
music videos is not purely a real representation of Emo subculture because The
Used is included in 2000s Emo mainstream band generation which is popular after
the subculture is exaggeratedly exploited by the media. Hence, based on this fact,
it can be deeply analyzed the kinds of commodification of Emo subculture in
commit to user
13
digilib.uns.ac.id
America through the appearance and performance of the performers in The Used
music videos.
B. Problem Statement
Concerning the significant issue about the commodification of Emo
subculture in America, this thesis is carried out to answer:
What kinds of commodified Emo subculture are found in The Used‘s
music videos?
C. Objective of Study
Based on the research question, the objective of this thesis is:
To understand the kinds of commodified Emo subculture found in The
Used‘s music videos
D. Scope of Study
In having research on this thesis, the researcher limits on the elements of
Emo subculture that are being commodified. The process of commodification here
will be focused on how media exploit the moving images, music and lyric in ten
of The Used‘s music videos. Ten of The Used music videos which are analyzed
are Taste of Ink, I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes), All That I’ve Got, Buried Myself
Alive, A Box Full of Sharp Objects, Blue and Yellow, Take It Away, The Bird and
The Worm, Blood On My Hands, and Empty With You.
commit to user
14
digilib.uns.ac.id
E. Research Significance
This research is conducted in the substances of:
1.
Providing comprehensive information about the commodified Emo
subculture in America through The Used music videos
2.
Giving deeper knowledge about Emo an example of youth
subcultures in America for other researchers who are interested in
the study of youth subcultures.
F. Method of Research
1. Type of Research
This thesis is included in a descriptive qualitative research. Descriptive
research is a type of research that aims to make description systematically,
factually and accurately about facts, characteristics and relations among the
phenomena which are observed (Nazir, 2006: 17).
The reason of using this research type is that all of collected and analyzed
data are in forms of words and pictures rather than numbers. Besides, the analysis
is made to test the theory and apply it to the observed phenomena rather than to
find the new theory from the observation toward the subject matter.
2. Source of Data
commit to user
15
digilib.uns.ac.id
The sources of data in the thesis are ten of The Used‘s official music videos
which are produced and aired from 2002 until 2009. They are Taste of Ink, I
Caught Fire (In Your Eyes), All That I’ve Got, Buried Myself Alive, A Box Full of
Sharp Objects, Blue and Yellow, Take It Away, The Bird and The Worm, Blood On
My Hands, and Empty With You. All of the videos are downloaded from The Used
band official account in the internet video sharing site, www.YouTube.com.
3. Data
The research will be conducted on two kinds of data. The first is main data
and the second is supporting data. The main data is collected from the source of
data which are ten of The Used‘s music videos: Taste of Ink, I Caught Fire (In
Your Eyes), All That I’ve Got, Buried Myself Alive, A Box Full of Sharp Objects,
Blue and Yellow, Take It Away, The Bird and The Worm, Blood On My Hands, and
Empty With You. The main data consist of moving picture, music and lyric which
all are analyzed to answer the problem statement.
The supporting data is proposed to endorse the main data of the research.
The supporting data consist of supportive materials about Emo subculture and The
Used, as an Emo band that is going to be analyzed, found in several books,
reviews, journals, articles, both hard file and soft file taken from the internet and
other sources.
4. Technique of Collecting Data
To find out messages conveyed by the data, the music videos will be
commit to user
16
digilib.uns.ac.id
observed through several steps. First, each of the music video is watched
repeatedly to find the object of analysis. After that, the music videos containing
preferred object of analysis are cut and grouped to reflect the same issue. It means
that not all part of the music videos will be analyzed. The chosen data are
considered for containing deep and thorough information upon the case which are
analyzed.
5. Technique of Analyzing Data
The data are firstly collected and classified in order to answer the problem
statement. The technique of analyzing data has to include several approaches to
explore the main data then the supporting data is scrutinized to support the main
data. Last step is taking conclusion to find the obvious explanation for the
problem statement.
G. Theoretical Approach
This research is conducted within the boundaries of American Studies.
American Studies is the study of American cultures which occupies various
disciplines to involve. It means that to study a cultural object, it cannot be
observed from one perspective of each discipline only but from an assortment of
commit to user
17
digilib.uns.ac.id
perspectives related to the subject matter being discussed. The purpose of relating
various disciplines in studying American cultural products is to find the context
behind it as it has been widely recognized that the central to any interdisciplinary
enterprise it the relationship between text to be studied and the contexts from
which they come (Campbell and Kean, 1997: 4). Therefore, several approaches
like popular culture, semiotic and sociocultural are applied in this research to
reveal the context behind the data as the products of American culture that are
analyzed.
American cultural product can be used as an instrument in understanding
America because culture reflects a particular way of life, whether a people, a
period or a group (Williams in Storey, 2009: 2). Culture that is widely favored or
well liked by many people is simply called as popular culture (ibid: 5). Popular
culture refers to belief and practices, and the objects through which they are
organized, and are widely shared among the people of different beliefs (Smith in
Pun, 2009: 16). It means that popular culture product has been extensively
acknowledged by wide people without having a definite limitation to which group
it can be consumed. However, for the sake that popular culture can be widely
consumes by mass, there is a certain ideology to conceal the reality of
subordination from those who are powerless: the subordinate classes do not see
themselves as oppressed or exploited (Storey, 2009: 3). This is because according
to Gramsci, the dominant groups in the society always seek to win the consent of
subordinate groups (ibid: 10). The dominant groups here use the media to lose the
subordination sense in the society. The process of losing subordination makes
commit to user
18
digilib.uns.ac.id
culture products are popularly consumed by all groups in the society without
realizing that there is a ruling class to win the hegemony behind it. Bennet also
writes:
The field of popular culture is structured by the attempt of the ruling class to win
hegemony and by forms of opposition to this endeavor. As such, it consists not
simply of an imposed mass culture that is coincident with dominant ideology, nor
simply of spontaneously oppositional cultures, but is rather an area of negotiation
between the two within which – in different particular types of popular culture –
dominant, subordinate and oppositional cultural and ideological values and
elements are ‗mixed‘ in different permutations (ibid: 10)
The hegemony ruling practice can be clearly seen on how youth subcultures are
commodified by the media. Stalling states that the media is a machine of which
purpose ideally is to inform but realistically, is to sell. It has consistently searched
the outer limits of society to find products to pasteurize repackage and sell to the
mainstream (Stalling, 1999). The commodification process of certain youth
subcultures is derived from such phenomena. Here, the media has shifted the
function of the early youth subculture from its exclusiveness as the place for
young people as the subordinate groups in the society with the different ideology
in acquiring identity to a product of popular culture which wide people can easily
consume it. In understanding subcultural commodification in America, popular
culture artifacts related to youth life such as movie, music, video game, music
video, fashion and the like are studied analytically. From the intensely study, it is
found that youth subculture artifacts created by media are structured to eliminate
the oppositional values of youth subculture in America.
Music video has
evidently commodified youth subculture because as a media, music video is
basically created by the winning groups such as capitalist and industrialist to sell
commit to user
the hipping stuffs and ideas of certain subculture to be widely accepted and
19
digilib.uns.ac.id
consumed.
To see the aspect of commodification found in the music videos and the
context behind the fact, the elements within a music video including music, lyric,
and image are deeply observed because to study a popular culture product, it is
necessary to apply semiotic approach (Pun, 2009: 28). Semiotic is the study of
signs or the social production of meaning by sign system of how things come to
have significance. For Peirce‘s semiotics theory, a sign is something which stands
to somebody for something in some respect or capacity. It addresses somebody,
that is, creates in the mind of that person an equivalent sign, or perhaps a more
developed sign (Peirce in Chandler, 2009: 3). Charles Sanders Peirce refers a sign
as the correlation between the representamen, object and interpretant. The
representamen, as the signifier in Peirce‘s theory, refers to the form which the sign
takes while the interpretant, as the signified, refers to the concept it represents.
Peirce‘s theory is different from the previous semiotics theory since to represent
the concept, as Peirce states, the interpretant is influenced by sense of signs made
by the interpreter or the object.
The relationship between the representamen, the object and the interpretant
emerges three modes of sign: symbol, icon and index. As Peirce notes that symbol
is a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is
fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional; icon is a mode in which the
signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the signified; index is a mode in
which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly connected in some way
(physically or causally) to the signified (ibid: 30). In the analysis of a moving
commit to user
20
digilib.uns.ac.id
image like movie, short movie, and television shows, Peirce‘ three modes of signs
are applicable. Wollen states that film and television use all three forms: icon
(sound and image), symbol (speech and writing), and index (as the effect of what
is filmed) (Wollen in Chandler, 2009: 35). Since music video is a form of short
moving image, Peirce‘s semiotics theory is relevant to use in signifying the
concept behind it.
Music video is a form of audiovisual communication between the
performers and its audiences in which the meaning is created through the
correlation of its moving image, lyric and music. Using Peirce‘s semiotics theory,
to analyze the concept within it, the image and music are employed as the icon
while the lyric is employed as the symbol. Still, the concept is gained from the
meaning behind the music video as the indexical tool. Below Carlsson affirms that
the meanings of a music video are gained from how the three aspects of music
videos, like moving image, music and lyric, correlate each other.
Clearly, production of meaning in music videos is complex, compromised of
several flows of audio-visual information. These flows interact and the resultant
meaning is perceived as one complete whole, created by both the ears and
eyes.......points out how three aspects of the audio-visual flow – music, image, and
text – interact producing meaning for ―literate" audio-viewers of music video
(Carlsson, 1999:1)
It means that in analyzing music video, moving image is not the only object that is
going to be observed. The analysis of music and lyric is also required because the
musical features of a song bend the moving image, even sometimes they also
shape the moving image on the video (ibid: 2) while the lyric in the music video
are depicted by the moving image to give the clear description of the song to the
audiences.
commit to user
21
digilib.uns.ac.id
As a cultural product of a society, semiotics approach is not merely enough
to explain the visual representation of a music video. Griffin states that
identifiable features of a text rarely reveal sufficient insight into how and why it
communicates (Griffin, 2002: 31). To reveal the context of a text which is the
cultural product of a society, it is needed to know how it communicates within a
society. Whereas to understand how a cultural product communicates, it is needed
to notice on the social context and an understanding of cultural codes. It is right if
semiotics theory can explain the context; still, the content of a cultural product is
mostly influenced by the social and cultural condition of a society where the text
is presented. Therefore, sociocultural approach is important to assist semiotic
approach in explaining the context of a cultural product in a certain society. As
Griffin also clearly notes as follow:
Yet regardless of such debates over the text-centered limitation of semiotic interests
and methods, semiotic inquiry has made one thing clear: that, images, like words,
can only be understood through their relationship to cultural patterns of making
meaning. The sociocultural paradigm, broad and eclectic with regard to specific
methods, makes it equally clear that cultural codes……can only be understood
within the discursive practices of a production system……and the social
organization (ibid: 32-33)
In analyzing the commodified Emo as an American youth subculture within
The Used music video, it is not enough to simply notice on signs available in a
music video. As a cultural product, those signs are influenced by the social context
and cultural codes of a society where the text is taken. The understanding about
American social and cultural condition at a specific time is needed to explain how
a music video as text communicates and how the context behind the text is
revealed. At this point, sociocultural approach is applied to give the clear
commit to user
explanation about the commodification process of Emo youth subculture in
22
digilib.uns.ac.id
America. By using sociocultural approach besides semiotics, commodification of
the signs in the music video can communicate the issues of Emo youth subculture
in America.
H. Thesis Organization
CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 is the introduction of the thesis. It provides the summary of the
background of the thesis. The Problem Statement Objective of Study, Scope of
Study, Research Significance, Method of Research ,Theoretical Approach and also
the Thesis Organization.
CHAPTER 2:
LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter 2 provides the literature review as the basic theory for the analysis. This
chapter 2 consists of Emo As A Youth Subculture in America, The Used‘s
Biography, Youth Subculture as A Form of Commodity, American Social and
Cultural Condition in 2000s and the last is Semiotics of Music Video.
CHAPTER 3:
ANALYSIS
Chapter 3 proposes the answers for the problem statement mentioned in chapter 1.
The first subchapter explains about the commodified Emo subculture in fashion.
The first subchapter explains about the commodification of Emo subculture in
behavior.
commit to user
23
digilib.uns.ac.id
CHAPTER 4:
Chapter 4 includes the conclusion and recommendation based on the analysis
which are written in the previous chapter.
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
24
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
As mentioned in Chapter 1, this research aims at answering the kinds of
commodification in Emo subculture in America represented by The Used‟s music
videos. To conduct with the solution of the problem statement, it is needed to apply
several theories. Thus, this chapter provides some appropriate theories which are
divided into five subchapters. The first subchapter is about Emo subculture. It
explains about the significance of Emo as a youth subculture in America and elements
of Emo subculture such as history and identity. The second subchapter provides the
biography of The Used including the brief explanation of their career, band members,
discography of songs and music videos. Then the third subchapter discuss about the
commodifications of youth subculture through its elements which are frequently
found in American media especially music video. The fourth subchapter explains
about American social and culture condition in the 2000s that influence the
development of Emo youth subculture. The last subchapter concerns on semiotic of
music videos, embracing its three elements: image, music and lyric.
A. Emo As A Youth Subculture in America
Adolescence is a phase of human life when childhood is replaced by
adulthood. In this phase, young people face a new challenge in relation to their past
commit to user
24
digilib.uns.ac.id
25
and future life. It means that in this period, young people are commonly looking for
their own identities in the process of being mature dealing with their personal
anxieties and the need for social self definition. As it is also stated in Fass words
“Youth is one of the sites where these forces cross, mix and clash: „at a splendid
crossroad where the past meets the future in a jumble of personal anxieties and an
urgent need for social self-definition” (Fass in Campbell and Kean, 1997: 215).
The searching of identity is sometimes influenced by the environments where
they grow. In America, the environments surrounding young people‟s life mostly
family, school and social institution, which are typically controlled by parent culture.
However, these environments do not fulfill all what young people look for because
youth desires its own space outside the adult or public sphere beyond the surveillance
of the authorities and institutions that dominate their lives (Campbell and Kean, 1997:
230). Hence, young people will go outside to construct the spaces which are free from
parents and institution intervention, as Grossbreg also writes:
Youth could construct its own places in the space of transition between these
institutions: in the street, around the jukebox, at the hop (and later the mall)…spaces
located between the domestic, public and social spaces of the adult world. What the
dominant society assumes to be no place at all (Grossbreg, ibid: 230)
The construction of these places between encourages youth subcultures to
emerge. Youth subcultures are considered as the marginal sites where young people
can obtain domains outside of parent culture. These subcultures are mostly created
from various forms of articulations like music, fashion, gangs, and so on. In music
genre, rock is an example of youth articulation which allow young people to live out
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
26
its alienation in ways that would increase is own sense of control over its everyday
life. Rock also offered the possibility of self expression in a new language coming out
of a hybridization of oppressed culture‟s musical form like blues, jazz and country
(ibid: 230). Besides, rock music also answers the surveillance and authority of the
dominant culture with a „counterculture of conspicuous display‟ that found a way to
contest their erasure to reintroduce themselves to the public by “throwing out” a new
style that made other people take notice (Lipsitz in Campbell and Kean, 1997: 231).
Rock music is still divided into various genres based on the different musical
events such as rhythmic cells, types of bass lines, harmonic motives, musical
processes and so on (Dunbar-Hall, 1991: 130). Every genre has formed its own
subculture because the differences of musical events are believed to represent
different ideology (ibid: 130). Heavy metal is different from punk, although both of
them are basically redlined in rock music, because they are different either in musical
events or lyrics which represent its own ideology. In America, rock music genres have
been increasingly changed according to the different generations. In 2000s, common
rock genres blooming out in this era are basically derived from metal, hardcore and
punk subgenre but using its specific characteristics. One of the subgenres emerged
from hardcore and punk is Emo which also finally become an independent youth
subculture because of its special characteristics.
Emo is a recent popular American youth subculture which emerged in 1980s
and astonishingly thriving in 2000s. Like the other music-based youth subcultures,
Emo is a place for American youth to form their identity in adolescence phase
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
27
through music, fashion, behavior and values. Still, Emo has various distinctions
compared to other music-based youth subcultures both on its history and identity.
1. The History of Emo
Emo is not a new genre in American music industry. Like punk music, initially,
Emo is emerged from underground music scenes. Through several developments,
then Emo is distorted from its origin music value. Nowadays, young people identify
Emo as a mainstream music genre different from the early Emo in 1980s. The
developments according to Andy Greenwald are divided into three parts: the first
wave in 1980s, the second wave in 1990s and the third wave in 2000s.
The term Emo was firstly introduced by a hardcore punk bands from
Washington D.C., such as Rites of Spring and Minor Threat, in the middle of 1980s.
Their music was considered revolutionary compared to the common hardcore punk
music flowering at that time because their lyrics were softer and more personal than
the other hardcore bands. Yet, those bands still expressed their intimate sentiments in
the style of hardcore that can be indicated from guitar riffs, feedback, yelled lyrics
and aggressive sounds of music, subsequently their music often termed by hardcore
fans as “Emotional Hardcore” or Emo. While there were various hardcore and punk
bands demonstrating their opinion toward the unfairness of society, politic and other
crisis, the early Emo bands explored the individual feeling sensitively through the
blown up words. The vocalists of these bands often cried on the stage when singing to
show the exaggeration of their emotional feeling. It can be noticed from one of the
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
28
early Emo band‟s lyric, “End on End” by Rites of Spring as follows:
…
I've had days of end on end
where nothing changed cause nothing began.
Restless movement in an empty room,
gathering shadows of a darkened blue.
And oh- it feels so strange- when it comes again
…
(End on End by Rites of Spring)
Rites of Spring‟s lyric above explains about the personal feeling of a man, in this case
one of the band members, when he feels the terrible loneliness as if causing the end of
his life. Through the words “restless movement in an empty room, gathering shadows
of a darkened blue” the loneliness become the main theme throughout the song.
Emo scene lasted only a few years in the Washington D.C. By 1986, most of
Emotional Hardcore bands in the first movement including Rites of Spring and Minor
Threat had broken up. However, their idea and aesthetic spread quickly across the
country via network of homemade zines, vinyl records and hearsays (Greenwald,
2003: 15). Since Emo originated from hardcore and punk, the bands were not signed
themselves with any mainstream media. They still practiced DIY (Do It Yourself)
music values carried out by punk ideology, which separated themselves from
mainstream music industries. On the other word, they are independent because their
music and belief are different from most of bands handled by majority record labels
at that time. In reaching the audiences, they established their own recording labels,
aired the songs on local radios and held several small concerts to anticipate the
interference of music industries.
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
29
Emo then spread widely across the United States in the early 1990s. This period
was considered as the second wave of Emo movement. Many bands in numerous
local scenes began to emulate the sounds as a way to marry the intensity of hardcore
with the complex emotions associated with growing older (Greenwald, 2003: 15-17).
Although the bands were numerous, the aesthetic of Emo remained the same. It was
about dramatic feeling wrapped in more melancholic hardcore music. Leader among
these bands was Sunny Day Real Estate. Unlike the bands from first wave Emo
movement in 1980s, this band had slower hardcore music, high-quality gear, lofty
musical ambitions, intricate songwriting, and a sweeping epic sound similar to most
of alternative bands at that time. Front-man of this band, Jeremy Enigk sang
desperately in a falsetto voice which mostly about losing himself and lost love topic
through chaotic lyrics and made-up words. Below is the example of Sunny Day Real
Estate lyric entitled “Seven”:
…
Sew it on
face the fool
December‟s tragic drive
when time is poetry
and stolen the world outside
the waiting crush my heart
…
(Seven by Sunny Day Real Estate)
Different from the lyrics carried out by the bands of the first movement of Emo in
1980s, Sunny Day Real Estate brings the personal feeling closer into the love or
romanticism theme which is noticed from the words „poetry‟ and „crushing my heart‟
from the lyric above.
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
30
Through their existence in music scene, the aesthetic of Emo was rebuilt and
brought closer to the mainstream music industry. Sunny Day Real Estate‟s debut
album Diary released at 1994 was over the top of American music chart and their
music video entitled “Seven” was aired regularly on popular music video station
MTV. Then, like many other aspects of youth culture, the music, including Sunny
Day Real Estate‟ music and its associated themes have become commodities for mass
consumption in conducting profits, similarly Greenwald states as follows:
In the wake of the 1991 success of Nirvana‟s Nevermind, underground music and
subcultures in the United States become big business. New distribution networks
emerged, touring routed were codified and regional and independent acts were able to
access national stage (Greenwald, 2003: 19)
The flourishing products based on underground music scene, including Emo, made
young people across the country declare themselves as fans of Emo music which
would be commonly recognized as “Emo Kids”. The term “Emo Kids” was gradually
popular in this period among American young people.
Sunny Day Real Estate was one of the bands that can be seen as a turning point
for Emo, in which the genre evolved from a less accessible hardcore sound of early
bands toward the more mainstream sound that is known today (Aslaksen, 2006: 10).
It means that music style carried out by Sunny Day Real Estate influenced the
development of Emo movement in the next wave of 2000s after this band‟s success,
numerous similar Emo bands, with slower hardcore sounds, emerged. They were
signed to major record labels then became marketable products. Their catchy music
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
31
and accessible themes surround youth life gave a broad appeal to young mainstream
audiences.
The third wave of Emo music movement comes out in 2000s. It is characterized
mainly by the rise of bands with a lead singer who generally sings in a high falsetto
voice and backed by electric guitars with pop hooks and punk riffs. The lyric
typically focus on relationship and heartbreak, yet there is still punk theme influence
the bands‟ lyrics such as rebellion, anger, hatred, despair and hope. For instance,
Dashboard Confessional, a band with the only one member with melodic and acoustic
music but still focus on Emo themed lyric like relationship and despair. The way of
other bands like Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights, My Chemical Romance
and The Used, perform their songs have similar dispositions. The vocals of those
bands are intermingled with voices close to yells of anger and emotional stress. The
bands in this period usually will start their songs with soft sweet singing and will
crescendo into an angst-ridden wail (Aslaksen, 2006: 14). They are also influenced by
the heavy metal guitar sound and hardcore yells of pain. The third wave Emo bands
characteristic which focus on relationship can be indicated from one of The Used
lyric entitled “Buried Myself Alive” as follow:
…
I guess it‟s okay I puke the day away,
I guess it‟s better you trapped yourself in your own way
And if you want me back, you‟re gonna have to ask
Nicer than that
…
(Buried Myself Alive by The Used)
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
32
The lyric above represents the relationship or heartbreak theme through the hint
phrase like “and if you want me back, you‟re gonna have to ask nicer than that”.
Moreover, in the end of the phrase, the vocalist usually screams or adds the high
falsetto voice to reinforce the mixed emotional feeling of the song.
In the next development, Emo become one of the most noticed rock music
genre in the middle of 2000s replacing the existence of pop, hip hop and pop punk
music. Besides, Emo has become a new phenomenon of alternative youth subculture.
Identified Emo today is a trend that unifies music, behavior, fashion, and way of life.
It thrives because there are huge numbers of young people apply the same values to
find the identity in their world through similar music taste. The values expressed
through Emo music offers alternative space for youth to experience adolescence more
sensitively.
The existence of “Emo Kids” can be found everywhere in America. The music
and values, as the symbolic means of subculture communication are not the only
factors playing big roles in the increasing of Emo subculture but also the appearance,
performance and personality of each member in certain Emo bands. It happens
because media and various big record labels as the mainstream industries purposely
have manufactured most of today Emo bands. In this point, Emo has been
commodified widely to be a marketable product. All of the symbolic means of
communication in Emo subculture such as music, fashion and behavior have been
redefined by the industries so that the society identifies Emo from media‟s
perspective only. Emo is described as a new cool youth subculture in 2000s that
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
33
attracts millions young people‟ attention to join it. This phenomenon is similar with
what a journalist, Ariel Meadow Stalling states about the commodification of
subculture in Lotus Magazine as follow:
This process of commodification -- turning something we view as a lifestyle into a
product -- has happened countless times to countless communities…. We live in a
media-dominated society ……..the media is a machine whose purpose ideally is to
inform but realistically, is to sell.….The media has consistently searched the outer
limits of society to find products to pasteurize repackage and sell to the mainstream.
(Stalling, 1999: 1)
Through Emo bands, including their music, fashion, way of life and behavior, the
music industries make the Emo-ness more popular in society so that young people
will recognize them, buy their products and do everything in the same way like what
the bands do. For instance, the regular broadcasting of some Emo bands‟ music
videos like My Chemical Romance and The Used on MTV has dictated the audiences
how to be Emo through both of fashion and mannerism shown by performers in the
videos. Similarly, Tetzlaff explains:
MTV places fashion at the center of existence. Belonging and actualization within the
MTV culture are matters of expressing style (available at fines stores everywhere), not
cultivating soul. Subcultural symbol systems are torn from their referents in lived
experience and social structure. Decontextualized signifiers are grafted onto a single
new signified: the consumption of attitude for the sake of consumption….lifestyle is
reduced to a pose…but each of these is just something fancy to wear: the pose isn‟t
about anything but itself. (Tetzlaff, 1986: 87)
The early ideology of Emo has been reduced by the existence of the third wave Emo
bands music videos broadcasted in MTV. MTV as the popular music videos channel
slowly penetrate the viewers‟ minds in giving the right definitions of Emo standard
performed by the video without considering the actual values. Like other media,
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
34
everything shown by MTV is for the sake of consumption. The videos, which are full
with Emo themes, are intended to bring the cool ideas to dress and act like what the
performers do. By consuming what the music videos represent, the viewers can
express themselves and become parts of something special (Stalling, 1999).
In the case of Emo, this youth subculture is thriving in 2000s because of media
has exploited it in the right moment after American has been stroke by the unknown
enemies that the media need to find a new kind of hipping products to sell which also
occupies the situation at the time because ccompared to other youth subcultures like
Punk which conveys rebellion toward everything which does not suitable with its
principles, Emo does not always recommend the members, widely known as “Emo
Kids” to be radical yet to be responsive even susceptible in facing everything
happens in youth life although it is seen from the negative point of view through
darkness, sadness and other pessimist themes. Emo can be accepted from 1980s until
2000s because there is the same line between the past Emo with recent Emo. Three of
them are rooted from the same Emotional Hardcore of which the hardcore formula
mixed with the emotional sense of music and lyric can be accepted well by most of
American adolescents.
2. The Identity of Emo
Each youth subculture builds its own characteristic through various symbolic
styles including fashion, music preference and behavior. This characteristic also gives
that subculture a certain identity which makes them different from other youth
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
35
subcultures. To distinguish a variety of identities in various youth subcultures, it is
needed a kind of boundary. Although the concept of identity boundary is flexible but
it can obviously describe the characteristics of people‟s self experiences of the self in
the society. This boundary provides the purpose of identification through markers.
The markers used to differentiate identity are commonly language, dress, behavior
and choice of space (Cohen in Hebdige, 1979). The markers are usually used to
communicate each other and to indicate that the members are in the same subculture.
Emo as one of youth subcultures particularly also has its own symbolic system of
communication as markers which differentiate the members from other youth
subcultures.
However, the markers of Emo subculture have changed since it was firstly
established in 1980s. First wave of Emo in 1980s was indicated with its relation to
Hardcore and Punk music scene that the markers were different from today‟s Emo
subculture. While the Emo in 1980s and 2000s signified the early cooperation with
mainstream media like MTV.
i.
Music Preference
a. 1980s Emo
The music preference is mostly based on music from the early Emo
bands influenced by hardcore and punk scene such as Rites of Spring,
Embrace and Fugazi. The characteristics of their music are:
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
36
Theme
: Anxiety, anger
Tone
: Fast and loud, hardcore typical sound
Vocal
: The vocalists rarely wail and scream. They do not use
falsetto voice when singing.
Instruments
: Guitar, bass, drums
b. 1990s Emo
The music preference is mostly based on music from more pop bands
without the interference of hardcore and punk music. The characteristics of
their music are:
Theme
: Love and relationship, anxiety
Tone
: Slow tempo of music
Vocal
: The vocalists sing like other pop bands vocalists.
Instruments
: Guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, piano
c. 2000s Emo
The music preference is mostly based on mainstream bands popularly
aired on MTV:
Theme
: Love and heartbreak (relationship), hatred, despair,
anger, death and problems surrounding youth life.
Tone
: High pitch, fast tempo, several bands have aggressive
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
37
sounds of music; some bands acoustically perform their songs.
Vocal
: The vocalists usually wail, scream, cry and use
falsetto voice when singing. There are sometimes backing vocalists in
certain bands who usually help the lead vocalist to scream and sing.
Instruments
: Guitar, bass, drums and sometimes in addition, using
keyboard, piano and synthesizer.
ii.
Fashion
Fashion is very significant in distinguishing Emo from the other youth
subcultures since fashion is a kind of language subculture deliver to its
perceiver that they are different with the mainstream culture in a society. In
the youth subculture, fashion is a main system of communication to
emphasize that the members are congregated in the precisely similar
subculture. As Chakal states, “Generally, subcultures are youth-based and
revolve around various music scenes, which in turn produces distinctive
fashion with which to identify members” (Chakal in Directo, 2006: 2)
In the early rising of youth subculture, fashion is an implementation of
young people to reject the dominant norms of a society. They dress and act so
unconventionally that they are regarded as threats because they do not appear
to adhere to the dominant ideologies of dressing properly and acting civilized.
This idea grows rapidly among young people that there are huge numbers of
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
38
them applying the idea through clothing. Therefore, gradually youth
subcultures have been commodified and labeled by the government and media
which promote the dominant ideologies that make them seem more acceptable
and non-threatening in the society (Hebdige, 1979: 155).
The exclusive means of communication applied by the members of a
youth subculture has shifted into mass production consumed by people
outside of the youth subculture itself. Moreover, the role of media in
promoting the exclusiveness of subculture as an alternative way to express
young people‟ desire makes the previous label of youth subcultures as the
defiant subcultures can be widely accepted by society through the ways the
media construct them.
Firstly recognized as an underground youth subculture in 1980s
around Washington D.C., now Emo is extensively recognized by massive
numbers of young people in America. The designation of Emo as a root of
hardcore subculture which applies the DIY ethic is slowly replaced by the
image of Emo today appears on the mainstream media. The symbolic style of
Emo subculture like fashion becomes media‟s main exploitation that
consequently Emo is mostly recognizable by the different fashion, not by the
idealism of an early subculture. The way of an Emo band members dress
themselves and the highlighted communities of Emo Kids spread everywhere
in America, become the promising commodity for the industries whether for
promoting the band or advertising the music from the band itself.
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
39
a. 1980s Emo
T-shirt and three-quarter pants were commonly used by the members
of early Emo subculture. The clothing was still influenced by hardcore fashion
booming at that time. Below is the description of general clothing worn by the
members of Fugazi band when performing on the stage.
http://assets.dischord.com/images.d/artist/image/6557/KYEO_003.jpg retrieved September
10, 2011
b. 1990s Emo
„Indie look‟ was the booming fashion among American youth in
1990s. Emo subculture was interfered by the mainstream media at that time.
Therefore, the appearances of the Emo band members were similar like the
other musicians at that time. Below is the description of general fashion of
Jimmy Eat World the second wave Emo band in 1990s
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
40
http://www.8notes.com/images/artists/jimmy-eat-world.jpg retrieved September, 10 2011
c. 2000s Emo
Through the media construction, Emo nowadays is associated with
dark side of fashion. Emo fashion is close to the rebellious style of punk but
more fashionable. Below are the fashion rules commonly practiced by Emo
Kids summed up from book Everybody Hurts by Leslie Simon and Trevor
Kelley on 2007
Clothing
:
Clothing is an element of fashion consisting of everything worn to cover
human body. The kinds of clothing are separated according to the different
part of the body: upper and lower. Upper body‟s clothing includes sorts of
shirt, t-shirt, blouse, etc. while lower body‟s clothing includes types of trouser
and short for men and skirt for women.
Upper Body
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
41
Clothing for the upper part of body usually consists of shirt, t-shirt,
polo shirt, blouse, jacket, sweater, sweatshirts and the like. Since Emo is a
youth subculture which basically offering rebellion against the usual norms of
parent culture, the upper clothing will be simpler than their parents‟ clothing
(Simon and Kelley, 2007: 41). It will be mostly around various kinds of tight
t-shirt, jacket and hoodie (a kind of hooded sweatshirts with a zipper).
Different from other youth subcultures, Emo clothing is usually
related with dark color like black, dark blue and red blood to symbolize the
major theme of this subculture: sadness, gloominess and depression.
However, the shocking color like bright pink, bright yellow and bright blue is
commonly accepted, especially if they are applied in boys clothing, to show
the expressive and arty side of this subculture. The shape of T-shirt worn by
Emo Kids is commonly tight. It is common in girls‟ fashion but not in boys‟.
This tight T-shirt makes the boys‟ appearance different from boys of other
youth subcultures.
Besides tight colorful or dark T-shirt, Emo upper body clothing can be
noticed from the use of hoodie. Hoodie is one of the youth breakthrough
fashion in 2000s since it combines sweatshirt with zipper. In Emo, the user of
hoodie will typically raise the hooded part to cover their head and raise
several meanings like mysterious and loneliness.
Lower Body
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
42
In the Emo subculture nowadays, clothing for lower body is mostly in
the forms of tight pants, jeans or even black tight jeans. Historically, jeans are
worn by the blue collar workers because of its lasting use. However, it is now
popular as a casual dress among youth. In society basically it has the same
function as T-shirt. It is commonly worn by young people to show the
freedom of self expression especially in choosing the lower body outfit. Jeans
is considered as a way of showing that kind of expression because it is
affordable, simple, popular and variable. In Emo subculture, jeans are
commonly applied by the members of Emo bands and the members of
subculture itself.
Hairstyle
:
Hairstyles used by the Emo Kids can be noticed easily. There are more
than two types of hairstyles applied by the members of Emo subculture. The
commonest hairstyle noticed from Emo kids is black or colorful long straight
hair with long side bang covering the eyes. The other is messy black hair in
medium length, colorful Mohawk and Gunshoot-wound hairstyles. Those
hairstyles are generally applied by the Emo boys while the Emo girls are
commonly use the colorful long straight hairstyle.
Accessories :
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
43
The accessories worn by Emo Kids are particularly similar like what
ordinary rock-stars wear. Metal and leather are dominated the accessories
such as piercing and wristbands. However, Emo has its own specification
like the stuffs below:
-
Vans, Macbeth or Converse shoes
-
Wristbands
-
Tattoos
-
Black or white studded belts
-
Piercing stuffs
-
Thick black horn-rimmed glasses
Make Up
:
In this subculture, not only girls make up their face but also boys. Both
of girls and boy usually use black or red eyeliner, paint the nails black and
often use black lipstick. The use of this make up dominated by dark color is
believed to indicate the senses of sadness and despair conveyed by Emo
music and lyric. The exploitation of make up makes Emo ridiculous
compared to other subcultures since it decrease the values of men‟s strong,
rebel and masculine (Aslaksen, 2006: ii). However, the use of make up for
boys is gradually acceptable since certain media explore it as a brand new
style for American boys.
commit to user
digilib.uns.ac.id
44
Below is the picture of My Chemical Romance, the well known Emo
band in 2000s. Their clothing is dominated by red and black color.
http://www.musicsnews.com/content_images/my%20chemical%20romance%20megali.gif retrieved
September 10, 2011
The pictures below are the general appearances of Emo boy and girl
which later become the standard of being an Emo Kid.
a
b
a.
The example of Emo boy‟s fashion with black and red eyeliner, long side
bang, black and blonde hair and tight black t-shirt
(http://www.emobucket.com/displayimage-2815.html)
retrieved
December 10, 2010 09:34 pm
b.
The example of Emo girl‟s fashion with black and red eyeliner, semi
black long hair, tight white t-shirt and white studded belt
(http://www.newhairstyles.tk/resimler/sexy-emo-girl-2-2010-17.jpg)
retrieved
December
10,
2010
09:45
pm
commit to user
iii.
45
digilib.uns.ac.id
Behavior
Unlike the 1980s and 1990s Emo which did not exaggerate the
„emotional‟ term as the rule on how the members behave, 2000s Emo
higly exploit the emotional term in its relation to the anxiety feeling in
the adolescence phase. Many adolescents find themselves in the position
of having an intense to feel loved and accepted. They desperately seek
love and acceptance but often lack the means to attain it. Adolescents
need to express their pain and opportunity for this expression (Anastasi,
2005: 303). Since adolescents have more time to search out and listen to
music, the will choose this medium to express their pain. Music is the
alternative way for adolescents to feel, to experience, to be inspired in
order to be motivate by something or to allow themselves to be deeply
affected by it. Combined with poignant lyrics; music can manipulate
emotions and evoke tears, regret, anger, happiness, a sense of social
responsibility, etc. Even music and lyric can cause some to begin to face
the issues of pain that have been locked in the recesses of their heart and
mind hat often only manifest themselves in outbursts, neurosis or
depression, when not understood and faced (ibid: 311)
Youth subculture is an alternative way for adolescents to express this
kind of youth anxiety since most of youth subcultures are entrenched
from several music genres. One of the subculture that would fit the
description of lyrics of youth lamentation, which also incorporates the
commit to user
46
digilib.uns.ac.id
style of music that invites contemplation and evokes passion and
emotion, is Emo (ibid: 311). In music, Emo has similar sound like Punk
but makes use of minor chords and major nines, which tend to create a
somber, pensive mood rather than an adrenaline rush offered by other
rock-based subcultures. Emo lyrics are also recognized as a hybrid of
anger mixed with hurt, heartbreak, suffering and lamentation which
become the primary expressions of its cries.
That is why Emo is commonly stereotyped as a group of young
people that face everything happen surrounds adolescents‟ life vulnerably
and sensitively. If other rock-based subcultures like Punk, Hardcore or
Metal highlight the rebelliousness to get a space in a society through
vandalism, Emo will offer the member to win a space in more sensitive
way. The Emo rebelliousness is formed differently through adolescents‟
anger which is wrapped by the individual sensitive feeling.
In the
relation to the society or environment, Emo subculture provide a space
for young people not to behave violently against the dominant system yet
to focus on what they feel while suffering from adolescence phase of
which reality is different from their expectation. Emo subculture breaks
the youth languageless silence since it provide the adolescents a space or
environment for them to begin assess their feelings and needs through its
music, lyric and community. As Kegan, a psychologist explains as
follows:
a “holding environment” or a “psychosocial environment” in which a
to user to grow…. this environment can
context is provided forcommit
the individual
47
digilib.uns.ac.id
provide a safe place for the adolescent to begin to sense pain, while it may
simultaneously function as a challenge to deal with that sensed pain (Kegan
in Anastasi, 2005: 305)
Having exaggerated nowadays, the members‟ behaviors are seal with
sadness, depression and broken-heartedness matters derived from Emo
themes which are dominated by feeling of loneliness, sensitive, shy,
quiet, sad, introverted, glum, depression, self-pitying, mysterious and
angst ridden. This Emo behavior are often represented by various Emo
symbol found broadly in the media such as pictures of Emo Kids cutting
their wrists with razor or scissors, pictures of Emo Kids with bleeding
hearts, pictures of a boy or girl sitting alone anxiously, hanging sad dolls,
etc. Because of this stereotype, Emo is often unenthusiastically issued to
increase the number of American youth depression, self injury and
suicidal action.
B. The Used’s Biography
There are numerous Emo bands gaining popularity in the third wave of Emo
movements in 2000s. The popularity of bands like My Chemical Romance, The
Used, Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights and Thursday signify how Emo is
incredibly popular among American youth nowadays. Mainstream music
industries explore not only their music but also performance and behavior.
Through various media like television, music videos, magazines, and internet,
young people recognize these Emo bands then gradually consume them.
The Used is one of the famous Emo bands from Orem, Utah founded in
commit to user
48
digilib.uns.ac.id
2002 achieving popularity in American music field through an aggressive Emo
music. The Used is considered as a different Emo band because they produce
more chaotic sound of Emo as a result from the mixture of post hardcore, pop and
punk using as a kind of crescendo element in screaming to reach a particular
emotional pitch, therefore The Used is also regarded as „screamo‟, a kind of
breakthrough in Emo area. The members of The Used are:
Bert McCracken as the lead vocalist,
Quinn Allman as the guitarist and the first backing vocalist
Jeph Howard as the bassist and the second backing vocalist
Branden Steineckert replaced by Dan Whitesides in the late of
2006, as the drummer.
This band is signed under a mainstream label, Reprise Record after going
underground through a local independent music label. The four members of this
band, who are all boys and still young, indicate the Emo-ness through fashion and
performance on stages, music videos, internet and other media. Besides, the youth
life background of each member that closes to poverty, homelessness, substance
abuse, and broken home, makes The Used fit to Emo sphere. Their songs are
easily adapted by Emo Kids since it reflects the real emotion of the members,
especially Bert McCracken as the songwriter, in telling his sad experience
wrapped by noisy music. Instead of telling the gloominess side of young people
related to anxieties in facing society which mostly is the basic theme of Emo, The
Used‟s lyrics also tell about the romance and relationship problems of youth love.
Most of the lyrics are covered with noisy sound of hardcore music.
commit to user
The Used has released four studio albums and EPs (Extended Play) or mini
49
digilib.uns.ac.id
album from 2002 until 2009. The albums are The Used (2002), In Love and Death
(2004), Lies for the Liars (2007), and Artwork (2009). The EPs are Berth (2007)
and Shallow Believer (2008) (http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Used/Biography).
The first full album entitled The Used has been released on 2002 brings this band
to reach their popularity. This album is listed on the Billboard 200 and peak on
63th position. In Love and Death, the next album is released on 2004 repeating the
band success by staying on the 5th position of the Billboard 200 and getting Gold
certification. The mainstream achievement comes up to The Used after the third
album, Lies for the Liars, has been released on 2007. Instead of sitting on the 5th
position of Billboard 200, some tracks are used for original soundtrack of a
blockbuster Hollywood movie entitled Transformer. The latest album entitled
Artwork is opened at 10th position on the Billboard 200 with 35,000 copies sold at
the first week on September 2009. Like all of the albums, the EPs are also gained
success by positioning 71th in the Top Billboard 200 for Berth and 13th position in
the iTunes Top 100 Albums for Shallow Believer.
By the success history of The Used and their occasional appearance on
media as one of the Emo bands, fans begin to point them as an icon of Emo
subculture especially in America. Everything comes from The Used become
trendsetter among Emo Kids. For instance the appearance of the vocalist, Bert
McCracken, with eccentric fashion, eyeliner, wristband and long messy black hair
is easily noticed and imitated by Emo Kids. Their songs become anthems for a
part of Emo Kids since they are considered as representation of hidden Emo
feeling. This band also takes a tour with a number of Emo bands in the Vans
commit to user
50
digilib.uns.ac.id
Wrapped Tour (a concert for lists of popular Emo and pop punk bands in several
American cities) from 2002 until 2007 which finally reinforce The Used as an
icon of Emo subculture through their music, lyric, appearance, behavior and
performance on the stages. Besides, their music videos are also occasionally
broadcasted by media such as MTV and easily found on the internet video sharing
like YouTube.
C. Youth Subculture as A Commodity
At first the function of youth subculture in general is to get a place for
young people to express themselves in order to fight against the dominant
standard of a society controlled by parent culture. The more members join with a
youth subculture, the more attentions are given to that youth subculture and its
members. Their way to communicate their language through appearance and
defiant behavior gradually becomes the center attention of society since the
emergence of a spectacular youth subculture is invariably accompanied by a wave
of hysteria in the press which typically fluctuates between dread and fascination,
outrage and amusement (Hebdige, 1979: 92). The media takes an important role
on how certain of youth subculture is accepted and known by the society although
media stand on two kind of opposite sides. In one side, youth subcultures are
ridiculed as a social problem, but on the other side they are alternatively
celebrated as a breakthrough phenomenon in society (ibid: 93).
Media spotlighting change the function of the previous youth subculture
through the media‟s perspective. As Hebdige also writes based on his examination
commit to user
51
digilib.uns.ac.id
on Punk, Mod and Rockers subcultures below:
In most cases, it is the subculture‟s stylistic innovation which first attracts the
media‟s attention. Subsequently, deviant or „anti-social‟ acts- vandalism, swearing,
fighting, „animal behavior‟- are „discovered‟ by the police, the judiciary, the press;
and these acts are used to „explain‟ the subculture original subculture‟s original
transgression of sartorial codes……..as the subculture begins to strike its own
eminently marketable pose, as its vocabulary (both visual and verbal) becomes
more and more familiar, so the referential context in which it can be most
conveniently assigned is made increasingly apparent. (ibid: 93-94)
Media do not only record its resistance but also place youth subculture in the
dominant framework of meaning which cause young people who choose to
inhabit a spectacular youth culture are simultaneously returned as they are
represented on TV and in the newspapers, to the place where common sense
would have them fit. Through this recuperation process created by the media,
youth subculture is incorporated within the dominant standard of culture which is
mostly controlled by parents. Fashion and mannerism as youth subculture‟s ways
of communication become two characteristics forms of recuperation (ibid: 94).
However, this process is shadowed by the commercialization created by various
industries to make them marketable. With the process of commercialization youth
subcultures, they are depoliticized, accepted into society and subsequently
become a part of mechanism.
Fashion as a symbolic system used for communication in a subculture has
gradually been shifted by the industry to be a new commodity. Subcultural fashion
is created differently considering the function of this symbol to communicate.
Fashion gives young people strong appeal for them to follow the newest or most
update fashion trend offered by market. It makes the meaning of early youth
subcultures frozen since it is removed
their private contexts by the small
commitfrom
to user
52
digilib.uns.ac.id
entrepreneurs and become codified, made comprehensible, rendered at once
public property and profitable merchandise (ibid: 96). Fashion of youth
subcultures style are also being presented as an alternative and an aspiration for
the normal person so that he or she can avoid homogenization and looking like
„everyone else‟ in their increasing struggle for social power (Directo, 2006: 3)
Besides fashion as the immense products of youth subculture, mannerism or
behavior of a youth subculture is also another commodity highly exploited by
various industries. However, the way in which youth subcultures are represented
in the media makes them both more and less exotic than they actually are
(Hebdige, 1979: 97). Youth subculture can be trivialized and domesticated in one
side, but on the other side it can be transformed into meaningless exotica as a
pure object and a spectacle (Barthes in Hebdige, 1979: 97). Hence, youth
subculture is often represented as a group of deviant young people causing riot
and chaos everywhere; by contrast, it can be defined as the normal young people
who just want to express themselves.
One of the ways media exploiting the two forms of youth subculture
through its styles is represented within the music video. Besides become an
effective promotional tool for the musician, music video has significantly
changed the music industry since it has changed the habit of music consumer
from the listener into the viewer. In America, it can be noticed after the
distribution of television in the 1950s that make the dominance of visual over
verbal information (Tetzlaff, 1986: 80). Behind this phenomenon, the dynamics
of capitalism through the political economy acts shapes culture in a very powerful
commit to user
53
digilib.uns.ac.id
way. Capitalism makes decision on which commodities to produce and exchange
purely on the basis of profitability. Here, culture is a form of commodity since it
is also produced and distributed in the same way as other commodity (ibid: 82).
Music videos nowadays do not simply form the ideology of a certain youth
subculture but tend to sell the pleasure through everything appears on it (ibid:
84). The traditional form of ideology which is identified as the function of mind
nowadays has been shifted into the modern one which also means that the
replacement of persuasion and rationality with a direct fusion of item and
response. This pursuit of pleasure is directed towards the products of the system
(ibid: 86), including what can be found within a music video. Through music
videos, which are mostly broadcasted by the phenomenal music videos television
channel or MTV, the industries simply recycle the styles and offer the fascination
to the viewers. In attracting the viewers‟ attention, this industry exploits the
subcultural symbol systems which are torn from their referents in lived
experience and social structure (ibid: 87). Each youth subculture‟s symbol
systems is reduced to a variety of poses offered for young shopper, punker,
metalhead, Emo, hip-hopers and other members of youth subcultures.
In a music video, the visualization dominates the video but this
visualization, in reality, is dominated by the lyric. The pictures, as what have been
stated above illustrate the lyric which for sure is adjusted with the music genre.
Punk, Metal, Hardcore and Emo genres are basically rooted from rock music.
Those genres actualize the existence of youth subcultures of which each idea is
used within the video (ibid: 88). In Emo for example, the concept of the video is
commit to user
54
digilib.uns.ac.id
regulated by the theme enclosed in lyric. Most of the music videos elements such
as characters, costume, properties and so on are certainly adjusted with the theme
carried by Emo music.
Since, the function of each video is to sell the image of performers and its
music; the media place the band or singers as the tastemaker subculture through
its fashion, music, and every appealing feature. Similarly, Directo notes:
For the public, the tastemaker subculture represents the instinctual knowledge of
everything cool. By injecting products, clothing, and music into the public sphere
through the tastemaker who promotes products by listening, wearing, or using
them, he or she then becomes a spectacle. In an effort to possess this tastemaker
status, consumers jump on the bandwagon so they, too, can be a part of the hipster
subculture that is continuously ready to serve up the next important
band/electronic device/fashion accessory. (Directo, 2006: 5)
As a tastemaker subculture, the performer has a significant role in
determining the viewers‟ perception of a certain subculture through the symbolic
styles of a subculture. It means that everything performed by the performer is the
right standard of how to be involved in certain subculture. The viewers of the
music video influenced by the role of the performers as tastemaker subculture will
indirectly follow everything performed by their idols including fashion and
mannerism they show on the video.
D. American Social and Cultural Condition in 2000s
To understand why the commodification of Emo subculture is able to run
well in 2000s, it is important to highlight what happen to American society which
influences youth culture around 2000s. The 2000s is considered as a millennium
era when the use of technology is significantly raising in order to make everything
commit to user
in life easier. As a result, the industry grows fast and the role of parents or adult
55
digilib.uns.ac.id
people in social and economical life is highly demanded. Hence, most of
American young people do not have close relationship with their parents. Parents
have less involvement in their children‟s adolescence phase so that they tend to do
risky actions such as drug use, despair, suicide attempts and mental illness
involvement in finding their identity (http://www.libraryindex.com). Alternatively,
most American kids choose the optional space to grow up outside of family. Youth
subculture is considered as the right place for them to find the identity. The
development of nowadays youth subcultures in America is influenced by the role
of the media rather than the self awareness of establishing the youth subculture in
demolishing the dominant standard of a society.
American youth in this era are generally marked by the familiarity of
adolescents with modern technology such as internet. The peer or group oriented
widely increases in America not only through conventional way like having fun
together in a certain place but also through an alternative way such as internet.
The fast growing of online social networking sites and forums such as
Livejournal, Makeoutclub, and MySpace, make young people tend to have virtual
peer group oriented rather than the real one. Similarly Greenwald also states as
follows:
The dominant role the internet now plays in teenager‟s lives-mostly spend at least
sixteen hours per week online- is both a profound change and the next step in
larger chain of events that stretches back throughout the history. Teenagers have
always felt persecuted and have always been so-called early adopters, seeking
ways to connect with each other that are unique to their peer group. (Greenwald,
2003: 56)
Emo subculture nowadays mainly grows up from this phenomenon.
Through internet, young people have
thetoultimate
commit
user tool or a private medium that
56
digilib.uns.ac.id
their parents do not understand where they can easily trade, access and share
music, ideas, feeling and support (ibid: 56). This community brings out cultural
choices for young people as an escape for reality. It also constructs the early Emo
as an underground community into a community of young people with the same
taste on fashion, music preference and behavior. Various Emo bands also come out
as result of this trend. Case in point, an Emo band called Thursday bloomed out
by the beginning of December 2001 in Makeoutclub and Livejournal sites. Their
popularity makes their video appears regularly on MTV2 and their singles peak on
Billboard charts. In May 2002, most of American Emo Kids proudly wore
Thursday t-shirt (ibid: 58).
Early 2000s‟ American music is mostly dominated by pop, hip hop, R&Btinged pop, boy bands, girl bands and divas such as Britney Spears, Christina
Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and Nsync. Their music conquers the American market
from late 90s until early 2000s right before the 9/11 tragedy had happened. At that
time, America was popular with „superpower country‟ label which can not be
beaten by anything. The glamorous entertainment industries before and after the
millennium era represent how powerful this country is. After the terrible event,
America seems to lose its power because the superpower label has been dejected
by 9/11 event. America needs a healing process for a short time which certainly
makes most of American entertainment industries vacuum. To re-raise the
entertainment business, the industries need to find another thing that remarkable
and different from the previous stuff. Greenwald states that the media business
which are very desperate post 9/11 tragedy, had found the next „big thing‟ for
commit to user
57
digilib.uns.ac.id
American young people that we will know it further as Emo. As what has been
explained before that Emo concerns on seeing life from the gloomy side which
coincidentally fits with American condition post 9/11. The re-emergence of Emo
with its „emotional‟ term in media has represented what America in general feel at
that time. Gloominess, sadness, depression and other related themes are well
accepted in the entertainment industry. Though, there is a fact that the hedonistic,
materialistic hip-hop still dominates the music charts and media, Emo could enter
the media before it is dramatically famous (ibid: 141). In the wake of this success,
many Emo bands are signed to major record labels so that everything related to
this subculture becomes marketable products. The depoliticized nature of Emo
through various media, coupled with its catchy music and accessible themes, give
it a broad appeal to young audiences.
E. Semiotic of Music Video
1. Charles Sanders Pierce’s Semiotic Theory
Music video communicates messages and ideologies conveyed by the
performers through audio and visual representation instead of becoming one of the
musician‟s effective promotional tools. Similar like movie, music video also gives
the artistic side behind its ideological and commercial force. MTV as the greatest
and earliest media bringing various music videos to audiences has proven it, as
Peeters also points out:
The fact that MTV has become the ultimate forum on which youth culture is both
expressed and constructed has transformed the music video not only into the most
effective tool for promotion within the music industry, but also into a powerful
commit
to user
ideological force.(Peeters, 2004:
2)
58
digilib.uns.ac.id
Considering the artistic, commercial and ideological potential of the music
video, it becomes necessary to investigate both the semiotics of the clip text and
its function within society at a deeper level. For the investigation of an object of
study as multidimensional as the music video, using signifiers from different
sensorial domains, the field of cultural studies with its interdisciplinary approach
can provide tools for interpretation (ibid: 2). Therefore, semiotics as the study of
signs is applicable in analyzing music videos.
To understand the meaning of the medium, it is important to study and
interpret the various signs within it. Generally, the signs can be taken form of
words, images, sounds, odors, flavors, acts or objects, et cetera. Charles Sanders
Peirce, an American philosopher, states that a sign is something that represents
something else (Peirce in Chandler, 2009: 3). The assemblage of signs, which are
constructed and interpreted with reference to the conventions associated with a
genre and in a particular medium of communication, often forms a text which is
employed in semiotics analysis.
Peirce creates a triadic model of sign creating which consists of three major
elements correlating each other: Representamen (the form which the sign is taken
which usually comes from unnecessary material), Interpretant (not an interpreter
but rather the sense made of the sign) and Object (to which the sign refers). As he
also has pointed out:
'A sign... [in the form of a representamen] is something which stands to somebody
for something in some respect or capacity. It addresses somebody, that is, creates
in the mind of that person an equivalent sign, or perhaps a more developed sign.
That sign which it creates I call the interpretant of the first sign. The sign stands
for something, its object. It stands for that object, not in all respects, but in
reference to a sort of idea, which
have
sometimes called the ground of the
commitI to
user
representamen' (ibid: 27).
59
digilib.uns.ac.id
According to him, the object is considered as an instance of „firstness‟, the
representamen as an instance of „secondness‟ and the interpretant as an instance of
„thirdness‟ (ibid: 28). It is clearly noted that Peirce‟s representamen also functions
as signifier while interpretant functions as signified. However, as the „firstness‟
the object or interpreter can determine the signs mode. Therefore, the interpretant
is often influenced by the object as the interpreter. According to Peirce, the
presence of the object between representamen and interpretant will create three
modes of sign:
a. Symbol is a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the
signified but which is fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional so that the relationship must be learnt.
b. Icon is a mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or
imitating the signified (recognizably looking, sounding, feeling,
tasting or smelling like it) - being similar in possessing some of its
qualities.
c. Index is a mode in which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly
connected in some way (physically or causally) to the signified.
2. Semiotics of Music Videos
Wollen states that film and television use all three forms: icon (sound and
image), symbol (speech and writing), and index (as the effect of what is filmed)
(Wollen in Chandler, 2009: 35). Since music video is a form of short moving
commit to user
60
digilib.uns.ac.id
image, Peirce‟s semiotics theory is relevant to use in signifying the concept
behind it. Music video is a form of audiovisual communication between the
performers and its audiences in which the meaning is created through the
correlation of its moving image, lyric and music. Using Peirce‟s semiotics theory,
to analyze the concept within it, the image and music are employed as the icon
while the lyric is employed as the symbol.
The three essential parts in a music video are the moving image, the music
and the lyric. The meaning is not only attained from how one part play a role in
the music video but also from how those three aspects of music videos correlate
each other. According to Carlsson, the imagery is gained from several flows of
audio visual information including moving image, music, lyric and sometimes
sound effect in the beginning or end of music video. These flows interact that the
resultant meaning is perceived as one complete whole, created by both the ears
and eyes.
a. Moving Image
Moving image on the music video basically has the same elements with
film. According to Christian Metz, shot is the smallest element in a film which
is comparable to words in language, scenes as sentences and sequence as the
paragraph (Metz in Monaco, 2000: 160). It means that shot in a movie which
physically defined as a single piece of film without breaking the continuity of
film, functions as a sign to represent the meaning behind. Other pictorial
commit to user
61
digilib.uns.ac.id
elements of moving images also express the concept behind the music video
are divided according to the mise-en-scene and cinematography.
Mise-en-scene is a theatrical process of staging which encompass the
elements below:
-
Setting
: location (place), sound stage (a built locale in
which every variable of light and sound can be calculated to
simulate whatever environment a filmmaker wishes to create)
-
Lighting
: it functions as a property dealing with the control
of light in a scene to establish mood and direct attention to detail. It
also helps the viewers to understand setting as well as characters
within that setting. Lighting is divided into three parts:
Key light
: it provides the primary key of a light
source, tends to illuminate most strongly the shot‟s subject
and also cast the strongest shadows. Key light is still
divided into high key and low key light. It can be said as
high key if there is a little contrast between bright and dark
obtains soft and revealing of details. While low key tend to
be in high contrast, harsh and hard. It is usually found in
horror and mystery movie.
Fill light
: it is usually positioned near the camera
roughly 120° or thereabouts from the key light which
functions is to soften the illumination upon the subject and
its surrounding area.
commit to user
62
digilib.uns.ac.id
Back light
: it comes from behind the subject and
separates the subject from the background, counterbalancing the brightness of the key light.
-
Costume
: it relates to the wardrobe worn by the
characters which functions to strengthen the characterization on a
film based on its genre.
-
Hair & Make Up
: similar with costume, hair and make up
function to strengthen the characterization on a film.
-
Properties
: it helps to amplify the mood and gives the
further definition to a setting in a film.
-
Figure Behavior
: it means to describe the movement,
expressions of the actors and other figures (animals, animated
figures, etc) within a given shot.
Besides the elements of mise-en-scene, it is needed to notice on the
elements of cinematography which basically encompasses everything to do
with the camera:
-
Camera Framing
: generally it deals with the placement of the
camera which can be analyzed in terms of the distance between the
camera and its subject. It is described by:
• Extreme long shot (ELS)
: in which one can barely distinguish
the human figure
• Long shot (LS)
:
in
which
humans
are
distinguishable but remain dwarfed
by the background;
commit to user
• Medium long shot (MLS) : in which the human is framed from
63
digilib.uns.ac.id
the knees up
• Medium shot (MS)
: in which human is framed from the
waist up
• Medium close-up (MCU)
: in which the human is framed from
the chest up
• Close-up (CU)
: in which isolates a portion of a
human (the face, most prominently)
• Extreme close-up (ECU)
: in which a mere portion of the face
(an eye, the lips) is framed.
-
Camera Angle
: it deals with the angle of the camera in
relation to that which it records.
-
Camera Movement
: the movements of the camera during a
single shot including tilting, panning, tracking and so on.
However, there is a distinction between moving images of a music video
with the moving images of a film. The visual form of a music video is close to
the musical form since it is made for an already existing tune. By manipulating
color, motive setting, story footage clothing and so forth, the music video
director creates a couple of idea which are repeated and varied (Carlsson, 1999:
3). This concept is used to rearrange visual motifs so that it forms a whole
work. The visual motifs of music video are merging form of the three traditions
of moving images: singing performance, visual story-telling or narrative and
the non-narration of modern art.
-
Singing performance
Singing performance which is also close to concert performance
usually use the traditional basic formula of taking a popular singing
commit to user
performer and place him or her in a setting influenced by the musical
64
digilib.uns.ac.id
genre with the historic pop tradition of recording live performance on
tape or film. The singing performance is commonly used to promote
the performer‟s performance to the audiences and to give the viewers
repeated images of performer‟s characters. (ibid: 4)
-
Visual story-telling or narrative
Visual story-telling or narrative is carried by the lyric or the visual
images, sometimes featuring a guest star and turning music video into
mini film with specific generic identification (e.g. horror, gangster
film, screwball comedy, western, noir, melodrama, women‟s picture)
making the visual easier to remember and providing the spectator with
a fabricated day dream with varying degree of space left for personal
elaboration (Kinder, 1984: 4-5)
-
The non-narration of modern art
As the opposition of the traditional singing performance, the nonnarration of modern art has been developed by the representatives of
the 20-th century art forms and created experimental movies. In a nonnarration of modern art music videos, clip collages, paraphrases,
animated abstract art computer graphics and unexpected combination
of pictures may appear (Carlsson, 1999: 4)
b. Element of Music
Basically, music video is composed by adding images to music.
Sometimes, the musical elements shape the moving pictures. For instance,
commit to user
65
digilib.uns.ac.id
movements like footsteps are often synchronized with the beat so that people in
the music video seem to walk in synch to the music (Carlsson, 1999: 2).
Therefore, the analysis of musical properties is really needed because of the
compact relationship between music properties and moving images in a music
video.
Since Emo is a subgenre of rock music, it is needed to know the elements
of rock music to reveal the meanings behind. Like another music genre, rock
consists of musical sound properties including pitch, dynamic, tone color and
duration (Kamien, 2000: 4-69).
-
Pitch
Pitch is determined by the frequency of vibration.
-
Dynamic
Dynamic of music is separated into the of loudness and softness in the
relation to the amplitude of the vibration that produces the sound.
-
Rhythm
Rhythm is the flow of music through time separated into three related
aspects, beat, accent and tempo:
i.
Beat
Beat is a regular, recurrent pulsation that divides music into
equals unit of time occurring every ¼ second and seldom happens every 1
½ seconds.
ii.
Accent or Syncopation
commit to user
66
digilib.uns.ac.id
A note is sometimes accented when it is held longer or higher in
pitch than the notes near it. When an accented note comes unexpectedly, it
will be known as syncopation.
iii.
Tempo
Tempo is the speed of the beat, the basic pace of the music. A
fast tempo shows the feeling of energy drive and excitement while the
slower tempo contributes to a calm mood.
-
Melody
Melody is a series of single tones which begins moves and ends, also has
direction shape and continuity.
-
Harmony
Harmony refers to the way chords are constructed and how they follow each
other. A chord is the combination of three or more tones sounded at once or
group simultaneous tones. The harmony of rock is usually simple since it
consists of three or four basic chords.
c. Lyric
Besides moving images and music, lyric is another element to help the
visualization within the music video. Different with film, in music video, the
meaning is mostly influenced by the correlation of music and lyric since those
two elements are formerly exist. As Carlsson also points out:
In various music videos, the new meaning is added to the banal lyrics to
metaphorical language…… the greater the leap between the content of the
lyrics and the imagery in this metaphorical joining, the more difficult for the
commit the
to user
viewers to understand and interpret
context. (Carlsson, 1999:3)
67
digilib.uns.ac.id
Generally, what appears on a music video has never been far from the
visualization created by the moving image in order to make the viewers
understand the message of the music video (ibid: 3). For example, if the word
“sad” or “alone” is repeated due to the theme of a song then the visualization of
moving image will mostly adjust itself to the concept of lyric and music.
Lyric presented in the song is a linguistic sign with clear cut onsets. Their
denotative semantic structure is completely determined by the autonomous
linguistic meaning (Mazzola, 1997: 57). Hence, to understand the meaning of
lyric in a music video, sometimes it is needed to notice on the semantic
features of the lyric.
commit to user
68
digilib.uns.ac.id
CHAPTER III
ANALYSIS
This chapter proposes the answers for the problem statement mentioned in
chapter 1. Since the objective of this research is to understand the kinds of
commodification of Emo as one of American youth subcultures represented by
The Used‟s music videos, this chapter is divided into two major subchapters to
specify the analysis. The division of subchapters is based on the most identifiable
Emo youth subculture‟s symbolic system of communication which includes
fashion and behavior.
The first subchapter explains about the commodification of Emo subculture
in fashion in The Used‟s music videos. Because fashion comprises on numerous
parts, the analysis is classified into several points to explain the main subchapter
in detail. The second subchapter gives an explanation about the commodification
of Emo behavior within The Used‟s music videos. This second subchapter is
divided into two major points to simplify the analysis about the commodification
of Emo behavior found in the video. To deeply scrutinize the commodification of
fashion and behavior in the videos, the analysis is not only based on the visual
representation but also the audio representation of music and lyric.
1. The commodification of Emo Fashion within
The Used’s Music Videos
commit to user
The huge numbers of youth subcultures are merely distinguished by the
68
69
digilib.uns.ac.id
diversity of music genres because in music, young people find a right place to
express their feeling when they are going through the adolescence phase within
the society which is mostly defined by the standard of parent culture. Each youth
subculture offers the acquirement of identity through various symbolic systems of
communication including fashion and behavior. Fashion is the most visible
symbol of a youth subculture applied by the members to emphasize that they are
congregated in a precisely similar subculture. However, through the exploitation
of the media, fashion of today youth subculture has been commodified from its
previous function as the exclusive means of communication in a youth subculture
into mass product of which everyone can wear.
The role of media in defining the meaning of a youth subculture is
contradictive. In one side, the media capture the bad side of youth subculture.
Young people as the members of youth subculture are considered to dress and act
so unconventionally in a society that they are regarded as threats because they do
not appear to adhere to the dominant ideologies of dressing properly and acting
civilized (Hebdige in Directo, 2006: 2). On the other side, the exclusivity of a
group of young people in building their own system through fashion attracts
media‟s attention to exploit the meaning of this symbolic system of subcultural
communication. Through these two kinds of opposition created by media, there
will be more people become familiar with youth subcultures‟ remarkable fashion
since this fashion offer the uniqueness that cannot be given by the standard
fashion in a society. This phenomenon gradually attracts the industries to produce
similar stuffs and encourage consumers to apply the similar idea. This process has
commit to user
70
digilib.uns.ac.id
manufactured the early fashion as the exclusive means of communication into a
marketable product.
The similar process happens within Emo youth subculture. The previous
label of Emo as a root of hardcore subculture applying DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic
is slowly replaced by the image of Emo today exposed in the media. The Emo
fashion has been widely commodified by the market that consequently Emo‟s
early idea as an exclusive youth subculture is lost. Emo is not plainly a hardcore
music-based youth subculture but also a new trend in youth fashion. Music video
has a significant role how the Emo today is defined. Because of many bands have
applied the Emo theme, the making of the music videos is not far away from Emo
subject. The regular exposure of the Emo bands through the visual media like
MTV and internet video sharing sites make the audiences easily identify the bands
in their definite images (Peeters, 2004: 9). Consequently, if a band has been
labeled Emo by the mainstream media, the adolescents who at first have been
fascinated by those Emo bands‟ music will possibly idolize the bands appearance
and follow everything they perform within a music video.
By exploiting the idolatry thinking toward the bands, the music videos then
change the attitude of the viewers into the active consumers. Fashion as the
symbolic system is now easily watched within a music video, become the
essential part of it and found everywhere in the fashion store (Tetzlaff, 1986: 87).
The exploitation of Emo subcultural fashion is obviously found in most The
Used‟s music videos. Fashion used by the performers including the band members
and models within the videos is intended to sell Emo image of The Used to the
commit to user
71
digilib.uns.ac.id
viewers. The visualization of The Used‟s lyric and music intermingled with the
Emo fashion applied by the performers become the double-edged sword to
convince the viewers about the fashion standard of being an Emo kid. This
standard is possibly made to let the devoted viewers apply and duplicate what the
performers present on the video. From ten of The Used music videos, it can be
acquired that the process of commodification through fashion are stumbled on
clothing, hairstyle, accessories and make up. Here, it is seen that Emo theme is
highly exploited, fused with every elements of fashion and intended to produce
the fashion standard of being the members of Emo youth subculture.
a. Clothing
To simply understand how Emo fashion has been commodified within the
music videos, the analysis is separated into upper and lower body clothing.
i. Upper Body
Clothing for the upper part of body usually consists of shirt, t-shirt, polo
shirt, blouse, jacket, sweater, sweatshirts, etc. Emo upper body clothing will
approximately include various kinds of t-shirt and hoodie (a kind of hooded
sweatshirts with a zipper). The colors of Emo upper body clothing are usually
related with dark colors like black, dark blue, brown, grey and red blood to
symbolize the major theme of this subculture: sadness, mysterious, gloominess,
togetherness and the like. However, the shocking colors like bright pink, bright
yellow and bright blue are commonly accepted, especially if they are applied in
commit to user
72
digilib.uns.ac.id
boys clothing, to show the self-expression side of this phenomenal youth
subculture (Simon and Kelley, 2007: 59)
1. Dark Colored T-shirt
a. Gloominess
Emo is always associated with the gloomy theme of adolescence phase,
the colors like black, dark blue, red and other dark colors, dominate the
appearance of the performers to support the related themes (ibid: 59). Instead
of highlighting the gloominess, the exploitation of dark colors in Emo also
raises the sense of mysterious and togetherness.
In Emo, the gloomy theme is actualized by several dark colors applied in
T-shirts. It can be seen from the appearance of Bert McCracken in I Caught
Fire music video. The visualization of I Caught Fire music video represents the
love life and relationship of young people within an Emo group whose life
seem miserable because they have to live along the street, out of their home
and family. The video‟s storyline deliberately exemplifies the general problem
of young people, since in this adolescence phase love life is one of the
complicated things approaching them. Emo as a youth subculture which
sensitively notes on this problem has explored love theme in lyric and music
reflected in I Caught Fire music video. Applying the singing performance semi
narrative concept, this video is intended to give the general description of
adolescents‟ love life embraced in Emo style.
commit to user
73
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
In a scene of I Caught Fire, low key lighting generally strengthens the gloomy
theme of this video. From 00:00:29 until 00:00: 31, the camera takes two
medium shots of Bert McCracken, the lead vocalist of The Used wearing a
navy blue T-shirt standing in front of a dark place with two lamps above him as
the only source of light (Figure 1). Besides showing the performance of the
band‟s lead vocalist, this scene also demonstrates Emo fashion through Bert‟s
T-shirt (Figure 2). This scene appears as Bert sings the lyric “could we dim the
sun and wonder where we‟ve been” while the drum dominates the music in a
medium tempo so that Bert‟s voice is going to be spotlighted in audio as well
as Bert‟s appearance in visual. The low key lighting used in this scene is
intentionally connected with the word “dim the sun” to reinforce the gloomy
theme of Emo. The phrase “Could we dim the sun and wonder where we‟ve
been” here poetically refers to the relationship description of adolescents in an
ironic way which is easily found in the general Emo lyrics. “Could we dim the
sun” phrase sounds too overstating compared to the popular American love
songs at that time which are dominated by pop music and R&B (Greenwald,
2003: 69). However, when Emo is generally publicized, the exaggerating
poetical love songs have got more attention from the young listeners since the
commit to user
music have been answered the adolescents‟ need of expressing love in a more
74
digilib.uns.ac.id
sensitive way yet still wrapped in a noisy music which signifies the rebellion
side of adolescents. Emo music is considered as breakthrough music compared
to the common pop love songs at the millennium era due to the use of
poetically love theme on rock songs.
As the framing turns into medium close up shot, the typography of Bert‟s
T-shirt becomes the main object of camera. The word “Saint” in big red size
letter is shot simultaneously with red flash as the backlight (Figure 3). Through
the use of “Saint” letters, Bert embodies the icon of „saint‟ through his T-shirt.
Different with the meaning of saint in general which refers to holy person
whose life is practicable this typography precisely creates a perception that
Bert as the central object in the scene exemplifies the Emo fashion which is
applicable for every viewer who wants to look Emo like him. Bert‟s appearance
is purposely intended to match up with the lyric he sings, therefore, besides
listening to the songs, the viewers are going to watch the fashion of being an
Emo Kid figured out by Bert‟s T-shirt.
In other scene, the rest of band members are also shot both on their
performance and appearance within I Caught Fire music video.
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
From the scene above, in a short duration of medium close up shot, Quinn the
commit to user
guitarist and Jeph the bassist become the objects of camera as the sounds of
75
digilib.uns.ac.id
guitar and bass rhythm coming out. Besides focusing on their face in order to
introduce and familiarize the guitarist and bassist to the viewers, the camera
mostly focuses to their upper body clothing. In the left corner of the first
medium shot (Figure 4), Quinn wears a tight black T-shirt while, Jeph in the
right corner, wears the red and black outfit. The second medium shot of the
camera (Figure 5), the objects are still placed in the same position but the low
key lighting on their face turns from bright into dark blue. Like what happened
to Bert in the previous scene, the light effect here creates the dark sense to
highlight Emo major theme. Then as the drum‟s beats lead the song, the
medium close up shot moves to the early drummer of The Used, Branden‟s
appearance, who wears the similar outfit like Quinn does: a black T-shirt with
certain typography on it (Figure 6&7). Like Bert and other band members, the
dark colors applied in his T-shirt are aimed at signifying the Emo themes
represented by The Used‟s song.
The spotlight of The Used four members‟ appearances above gives an
alternative choice for young viewers to express themselves through fashion in a
simple yet sensitive way wrapped by Emo style. The simplicity offered by Emo
fashion is different from most popular style of American youth at the early
2000s influenced by the appearance of pop, hip hop and R&B stars which
mainly portrays the glamour lifestyle (Greenwald, 2003: 141). Post terrible
incident of 9/11, the national suffering has shifted every sector of American life
including youth lifestyle (ibid: 69). As American‟s life is getting insecure, the
gloomy theme offered by Emo can represent what most young American feel.
commit to user
76
digilib.uns.ac.id
Having faded out by the terrible event, the entertainment industries have found
out that Emo theme is the next big business. Emo can be easily accepted by
American youth since it can mingle the gloomy feeling post 9/11 with the
anxiety feeling of the adolescence phase. It means that American adolescents
do not need another space to acquire the identity in the midst of national
suffering because all that they need have been occupied by Emo as an
alternative youth subculture to choose. This video is made in 2005 where the
euphoria post 9/11 still influences most of American life which makes Emo
become the most wanted stuff by American young people..
b. Togetherness
Besides singing performance, I Caught Fire music video also applies the
story telling concept through the performances and appearances of American
suburban Emo Kids which are deliberately situated to strengthen the Emo
theme.
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
The camera takes the long shots of suburban Emo Kids which consists of
boys and girls. Without any additional lighting source since it is outside
framed, this scene is obviously shot in order to leave the idea of togetherness in
commit to user
Emo subculture and its members. The appearance of Emo kids are not shot one
77
digilib.uns.ac.id
by one but in a group that consequently the viewers will notice on what appears
on the scene. The four pictures above shows that Emo Kids approximately wear
the same type of T-shirt of which colors are dominated by the of dark colors.
Besides identifying the dim theme of Emo subculture, the dark color of their
upper clothing symbolizes the togetherness and unity which is known as the
root of any kind of youth subculture. Moreover, the first until fourth scene are
shot using different setting of place in several American towns which is
purposively used to emphasize the appearance of a group of American
adolescents with the communal atmosphere. The similar color and style signify
the unity and togetherness of Emo youth subculture to impress the viewers that
the members could be everywhere together with the community either in happy
or sad situation. The communal atmosphere here becomes a selling point
within the scenes, because like what has been stated in the previous chapter
that most American youth tends to have the virtual youth community rather
than the real one regarding to the development of technology. The scenes trace
back the meaning of being together in the real youth subculture. As it is known
that togetherness sense id mostly found in the traditional youth subculture such
as Punk in the early 1980s for example which was basically offering the sense
of unity, mutuality and togetherness which were practiced by gathering living
together in a street.
The first long shot scene is shot from the edge of the street in a medium
angle (Figure 8). This scene is captured from the beginning of I Caught Fire
video at the same time as the melody of the guitar as the intro of the song is
commit to user
78
digilib.uns.ac.id
played. The appearance of those models in the beginning of the video
commonly describes real Emo Kids as the members of youth subculture whose
life is communal, mutual and underrated like what can be found in the early
youth subcultures. By placing the camera in this angle, the Emo Kids‟ full
appearances are shot in order to show the viewers what kind of outfit they
wear. Simplicity and unity senses can be found in the first scene as well as
other scenes. Compared to most of American adolescents‟ style at this time,
around 2005, this scene offers an alternative choice of Emo fashion for young
people different from the common fashion figured out by most pop icons. The
close distance of the models in the first scene strengthens the mutual assistance
among the members. This mutual assistance is the one that other popular icons
can not exemplify. Popular stars in America are considered to strengthen the
individualism sense revealed by their glamour appearances they show.
The next scene is set on a crowded street to emphasize the similar sense.
As the lyric “just stay with me, lay with me now” sung by Bert dominating the
song, the scene appears (Figure 9). Added with the high pitch of Bert‟s voice as
the scene emerges, the phrase of the lyric is used to emphasize the sense of
togetherness. The appearance of the models within this scene has a tight
correlation with the lyric sung by Bert because it can be literally interpreted as
asking other people to „stay‟ or „lay‟ with those who sing the song. By wearing
such kind of outfits, the performers look extremely different from the
surrounding environment. It seems like the kids have an authority over their
surrounding area through the fashion they wear. The scene describes the
commit to user
79
digilib.uns.ac.id
common phenomenon familiarly found in any youth subculture. The Emo Kids
above are described to have their own world and freedom in a simple way
through fashion. Generally, the sense of freedom, specialty and being different
are what every youth subculture offers to the members. In adolescents phase
most of young people try to get the fixed identity and when they find the place
such as youth subculture offering the identification through fashion, it will
attract young people‟s attention. Stalling also states:
Simply put, our needs are not met by the "normal" world, so we create our own
temporary autonomous zones, little havens where we are free to express
ourselves as we choose. An identity evolves from this removal -- an identity
built on pride of creation, expression and a bit of rebellion. We feel like we‟re
part of something special, right? We‟re proud of who we‟ve become and what
we‟ve created and we want to share it (Stallings, 2009)
The alternative choice of fashion makes young people easy to define their
identity. At the time before Emo is trending in America, the hipping fashion is
popping-branded clothing reflected by popular icons on TV. This fashion is too
exclusive for most adolescents who come from middle and lower class. For
them, this is not the identity what they look for because they have to be rich
first to wear such kind of outfits. By the appearance of simpler Emo fashion
represented by this scene, the middle and low class adolescents have the
optional way to find their identity through fashion without need to copy the
stars‟ appearances. Moreover, the sense of unity and simplicity appeared on
this scene is intended to alternate the individualism of the previous hipping
youth subculture through their glamorous fashion.
The next scene is a medium close up shot of the kids walking and
running together on a public stair
(Figure
10). The shot focuses on the upper
commit
to user
80
digilib.uns.ac.id
body outfit they wear. It can be seen that T-shirts led by dark colors are shot as
the lyric “I lost my place, could stay a while” sung by Bert, the vocalist. They
move from one place to another place on foot while still using the same outfits
like the previous scenes. Smiling faces shown by the performers bring the
estimation that the simplicity and unity bring happiness although they have
„lost their place‟. They can have fun together with friends using their youth
spirit in a realistic way devoid of having several high quality stuffs, fashions
and made-up appearances to be accepted in a group like what has reflected by
the previous popular stars on TV.
It is also strengthened by the next scene of the video, where the Emo Kids
arrive on the edge of a road (Figure 11). The camera takes long shot of their
similar appearance to gain the powerful impression of a youth subculture
although it can be seen that their numbers are small. As Bert sings the bridgelyric in a high pitch voice over the assembling music “you can stand and watch
me fall and of course I‟ll ask for help…just stay with me now”, the scene
appears. It is told in the scene that the kids are waiting for the ride from the
cars crossing over the road but nothing stops and lets them in. The phrase „you
can stand and watch me fall‟ intermingled with the scene describes the power
of the unity as if the kids were strong enough to survive in the community. The
rest part of the phrase „just stay with me now‟ means that the kids can be strong
if they are in a similar group with their friends no matter what happened to
their surrounding life. This scene offers the viewers to get back to the root of
youth subculture in a simple street life while in America at that time;
commit to user
81
digilib.uns.ac.id
adolescents are spoiled with the blink and expensive stuffs that can be found in
the malls or shops. It also encourages the viewers who merely young people to
leave their previous American youth lifestyle and move to the new subculture
which is simpler to apply and more sensitive in revealing the sense of
togetherness.
Correlating with the making of the video around 2005, the scenes above
are used to show that Emo is a youth subculture which put the value of
togetherness within the subculture. The performers of the video have
successfully performed a mutual group of young people wrapped in the Emo
style. The mutual group description, however, can not be found on the
mainstream video before Emo subculture raised since it has been that the
hysteria of millennium might encourage American youth to live individually
through the dream of personal success offering by pop stars like Britney and
Christina. The individuality can not be fully applied in America post 9/11,
though. America needs to reunite. The concept of unity and togetherness put on
this video strengthens the perception that Emo is a right subculture for young
people to join with. Joining with this subculture means that young people
should communicate each other using the similar symbolic system of
communication. In this case, the viewers have been dictated in wearing dark
colored T-shirt, like what the performers in I Caught Fire music videos wear.
Another The Used video, Buried Myself Alive also shows the dark color
domination upon the upper body clothing. This video applies the singing
performance semi narrative concept with the band members as the performers.
commit to user
82
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 12
Figure 13
Using low key lighting added with obscure setting of place, the video
impress the mysterious theme of songs which tends to darkness and
gloominess. This theme is also supported by the hanging lamp as the only
lighting source within the video. Starting with the appearance of Quinn the
guitarist and Bert the vocalist in medium long shot frame, the viewers will be
ultimately led to watch these two band members‟ upper body clothing (Figure
12). The extended melody of guitar riff mixed with the slow tempo of drum
makes a long introduction of the music video which gives a chance for the
performers to be shot one by one in the video. Low key lighting coming from
swinging lamp over the band shoots Quinn appearance first. Like what can be
seen on the scene, the guitarist wears a simple upper body outfit, however the
dim light makes his appearance raise the dim effect too. He is shot first by the
camera as the guitar riff dominates the intro of the song. This shot is also
purposively made to make the viewers notice on Quinn‟s role as the guitarist of
this band. Next to Quinn is Bert wearing black outfit: black T-shirt and black
jeans. His position in this scene is deliberately closed to Quinn since he takes
the role to sing after the intro ends. Their appearance in the beginning of the
video is intended to bring the mysterious and darkness impression toward the
commit to user
viewers who watch them. The theme of this video is adjusted with the song
83
digilib.uns.ac.id
title: “Buried Myself Alive” which literally gives the impression of mystery,
death and depression so that the materials within the video are also accustomed
with the basic theme.
Then, the camera shifts into long shot frame where all the members of
The Used are shot. The swinging lamp in the middle of the dark and obscure
place focuses on two major dimness colors appearing on the costumes worn by
the band members, as Bert sings the lyric “you almost always pick the best
times to drop the worst lines” over the assembling band instruments beyond his
voice (Figure 13). Semantically, „the best‟ is the antonym for „the worst‟ which
in this lyric, those two words are mixed to describe an irony, a bitter sense of
something which is still mysterious represented by the word „you‟. Related to
the adolescence phase, it has been widely known that the changing process
from childhood and adulthood encourage the children to find their identity. The
anxiousness becomes the serious problem in this phase since most of the
children experience it at the deep and painful level including American
adolescents. As Anastasi also states:
…American adolescents are suffering from a desperate need for connectedness,
for a sense of belonging…they have an intense need to feel loved and
accepted…adolescents need to express their pain and suffering in order for
healing to take place… (Anastasi, 2005: 303)
Why is anxiety theme shown in the video through fashion? Besides
representing American youth aspiration in facing the adolescence phase, it also
represents what America faces at the time post 9/11. Having beaten by terrorist,
America feels the anxiousness which has knocked down everything in her life.
commit to as
user
Emo in this video is not only interpreted
the youth subculture which explore
84
digilib.uns.ac.id
the anxiety feeling of youth but also all American. The anxiety theme of Emo
subculture has been commodified and represented through the fashion of The
Used‟s members which then become the right representation of what America
has experienced.
Applying the similar formula like Buried Myself Alive, another video of
which band members‟ fashion are dominated by dark color, is Take It Away.
Still using singing performance semi narrative concept, the band members
become the objects of camera within the video. Besides showing the
gloominess, this video also shows the rebellion theme through the fashion the
performers wear. It can be noticed from the opening of the video when the
band members play music on a rooftop. The fast tempo of music guiding by
high pitch of guitar chord and quick drum along with the screaming vocal of
Bert raises an impression that everything shown in this video is related to the
rebellion theme revealed by the fashion they wear.
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
From the pictures above, it can be seen that black color is applied in
every band members‟ T-shirt as they begin to play with their own instruments
passionately (Figures 14). Black colors applied on their upper clothing are the
index of power (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html). If it is applied
commit to user
on clothing worn by young people especially those who are members of Emo,
85
digilib.uns.ac.id
it does not only indicate the gloomy sense but also rebelliousness as it can be
seen in the beginning of this video.
The long shot camera used in the beginning of the video together with
the band members‟ performances indicate that the black color on their clothing
is an index of defiance act of adolescents represented by Emo Kids. The long
duration of the scene mixed with direct lighting of their performance draw the
index of rebellion from the color that dominated their T-shirts. While the other
band members are playing their instruments, Bert screams „Get down!‟ loudly
in the opening of the song until he bows down because of the overrated high
pitch of his voice. Screaming in Emo music is commonly used to express the
painful feeling through the song assembled with the high pitch of guitar chord
in the slow tempo. However, when screaming technique is applied in this scene
simultaneously with the quick tempo of noisy music, the meaning is shifted
into the combination of pain and anger expression.
The rebellious theme represented through the performers‟ appearance has
also been strengthened by Bert‟s prolog before this song, „Take It Away‟, begins
„Life's greatest questions have always been: Who am I? Where did I come
from? Why am I here? Where am I going?‟ The prolog of this song in reality
reflects the anxiety feeling of adolescence phase which has been faced by
common American adolescents. In general, adolescents face the similar
questions in finding their real identity like: who they really are, where they
came from, why they are in a certain condition and where they are going to go.
This scene from the video made on 2004 catches the adolescents‟ anxiety
commit to user
86
digilib.uns.ac.id
within Emo‟s circle and reveals it through The Used band members‟
performances. The other rock-based subcultures in 2000s encourage the
members to fight back the standard of the society, but Emo which raises the
gloomy theme has encouraged the members to be radical in the sensitive way.
The black color on The Used members‟ T-shirts does not only represent the
rebellion of youngsters but also the national grief. It is because American
youngsters in this Emo era have been affected by the terrible event of 9/11.
Like their parents, it is needed for the youngsters to experience national grief
on their growing-up period. Repeatedly, Emo subculture in 2000s has occupied
the rebellion and grief in a compact subculture. The performance of The Used
members on this video shows that Emo theme have been commodified since it
is very different from the basic concept of Emo in 1980s when the members of
subculture focused on the only way to rebel the society due to the anxiety
feeling of youngsters without involving the society grief within subculture.
2. Bright Colored T-shirt
Besides applying dark colored T-shirts, Emo fashion is also known for
the use of bright shocking colors especially on the boys‟ T-shirt. In the video
Blue and Yellow, the singing performance concept is applied that makes the
video seem like a video-biography of the band. The position of Bert as a central
object of camera in this scene is intended to get the most attention from the
viewers since in the audio form singers have effectively delivered the core
meaning of a song through their voices. Therefore, to actualize the meaning of
commit to user
87
digilib.uns.ac.id
a song through a music video, the vocalist gets the most portions of camera
shot. Similarly, Peeters also states that “Singers have always had a superior
status to both their orchestra and their public, since on an auditive level, they
were the anthropomorphic, most prominent element in the musical ensemble”
(Peeters, 2004: 7. At this point, Bert becomes the most shot figure in the video
to show his appearance especially when wearing bright colored T-shirt.
Figure 17
Figure 18
The first scene shows how the camera takes a medium shot of Bert
wearing yellow T-shirt while singing a song in the closed eyes in front of other
band members who are still wearing black colored T-shirt (Figure 17). Yellow
color in fashion is a symbol of cheerfulness and confidence which is commonly
applied in female fashion (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html). The
exploitation of yellow color through Bert‟s T-shirt in the video is proposed to
give the legal mark for boys in wearing bright colored T-shirt. The bright colors
are rarely applied in other rock-based youth subculture‟s fashion especially for
boys because applying bright colors on the clothing is considered diminishing
the masculinity sense of the boys themselves. Moreover, bright color like
yellow in Emo‟s fashion is also employed to give the artistic sense of this youth
subculture which will not be found in another rock-based youth subculture like
commit to user
metalhead, hardcore and punk.
88
digilib.uns.ac.id
The next scene in the video shows the medium close up of Bert facing
the camera quirkily while still using the same T-shirt (Figure 18). Here, Bert
wears a kind of girl‟s hair accessory on his hair. As it has been stated before
that, it is commonly known that bright color especially yellow is usually
applied in women‟s fashion, however, if it is added with the wearing of Bert‟s
girl hair accessory, it means that he has emphasized the concept of “Emo pretty
boy”. Bert‟s appearance signifies the freedom of Emo boys in expressing their
appearance. It means that the scene is intentionally made to show the freedom
of expression in fashion especially for boys, since they can freely express
themselves without being ashamed of the term „feminine‟.
Aaron Anastasi in his journal writes that many American young boys are
eager to be understood and they want connection with others as well as the
accompanied healing. However, this longing for nurture is often kept silent
because it is seen weak and feminine (Anastasi, 2005: 304). Therefore boys
experience pain and need to connect with others at an emotional level in order
to heal from the syndrome. In Emo, boys can express freely express themselves
unlike the other rock-based youth subculture which indirectly proscribes the
use of the bright colors in their fashion since it diminishes the sense of strong
and masculine. Emo as a youth subculture which perceives adolescence phase
more sensitively is an appropriate place for boys to express themselves since
Emo welcome the use of „less masculine‟ fashion like the wearing of bright
colors T-shirts.
commit to user
89
digilib.uns.ac.id
Another video which shows the use of bright colored T-shirt is A Box
Full of Sharp Object. This video also applied the singing performance concept
in which the band members‟ performances become the object of the camera.
Below is the scene of Bert wearing a girl T-shirt when performs in a stage.
Figure 19
Figure 20
From those scenes, it is obviously seen that Bert wears a tight pink T-shirt. Pink
is the commonly applied on girls stuff including T-shirt. The pink T-shirt here
is used to show the freedom of boy‟s expression in fashion. The medium shot
of Bert singing crudely on the stage is contrary with the upper body clothing he
wears, though (Figure 19). The fill light of this scene coming from the stage is
equivalent with the tight outfit he wears, however, the T-shirt is also combined
with the typography “Sex, Drugs and Rock „n Roll” on it which deliver the
contrast meaning from a feminine sense. From the first scene, it can be
observed that Bert wears T-shirt in different color like Quinn, in the left side,
does. Considering the position of the singer as the most shot character in the
video, this scene is intended to show the viewers about the uniqueness of Bert
as the role model of Emo‟s fashion. The much portions of Bert as the object of
camera here means that everything put on him is noticeable including his bright
pink T-shirt and its typography.
commit to user
90
digilib.uns.ac.id
The typography “Sex, Drugs and Rock n‟ Roll” used here refers to the
common rockers‟ symbol of lifestyle. Combined with the fast tempo and beat
of band‟s instrumental using in this scene, the use of this typography on Bert‟s
T-shirt apparently means that Emo kids are also like usual adolescents of other
rock-based youth subculture who have a big enthusiasm in expressing
themselves to win a space toward the standard norms in a society. In America,
the slogan “Sex, Drugs and Rock n‟ Roll” was widely popular among young
people whose music taste is rockers around 1980s. The combination of tight
girl T-shirt and this popular typography is purposively made to show the
viewers that Emo Kids can be like common adolescents who become the
members of a youth subculture in rebelling the normal standard although they
face everything happens in adolescence vulnerably. The sense of youth
subculture‟s enthusiasm reflected by Emo can also be found in the next scene
which is a medium long shot of Bert spurting beer from his mouth on the stage
while still wearing the same T-shirt (Figure 20).
These two scenes show the commodification of boys‟ outfit in the Emo
youth subculture. Bright colored T-shirt, which is peculiarly used by boys of
any kind youth subcultures, is a breakthrough in young boys‟ fashion since the
boys especially for those whose members of a certain youth subculture never
match to those kinds of bright color in order to keep the code of masculinity.
Bert‟s scene above is an icon of Emo boys‟ self-expression. It is intended to
give an explanation to the viewers that Emo admits the self expression of boys
through the wearing of bright colored clothing. The legalization of using bright
commit to user
91
digilib.uns.ac.id
colors on fashion makes Emo is considered as a discarded subculture since
most of Emo boys actualize their appearance in the ways the girls usually do.
The phenomenon of using bright colored T-shirt happens since the
emotional term in „Emotional Hardcore‟ has now been highly dejected by the
media. It means that the vulnerability and weakness is the common thing used
to describe Emo today. Related to the masculinity, before Emo is a popular,
adolescent boy especially those who are members of certain rock-based youth
subculture, such as metal, punk and hardcore, are not allowed to be vulnerable.
Boys as the members of youth subculture are dictated to be strong and macho.
They are forbidden to cry and wear girly stuffs. In fact, Post 9/11 is the period
when strong and macho concept is demolished. America is getting weak that
nothing obstructs her young generation involved in its weaknesses. Everything
is getting weak and vulnerable. Throuht the making of the Blue and Yellow
music video in 2003, it is signified that Emo subculture is exposed at the right
time, of course for commercial purpose, in which boys can express themselves
in less masculine side portrayed by wearing girly stuff like what Bert shows
within the video above. It is very contrast to the early Emo on 1980 which put
the concept of strong and masculine through the practice of their daily life
influenced by the Hardcore and Punk idea.
3. Hoodie
commit to user
92
digilib.uns.ac.id
Hoodie is a kind of upper body clothing which is usually identical with
the appearance of Emo Kids. Hoodie promise the sense of anonymity, mystery
and anxiety for anyone who wears it. Emo boys often wear hoodie in order to
cover their head so that everybody surround them will not pay attention to their
presence instead of rising the mysterious and recluse effect. The shape of
hoodie is like a hooded sweatshirt with or without zipper. Some of The Used
videos like Taste of Ink, The Bird and The Worm and Blue and Yellow show
how the hoodie becomes a commodity in Emo subculture.
Figure 31
Figure 42
Figure 5 3
Figure
64
Since A Box Full of Sharp Object music video is considered as The Used
earliest video, the concept of the video is singing performance in form of music
video biography. The angle of the camera is placed straightforwardly in front of
each band‟s member in order to make them familiar to the viewers of the
videos. All of the band members in this video wear similar type and color of
hoodie. The first frame shows how camera takes a long shot picture of Bert
to user
wearing a black hoodie while commit
rising his
hands and singing the lyric “it‟s our
93
digilib.uns.ac.id
time to shine through the down glorified by what is ours” as if he was on the
stage (Figure 21). The second until fourth pictures shows the medium close up
shot of other band members using an airport as the setting of place. The second
picture takes Jeph the bassist as a main object (Figure 22). From the black
outfit he wears, it can be obviously noticed that he wears a kind of hoodie of
which hood covering his head. In a short duration, then the camera moves to
another band member, Branden, the early drummer (Figure, 23). Still using the
medium close up shot, Branden‟s upper appearance using hoodie is stunning
enough as well as Quinn‟s in the fourth frame (Figure 24). The natural fill
lighting demonstrating the same color of hoodie which is also assembled with
the music of their band is intended to catch the attention of the viewers over the
upper clothing they wear. Added with the fast tempo of every instrument‟s beat,
the pictures above are purposively captured to show that all of the band
members are familiar with the use of hoodie as their daily clothing. In Emo,
where sadness theme majoring this youth subculture, the expressiveness of the
members is often represented by the kind and color of clothing they wear, like
what can be observed from the presence of hoodie in their fashion since it has
been acquired before that hoodie promise the sense of mystery and anxiety
which full match with the themes brought by Emo.
The similar phenomenon can also be analyzed from other videos like
Taste of Ink and The Bird and The Worm. In Taste of Ink music video, which
applies the singing performance and narrative concept, Bert persistently
becomes the center object within the video. It is told that Bert is a young boy
commit to user
94
digilib.uns.ac.id
who has a phobia to any kind of light. He runs away from the lightened up
buildings, rooms and streets in order to avoid the light.
Figure 25
28
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure
The first picture of Bert captured with the medium close up shot shows
his fear toward the light (Figure 25). He wears hoodie to cover his head and
shun the light coming directly to his face. Instead of showing the narrative side
of the video, the position of Bert in the scene firm up the gloomy and
vulnerable side of an Emo Kid through the dark background of the video mixed
with the hoodie he wears. Bert strengthens the sense of gloominess by singing
the lyric „you know I hate light‟ repeated twice over the assembling music from
other band members‟ instruments. His appearance on the scene, along with the
lyric he sings, represents the gloomy side of this youth subculture that Emo
Kids will always be related to the anxiety and vulnerability.
The second picture is a long shot scene of Bert situated on a minimarket.
commit tohim
user
Compared to other customers surround
who wear standard outfits, he looks
95
digilib.uns.ac.id
very different by wearing hoodie. Although it is shot in short duration, it has
delivered an idea of being cool and unique in a new way. In America, hoodie is
considered as breakthrough clothing for young people in the early of 2000s
because the most dominant clothing at that time are influenced by the
appearance of various pop stars in the media which are dominated by glamour
colors and patterns. Wearing hoodie is popular among Emo Kids since it is
identical with the notion of anxiety, mysterious, introvert and solitude. It can
obviously be seen form the next scenes. The medium close up shot of Bert
standing over a big table with some lamps as the back light makes him looks
appealing by wearing hoodie (Figure 27). Together with singing the lyric: “I'm
so apathetic in my resentment. Living, loving, knowing not”, Bert as a figure of
Emo Kid is purposively shot to convey the lyric he sings with his appearance in
wearing hoodie to strengthen the sense of „apathetic‟ which has been the theme
of Emo itself. Wearing hoodie in this scene implies the meaning of being cool
and different. While the next scene is a long shot of Bert sitting in the corner of
a bus without anybody surrounds him (Figure 28). Contrast to the previous
view of being cool and unique, this scene gives the impression of an adolescent
boy‟s loneliness. Head covered by hoodie while sitting alone pathetically
emerge an impression of loneliness and sadness. As it is widely known, those
two ideas are included as the major themes in Emo subculture.
The wearing of hoodie can also be initiated from the video The Bird and
The Worm. Besides exposed by the band members, hoodie is also carried by the
models of the music video.
commit to user
96
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 29
32
Figure 30
Figure 31
Figure
The four pictures above are capture from the beginning of this video. The
absence of the band‟s music in this scene is deliberately used to let the
audiences see the appearance of the performers within these scenes. First scene
is a medium shot of a boy who becomes the model of this music video (Figure
29). Using the same concept, singing performance semi narrative, this video
tells the viewers about the back stage situation of The Used‟s concert. The
medium shot of the boy placed between other audiences make him become a
center object of the camera. It can be noticed that his appearance reflects the
general appearance of Emo Kids. Tight hoodie is the most noticeable outfit he
wears affirming the general fashion of Emo Kids. Using the high key lighting,
the video tries to deliver an idea to the viewers that hoodie is a fashion
requirement to be considered as an Emo Kid. This idea is more reinforced by
the second scene where a boy is placed exactly in front of the camera (Figure
30). The boy who is dissolved by the camera wears a kind of black hoodie
commit
to user
which can be seen from his upper
hooded
part. This scene is used to emphasize
97
digilib.uns.ac.id
the previous scene‟s impression where hoodie is standardized as the right
clothing in Emo subculture that has to be worn by the members.
While the third and fourth picture are the scenes where Bert, the vocalist
becomes the main object of the camera. The third picture is a medium close up
scene of somebody resembling Bert wearing hoodie to cover his head (Figure
31). Added with the high key light, this scene brings out the sense of strange
and mysterious. Here, the hoodie boy looks different and strange from his
surrounding. By wearing hoodie, the boy wants to reveal the image of Emo
youth subculture which commonly conveys the idea of anxiety and gloominess.
The fourth picture is a medium close up of Bert wearing hoodie while staring at
his shadow in the mirror (Figure 32). The camera directly put Bert as the main
object in order that the viewers can notice only on his appearance. The
placement of Bert in the middle of the camera is intended to give the cool sense
of an Emo boy after wearing hoodie. As it is known before that hoodie is a kind
of remarkable fashion among American youth especially in the 2000s and here,
the video want to take hoodie as part of Emo‟s fashion since hoodie reveals the
sense of anxiety and mysterious.
Hoodie as fashion are highly popular in 2000s as Emo subculture gets the
high exposure from media. The phenomenal use of hoodie does not only give
the sense of cool but also mysterious and anxiety. Similar like what has been
stated in the previous discussion about clothing and anxiety, this clothing has
commodified the anxiety theme through fashion since it has represented both
of American youth‟s anxiety feeling and also American anxiety in general post
commit to user
98
digilib.uns.ac.id
9/11. By merging this formula, hoodie is considered as the new youth clothing
to sell. When everything is gloomy, the gloomy-related stuff is the right choice
to buy. The American media, of course take the role on how the clothing is sold
to the audiences with the term „mysterious yet cool‟ like what can be found on
the scenes above.
ii. Lower Body
In Emo fashion today, the clothing for lower body is mostly tight pants,
black tight jeans and sometimes stovepipe jeans. Jeans is now popular as a
casual dress among young people because of its long lasting use. It is
commonly worn by young people to show the freedom of self expression in
fashion especially in choosing the lower body outfit. In Emo, tight jeans are
commonly worn by the members of Emo bands and Emo Kids. The occasional
appearance of band members on the video wearing the similar type of jeans
makes this lower outfit popular among the viewers. This trend can also be
found obviously within The Used music videos. Almost all of the videos show
jeans as the commodity in Emo fashion particularly sorts of tight jeans which
has become the symbolic style of communication in Emo.
Filmed on 2002, A Box Full of Sharp Objects music video‟s performers
who all are band members use jeans as their lower body clothing. It can be
noticed from the appearance of each band member using singing performance
concept of music video.
commit to user
99
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 33
Figure 34
From the first picture, the long shot of Bert‟s singing performance shows the
whole outfit put on his body (Figure 33). In the case of lower outfit, it can be
seen that Bert wears a kind of black jeans which signifies the common fashion
of Emo Kids. The scene shows the rude singing performance of Bert in a small
studio. It can be seen here that Bert, the lead vocalist of The Used strengthens
the icon of Emo Kid through the outfit he wears, especially his lower body
clothing: black jeans. This shot is assembled with the noisy music of The Used
where the guitar, bass and drum sound are intermingled and played in the fast
tempo of sound. The noisy sound of music signifies the characteristic of The
Used in revealing the meaning of Emo in a more deafeningly way. The next
scene is a medium shot of Bert while singing in another stage (Figure 34). The
similar outfit put on Bert‟s body shows the similar function of these two shots:
to let the viewers see the use of black tight jeans as the fashion rule in Emo.
Moreover, this scene shows the performance of Bert while screaming loudly
till he cannot stand anymore. It has been known that screaming technique is
often used by most of Emo bands nowadays to highlight the painful feeling of
the song. Through this scene, the video wants to deliver an image of Bert as an
icon of Emo Kids wearing the black outfit while screaming the song on the
commit to user
stage.
100
digilib.uns.ac.id
The next video made on 2003 is Taste of Ink. This video also shows the
commodity of jeans through the band members‟ fashion. Using singing
performance semi narrative concept, the video delivers the story about the daily
life of suburban Emo kids in relation to their family, job and friends. After
getting bored with their daily businesses, the kids are gathering and expressing
themselves through various ways including through the way they dress
themselves. The lower body clothing dominated by jeans is purposively used to
show the expressiveness of young people represented by the band members.
Though the jeans shown are not in black tight shape, as it is usually found in
common Emo kids‟ clothing, it still proves that jeans as the biggest commodity
for lower clothing among them to show the simplicity, expressiveness and
freedom in choosing lower body outfit.
Figure 35
Figure 36
The first medium long shot of band members from the backside emphasize on
the outfits they wear. The three of band members are walking toward the
garage wearing the same kinds of jeans (Figure 35). Using nighttime as the
setting of time combined with the outfit they wear is an icon of American
suburban kids‟ freedom of expression. The night is acknowledged as a time for
people to get a rest; yet, this scene shows the specialty of some kids who has
commit to user
their time after other people get rest. The second scene is also a medium long
101
digilib.uns.ac.id
shot of the four of band members inside the garage (Figure 36). This picture is
acquired from the last part of the video when the band members are finally
chatting and laughing to relax themselves after finishing their own business.
The leisure atmosphere is seen from various aspects: the garage room they
settle in and the way they dress themselves. Through the similar jeans they
wear, it can also be explained that the kids have the same ideas of embodying
the freedom to express themselves.
Another video applying the singing performance concept, Blue and
Yellow also highlights the band members‟ appearance in wearing the similar
jeans as their lower body clothing.
Figure 37
Figure 38
The first picture is the opening scene of the video telling about the band‟s
acoustic performance (Figure 37). In this angle, through the camera‟s medium
long shot, it can be seen here that four of the band members wear the similar
kind of black jeans. Moving to the second picture, it is a stage performance of
the band (Figure 38). From this medium long shot, the band members are shot
since they still wear the similar kind of black jeans. The label as an Emo band
makes everything they wear is always associated with Emo stuffs. In this case,
the black jeans they wear are icons of common Emo fashion it the early rising
commit to user
of this subculture, for about 2003.
102
digilib.uns.ac.id
Take It Away is The Used‟s first video exploiting the wearing of black
tight jeans in 2004. At that time, black tight jeans are very popular as a dressing
code of being an Emo Kid in America. Through the frequent appearance of
band members within the video, it can be noticed that black tight jeans they
wear have become the main commodity to emphasize that the band members
are congregated in the Emo subculture.
Figure 39
Figure 40
Those two pictures are the long shots of the band members performing their
song over a rooftop. With the minimum back light, the focus of the camera is
mainly on their appearance. The outfit they wear, which are dominated by
black color, is an icon of common outfit worn by rock bands. Rock music is
merely identical with the notion of self-confidence and coolness through the
clothing worn by the band members. Since Emo is a sub genre of rock, the
band members‟ appearances also have the similar function like the other rock
band members do. In terms of lower clothing, Emo has its own characteristic
like the wearing of black tight jeans. The performers in this video wear that
kind of lower body clothing that purposively become main object within the
first and second picture. It can be seen in the first scene, the camera takes long
shot performance of band members from front part of the camera (Figure 39).
commit to user
Through the sparkling backlight, Quinn and other band members except Bert
103
digilib.uns.ac.id
are noticed in wearing the similar kind of jeans: black tight jeans. As the
opening scene of Take It Away music video, this scene comes with the noisy
sound of music behind it to signify that The Used is similar like other rock
bands members which highlights the fast tempo and beat of each instrument.
Moving to the second picture, it is a long shot performance of band
members from the back side (Figure 40). Similar like the first picture, this
picture takes the band members‟ appearance as the main object. Bert‟s position
in the middle of the camera gives a space for other band‟s members to be shot
by the camera. The way Quinn, the guitarist, dresses himself especially seen
from the lower outfit he wears: black tight jeans, emphasizes the common Emo
fashion popular at the time the video is being aired.
The next video is I Caught Fire which has been released in the early of
2005. The video applies the singing performance semi narrative concept.
Besides using band members as the model in the music video, this music also
employs the performance of the suburban Emo Kids to strengthen the band‟s
image as one of the Emo band.
Figure 41
Figure 42
In spotting the performance of the Emo Kids as the models including their
appearance, the video use the narrative concept. The left picture above is the
scene in the beginning of thecommit
videotowhere
user a couple of young people are
104
digilib.uns.ac.id
narrated being in love (Figure 41). It can be seen that the boy takes the girl on
his lap. They wear similar but different kind of jeans. The boy wears a kind of
tight blue jeans while the girl wears torn blue jeans. Those two jeans, however,
are very popular among young people especially those who are involved in the
subcultural action. The spotlight of those two models‟ appearance is used to
give the description that those models of the video are also involved in the
subcultural action especially Emo. The scene then moves to the performance of
Quinn, the guitarist who wears the same kind of tight blue jeans like the boy‟s
from the previous scene (Figure 42). The medium shots of the camera on the
Quinn and the boy‟ similar appearance is used to highlight the hipping Emo
fashion at the time the video being aired. From those scenes, it can be noticed
that the band wants to communicate to the viewers that they are also a part of
Emo kids through fashion. However, those two scenes are intentionally
proposed to convince the viewers that the fashion they wear is a requirement to
be involved as the members of Emo subculture.
To conclude, tight jeans are previously popular in America for girls‟
fashion. Related to the discussion of the bright-colored T-shirt, tight jeans are
commodified as the standard of being an Emo Kids since the emotional term in
„Emotional Hardcore‟ has now been dejected by the media, the vulnerability
and weakness is the common terms used to describe Emo today. Post 9/11 is
the period when strong and macho boy is demolished. America is getting weak
which makes emotional on the „Emotional Hardcore‟ exposed at the right time
commit to user
105
digilib.uns.ac.id
that the boys can express themselves in feminine way portrayal by wearing
tight jeans.
b. Hairstyle
Hairstyle refers to the styling of the hair usually used by young people to
show their expression. Hairstyle is also used by the members of certain youth
subculture to communicate each other and to distinguish themselves from other
youth subcultures‟ members. If another youth subculture like Punk is very
popular with its bright Mohawk hairstyle, Emo will be famous among young
people for its black long hair style often added with long side bang covering
the members‟ faces. Sometimes, there is also an exploitation of colors in Emo
hairstyle like brown, blonde and bright red is acceptable. This kind of hairstyle
is also found within The Used‟s music videos applied both by the members of
the band and the models in the video.
i.
Medium Long Straight Hair
a.
Bert McCracken‟s hairstyle
Figure 43
Figure 44
commit to user
Figure 45
106
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 46
Figure 47
Figure 48
As the vocalist, Bert has huge chances to be shot by the camera. It can be
proved from those pictures above where Bert is shot using medium close up
and close up shot. Those pictures are captured from different videos made from
2002 until 2005. It can be seen above that Bert signifies the notion of Emo boy
trough the hairstyle he used. His steady hairstyle make Bert has a strong
characteristic among the fans and the members of Emo subculture. The six
pictures above put Bert as the model while singing along the video.
The first picture is captured from The Used first video on 2002 entitled A
Box Full of Sharp Objects. On all of the pictures, Bert is shot using close up
shot mode. His smiling face mixed with his brown long hair shoot with bright
light emerge an impression of cool Emo boy (Figure 43). This scene is captured
from the very first video of The Used which is intentionally made to introduce
the characteristic of Bert to the audiences. The shots of Bert‟s appearance are
repeated again in the second until sixth pictures captured from the different
videos (Figure 44 – Figure 48). Those captures of Bert show that he has the
same kind of dark hairstyle. The singing performance concept applied in each
video is intentionally made to fix the image of Bert as the Emo boy with his
long hair. They are purposively made to emphasize Bert‟s position as icon of
Emo kids through his hairstyle.commit
However,
the shoot also notices on his new hair
to user
107
digilib.uns.ac.id
looks in the latest videos.
Figure 49
Figure 50
Figure 51
The first picture is a medium long shot of Bert in the video The Bird and
The Worm made on 2007 where Bert appears with his new hairstyle: long
blonde hair (Figure 49). Added with the high lighting, this scene tries to
emphasize Bert‟s hair as a breakthrough in Emo hairstyle in which Emo
criterion does not always related to dark colors anymore. These scenes are also
made to give the audiences the alternative choice of choosing another Emo
hairstyle since as it is known that in the previous videos, the perception of a
cool Emo boy is always related to Bert‟s dark hairstyle. However, if it is seen
from other pictures, the Bert‟s image is returned as an Emo kid through the
changing color of his hair from blonde to black through the making of two
latest videos, Blood on My Hands in 2009 and Empty with You in the late of
2009 (Figure 51 & Figure 52). It is widely known in previous time that Emo is
identical with the black long hair hairstyle. From the medium close up shot of
the second and the third picture added with the high light for the singing
performance concept, it can be noticed there that Bert‟s position is brought
back to the previous image of Emo Kids through his black hair.
b.
The Models‟ hairstyle
commit to user
108
digilib.uns.ac.id
Besides Bert, another typical of Emo hairstyle is also applied by the
models within the videos. This sort of Emo hairstyle can be found in some of
music videos which applies the narrative concept like The Bird and the Worm
made in 2007 because using this concept, the performers are not only the band
members but also the models.
Figure 52
Figure 53
Those two pictures are captured from the opening scene of The Bird and The
Worm music video. The situation here is the backstage of The Used‟s music
concert. The camera takes a medium close up shot of the models playing roles
as the audiences of The Used concert. Through these shots, it can be noticed
that their hairstyle become the main objects of the camera conveyed in high
quality light. The first picture is a girl model whose hair is typically Emo
hairstyle: black, straight, and medium sized (Figure 52). The next picture also
describes a boy model with the same typical of Emo hairstyle like the girl
model has (Figure 53). Those scenes are intended to give the description of the
common Emo hairstyle applied by the usual Emo kids besides to strengthen the
image of The Used as an Emo band through the models‟ hairstyle.
ii.
Side Bang (Fringe)
The most noticeable characteristic of Emo kids is the use of long side
commit to user
bang
on
their
hairstyle.
As
cited
on
109
digilib.uns.ac.id
http://www.ehow.com/way_5445617_types-emo-hairstyles.html,
Boys
with
Emo haircuts usually also have side-swept bangs. Their hair is grown out so
that their bangs cover most of a particular side of their face, and their hair is
generally parted to one side or the other. Within the music videos, this kind of
hairstyle is also applied by the members of The Used especially Quinn and
Jeph. The frequent use of long side bang of the members is not only for
strengthening both characters but also the band image as an Emo band whose
members have the characteristic of Emo Kids which is gained from the use of
hairstyle.
Figure 54
Figure 55
Figure 56
Those three pictures place Quinn, the guitarist as the object of camera
which most of them expose the typical hairstyle owned by him. The first
picture is a scene from Blue and Yellow video where Quinn is shit in a close up
mode so that his hairstyle becomes the main center of attention instead of his
face (Figure 54). It can be noticed here that he has a typical of side-banged
hairstyle. The second picture is a scene captured from All That I‟ve Got video
(Figure 55). In this scene, Quinn is placed in the far right of the camera.
Similar with the previous picture, Quinn‟s hairstyle with side bang covering his
face are shot in medium close up shot to give a maximum shot portion to his
commit to user
hairstyle. The third picture also gives the same impression like the first and
110
digilib.uns.ac.id
second picture do. It is a scene captured from The Bird and The Worm video
which applies the narrative concept telling about the band‟s activity before the
concert begins. The medium long shot of Quinn in the middle of fans supported
with the high light focuses on his appearance with side-bang hairstyle which
makes him easily recognizable among the other models of the video.
Like Quinn, the bassist, Jeph‟s appearance is also shot to give the specific
characteristic as an Emo Kid through his hairstyle.
Figure 57
Figure 58
The first picture above is a scene from Blue and Yellow music video made on
2003. The medium close up shot from that scene places Jeph‟s upper
appearance to be the main object of the camera (Figure 57). From this shot
mode, it can be easily noticed that his typical hairstyle: a black long sided bang
hair. The next picture is a scene captured from The Bird and The Worm music
video made on 2007. The medium close up shot places Jeph as the main object
among other models surround him. Here, Jeph still applies the same kind of
Emo hairstyle with a long black side bang covering half of his face (Figure 58).
From those two pictures above, it is noted that black long sided bang
applied on Jeph hairstyle become the commodity within the two videos.
commit to user
Similar formula like Quinn appearance in other videos, Jeph‟s shot are
111
digilib.uns.ac.id
emphasizing the side bang hairstyle as a requirement of being an Emo Kids. In
other word, this side-banged hairstyle has become a commodity that should
constantly applied by those who want to be involved in Emo subculture.
iii.
Gunshot Wound
According to the “Everybody Hurts” by Simon and Kelley published on
2007, gunshot wound hairstyle is a kind of hairstyle with a longer version of
the bowl cut hairstyle with spiky hairs in the back which is also applied by the
members of Emo subculture. It can be found within some of The Used‟s videos
especially from the video I Caught Fire where some models of the video are
shot while applying this kind of hairstyle.
Figure 59
Figure 60
Figure 61
Those pictures are some scenes from I Caught Fire music video made on
2005. The scenes use the models of suburban Emo Kids who have the
identical appearance. In narrative, it is told that the models spend their time
together in the street (Figure 59). Seen from the hairstyle applied by the girls
and the boys from the first until third video, the brown T-shirt girl‟s hair is
typical with the gunshot hairstyle since her hair is spiky in the back side
commit to user
(Figure 60). The typical of gunshot hairstyle is also applied by the boy model
112
digilib.uns.ac.id
(Figure 61) The use of black gunshot hairs repeated in several scenes in this
video makes this hairstyle become the new hairstyle commodity in Emo.
The gunshot wound hairstyle is also found in the video The Bird and The
Worm made on 2007. There‟s a model here applying the same kind of hairstyle
like what can be found in the previous video, I Caught Fire.
Figure 62
A medium close up shot of a boy standing among the crowd of Emo kids above
is the opening scene of The Bird and The Worm music video (Figure 62). The
picture shows how the boy model becomes the object of the camera with his
gunshot wound hairstyle. This scene is intended to give a description of
particular Emo boys with a specific hairstyle appropriate for this subculture. If
it is noticed from the role of the models as the „usual‟ Emo Kids not as the band
members, therefore, equivalent to the previous video, this scene delivers an
idea that gunshot wound hairstyle is appropriate to use by those who want to be
considered as Emo kid. The various shots of Emo kids with their gunshot
hairstyle is possibly intended to give the viewers alternative choice of having
another kind of Emo hairstyle besides medium straight hair and long sidebanged hairstyle.
All of Emo hairstyles above represent the freedom of adolescents to
commit to user
express their youth freedom. This is what American youth needs in their
113
digilib.uns.ac.id
adolescence time. However, medium long hair, gunshot wound and sidebanged hairstyle are kinds of hairstyle which show the feminine side of a boy.
All of hairstyles in The Used music videos are intended to legalize the concept
of less-masculine yet rebellious boy which preferably to apply longer and more
variable kinds of hairstyle rather than short hair as the standard hairstyle
accepted in the society. It has been stated previously that the concept of weak
and vulnerable boys are popular post 9/11 because America is experiencing the
grief and weakness point after realizing the lost battle against the terrorist.
c. Accessories
Besides clothing and hairstyle, today, accessories have been the major
requirement for those who want to be involved as Emo subculture members
(Simon & Kelley, 2007: 46). The most visible accessories used by Emo Kids
are generally tattoos, piercing, wristbands, belts, and shoes. These kinds of
Emo accessories become a huge commodity highlighted by the youth fashion
industry especially in America. Both online and offline shops are digging the
hipping Emo accessories as the main commodity. In The Used‟s music videos,
the exposure of Emo accessories as the main commodity can also be
extensively found
i.
Shoes
Shoes as the footwear accessories carried by the members of Emo
subculture have its own characteristic. Emo shoes are mostly correlated with
the type of slip-on model of shoe usually produced by Vans; an American skate
commit to user
114
digilib.uns.ac.id
shoes-maker company which is recognized for its production of slip-on model
of shoes which are mostly used by American Emo kids (Simon & Kelley, 2004:
46, 49) Instead of slip-on, canvas model of shoes produced by Vans are also
applied by the members of Emo subculture.
i
ii
i. Vans shoes Slip-on model. http://gmc-vans.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/02/vans-shoes.jpg
ii. Vans shoes Canvas model. http://gmc-vans.com/wp-content/
VANS/L/AUTHENTIC_TRUWHT1.jpg
Both of those models of shoes can be found within The Used‟s music videos
entitled I Caught Fire made on 2005 and Empty With You made on 2009.
Figure 63
Figure 64
Those pictures above are captured from different The Used‟s music videos. The
first one is captured from I Caught Fire music video while the second one is
captured from the latest video, Empty With You. Both of the scenes employ the
use of Vans shoes as the main object.
first picture is a medium shot of Vans
commitThe
to user
115
digilib.uns.ac.id
shoes using the type of slip-on and canvas footwear used by a couple of young
boy and girl as the models of the video. Applying singing performance semi
narrative concept, it can be observed in I Caught Fire video that the boy on the
left side wears a kind of slip on model while the girl wears the canvas ones
(Figure 63). The short duration of shot gives an impression that both models of
shoes are footwear used by most of Emo kids. The second picture is a medium
shot of a band‟s member footwear in Empty With You music video (Figure 64).
The model of shoes found in this scene is identical with the shoes worn by the
girl from the first picture which mean that the member of this band also use
canvas model of shoe too. Both of the scenes are intended to emphasize the
viewers that Vans shoes as the common footwear used by the member of Emo
subculture.
ii.
Wristbands
Wristband is an accessory mostly used in the wrist area. Wristband is
frequently used by nowadays Emo kids as an additional accessory (Simon &
Kelley, 2007: 46). This accessory has also become a huge commodity in
American youth fashion which can also be found within The Used‟s music
videos. Both by the band members and the models within the videos wear
wristbands to signify the identity of being the Emo Kids.
commit to user
116
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 65
Figure 66
Figure 67
Figure 68
The first picture is a scene captured from A Box Full of Sharp Object music
video. Applying the concept of singing performance, Quinn is shot using
medium close up mode of shot that the viewers can observe his appearance.
From his gesture when raising hand, it can be noticed that he wears a wristband
on his wrist. Moving to the second picture, the scene is also captured from the
same video. Bert as the vocalist is shot by the camera using close up mode of
shot. Through his gesture when waving arms, the focus of camera will directly
move to the wristband he wears (Figure 66). This wristband‟s colors, pink and
black, ultimately deliver the typical impression of Emo since both of these
colors are applied in most of Emo‟s fashion (Simon & Kelley, 2007: 65).
Besides showing the use of wristband, this scene also highlights the
combination of pink and black color as a new commodity in Emo boy‟s
fashion.
The third and fourth pictures are captured from I Caught Fire video
whose models represent the presences of general Emo kids. The boy in the first
commit to user
117
digilib.uns.ac.id
picture is shot using medium shot mode focusing on the wristband he wears
(Figure 67). It can be observed from his position and pointing gesture that the
main focus of the camera will note on his black wristbands. Afterward using
medium shot, the camera moves to the other suburban Emo kids in the fourth
picture (Figure 68). The subject of the camera is certainly the appearance of the
red T-shirt girl. As it can be seen obviously, the girl also wears a red wristband
on her right wrist. From those two pictures of Emo Kids, it can be noticed that
the music video want to highlight that the use of wristband is a required
accessory of being an Emo Kids.
iii.
Lips and Ears Piercing
Emo kids, especially boys, often pierce their lips and ears with various
forms of piercing. In Emo today, piercing is a must-wear accessories to show
the coolness and artistic side of this youth subculture (Simon & Kelley, 2007:
56). The members of The Used especially Jeph and the ex-drummer Branden
show how piercing becomes commodity in their appearance.
Figure 69
Figure 70
Figure 71
The three pictures above are some scene captures of Jeph the bassist who is
mostly recognized with the use of piercing on his lips and ears. The medium
commit to user
close up and close up shots of Jeph are proposed to show his appearance of
118
digilib.uns.ac.id
using piercings on his lips and ears. The first picture is a scene captured from
Blue and Yellow music video, when Jeph is practicing bass who is shot using
medium close up shot (Figure 69). From this angle, the camera focuses on the
ear piercing he wears. The next picture is also captured from the same video,
Blue and Yellow, using the close up shot that Jeph‟s lip piercing is easily noted
(Figure 70). The last picture of Jeph is captured from The Bird and The Worm
music video scene which also applies the medium shot of the singing Jeph
(Figure 71). From this shot, the viewers can watch and note on Jeph‟s ears
piercing which match with his Emo‟s boy appearance.
Similar like Jeph, Branden, the early drummer of The Used, also employs
lips and ears piercing within music video.
Figure 72
Figure 73
The first picture is a close up shot of Branden in the video, A Box Full of Sharp
Objects. From this shot, Branden‟s lips and ears piercing becomes the object of
the camera (Figure 72). On another picture, Branden is also intentionally shot
using medium close up shot mode to highlight his ears and lips piercing
(Figure 73). Similar with Jeph‟s scenes, these scenes are intentionally made to
make the lips and ears piercing as the commodity in Emo fashion. Although it
is stated that Emo is related to the weakness and vulnerability of youth, the use
commit to user
of lips and ear piercing shows that Emo can be like Punk which support the anti
119
digilib.uns.ac.id
social by taking body piercing. The use of piercing in the video, however, is
not merely used to fight against the social system but turned to such kind of
usual accessories with no meaning. The video as if show that body piercing is
what American adolescents need after the sinking of glamour appearance of
pop stars post 9/11.
iv.
Tattoos
For adolescents, tattoo is now commonly made for the artistic purpose. It
is often applied by most of rock musician to the impression of being cool
besides showing the ideas through the patterns and pictures tattooed on skin. In
today various youth subcultures, the use of tattoo does not merely represent the
rebellion act against dominant culture but simply limited for the artistic
purpose. It also happens in Emo subculture nowadays. The use of tattoo is
highly explored within The Used‟s music videos exposed by the band members
such as Bert and Jeph.
Figure 74
Figure 75
commit to user
Figure 76
Figure 77
120
digilib.uns.ac.id
The first picture is a medium close up shot of Bert in Blood on My Hands
music video (Figure 74). The dimness theme of background dominating by
black color with low light reinforces the position of Bert as a vocalist of an
Emo band. While holding the microphone, Bert shows his tattoos that
deliberately become a main object of the camera. The second picture is a scene
taken from Empty With You music video (Figure 75). The position of Bert in
the middle of camera makes him become the main object of the camera
including his appearance. Both of his arms are lighted enough that the viewers
can notice on his arms tattoo.
The third picture is a scene captured from Blue and Yellow music video
(Figure 76). Jeph is shot using medium shot mode that his appearance is clearly
seen together with tattoos on his neck and arms. The fourth picture is a scene
from Empty With You music video which applies the similar shot used in the
third picture (Figure 77). The position of Jeph in the middle of the camera
makes him become the center object especially the presence of tattoo on his
neck. From both of Bert and Jeph‟s scenes which apply the same formula, the
use of tattoo turns into a commodity within Emo fashion. Tattoos here have the
similar function like piercing. It is previously used to show the anti social, but,
here the function of tattoos has shifted into such kind of stuff which American
youth needs wrapped in Emo style.
d. Make Up
Emo is considered as a youth subculture that can free the members,
commit
to user
especially boys, from the „Boy
Code‟
required by other youth subcultures
121
digilib.uns.ac.id
(Anastasi, 2005: 304). The sensitive and gloomy impression offered by Emo
subculture give a chance for boys to express themselves in more feminine
appearances. Moreover, emotional performances of the Emo bands of which
members are dominated by boys make this youth subculture are close to the
stereotype of the feminine boys whose appearances are also close to the
„feminine‟ concept (Aslaksen, 2006: 36). The feminine concept can be seen
from the wearing of tight T-shirt, tight jeans and side-banged hairstyle. Besides
concerning on that girlish clothing, Emo boys often wear dark eyeliner and nail
polish to emphasize the „gloomy‟ and feminine sense of this subculture. These
two essential make up are often used by Emo boys to emphasize the meaning
of being an Emo Kid. The application of this required make up can also be
found within some of The Used music videos.
i.
Eyeliner
Eyeliner is the essential make up of being an Emo Kid (Simon & Kelley,
2007: 36). Today, the members of this youth subculture often wear eyeliner to
emphasize the gloominess idea within it. A person will be considered as Emo,
if he or she wears black eyeliner. The used of eyeliner can also be found within
The Used‟s music videos. Bert, as the vocalist, emphasizes the wearing of
eyeliner, both red and black, through his performances on some videos.
Figure 79
Figure 80
commit to user
Figure 81
122
digilib.uns.ac.id
Those are two captures of Bert‟s singing performance on several videos.
The close up shots of Bert highlights on the wearing of eyeliner on his eyes.
The first picture is a scene captured from Take It Away music videos made on
2004. The trending Emo in America around 2004, make everything related to
this youth subculture become the commodity including the eyeliner. Through
this close up shot, Bert‟s eyes wearing eyeliner become the object so that the
viewer‟s attention will be directly led to his eyes area (Figure 79). As it is seen
on the shot, Bert‟s eyes area is filled with the red eyeliner, which has been
known as one of the make up requirement of being an Emo Kid. While the
camera shots Bert‟s face, this vocalist screams loudly till he can not open his
eyes widely. The combination of Bert‟s close up shot of his eyes area and his
screaming voice has signified the standard Emo boy. This shot is intended to
show the viewers about how the Emo boy should wear to be considered as
Emo.
The use of eyeliner can be found also on gothic subculture which
highlighted
the
dark
and
death
theme
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/fashion/18GOTH.html) In Emo, the
function of eyeliner might be the same since Emo is also raising the gloomy
and dark theme. It can be correlated with the terrible event of 9/11 in America
which causes death and grief. As the gloomy youth subculture, the media
through this The Used music video has commodified eyeliner as part of Emo
accessories.
commit to user
123
digilib.uns.ac.id
The second picture is a scene captured form I Caught Fire video made on
2005. The dimness blue lighting makes Bert‟s face blurred and unclear, still,
the red line under his eyes is obviously seen (Figure 80). After emphasizing on
Bert‟ eyes area, the shot moves to the scene where Bert puts a red flower from
his lips (Figure 81). These two shots are intended to make the viewer see the
gloominess side of Emo through the dimness lighting behind and spot on the
feminine side of an Emo boy through the red flower on Bert‟s lips.
ii.
Black Nail Polish
Besides eyeliner, nail polish is another make up used by most of Emo
members. Similar like eyeliner, black is the dominant nail polish color applied
by the members to highlight the darkness theme derived also from Goth
subculture. In some of The Used music videos, the band members like Bert and
the early drummer, Branden wear black polish on their finger nails.
Figure 82
Figure 83
The medium close up shot of Bert make him possible to show his hand on
Blood on My Hands music video made on 2009 (Figure 82). As it seen above
that Bert raises his hands to the camera that the viewers an watch his tattoos
and black fingernails polish. Added with the dimness light behind him, his
appearance including his black
fingernails
commit
to user raises the darkness impression
124
digilib.uns.ac.id
which is mostly exposed by this youth subculture. The next picture is
Branden‟s scene, the early drummer of The Used from A Box Full of Sharp
Object video (Figure 83). The close up shot mostly focuses on his face and his
fingers. Noticed on his fingers, Branden polishes his fingers with black nail
polish similar like Bert does. Those two shots, however, are made to show the
viewers that black nail polish is a required make up in Emo fashion.
2. The commodification of Emo Behavior in
The Used’s Music Videos
Besides fashion, behavior related to the Emo theme is another commodity
found within The Used‟s music videos. By exploring the performers‟ behavior,
music videos have strengthened the basic theme brought by the music. Here, The
Used music videos highlight the general Emo theme such as rebellion and anxiety
carried out by the performers. Soelle states that in the adolescence phase, music
has a big role in creating a space for young people to express their anxiety feeling:
In music, the performers‟ manipulation of language, rhythm and syntax creates
images and gives meaning beyond the mere content of the lyrics. With a proficient
understanding of music and how it affects people, along with lyrics that connect
with adolescents, the artist can create an environment, where adolescents may feel
free to face the painful issues in their lives as described by the artist or triggered by
the similarity of the lyrical circumstance (Soelle in Anastasi, 2005: 311)
If music performer affects young listeners in providing a place for expressing
youth common feeling of anxiety and rebellion, it is possibly for both sides to
build an intimate connection that evoking the idolatry thinking from the listeners
toward the performers (Peeters, 2004: 8). The idolatry attitude encourages the
commit to user
listeners to follow everything created by the performers through the music. This
125
digilib.uns.ac.id
idolatry attitude, however, has emerged a chance for the industries to take a
further step, for example, by making the music video. Peeters affirms that if music
is visualized through music video, the performers will give the audiovisual
element and enchant attraction that illuminates all viewers (ibid: 2). If the artists
successfully communicate with the viewers through music video, then they may
be able to establish a deeper connection with the young audiences. The connection
profoundly runs that make young people slowly consider the connection as a way
to imitate everything shown by performers including the behavior. Tudor wrote:
…the fact that movie characters could be effective ideological tools can be
explained by the phenomenon of identification, a process by which viewers
become attached to a star, ranging from emotional affinity limited to the context
of the movie theater to projection, by which fans try to become their idols
through imitating speech, movements …(Tudor in Peeters, 2004: 9)
Behavior, as Hebdige states, is a symbolic style of youth subculture‟s
members to acquire a space in a society. In other words, behavior is interpreted as
the realization of youth expressions toward the mainstream culture standardized
by parents. Through media exposure, most of youth subcultures‟ behavior is
labeled as the defiant behavior causing moral panic (Hebdige, 1979: 94, 96). In a
reverse, media have an authority to redefine youth subculture behavior into the
more accepted one. It gives the unusual behavior of youth subculture as a defiant
group a legal label. As the hit creator, media sell the image of youth subculture
through the legalization of its behavior. For example, if a person wants to be
considered as the member of Punk subculture, the media gives a policy for him or
her to act like members of Punk whose behavior are labeled by the media itself.
The presence of music video can be an effective tool to sell the image of the
commit to user
126
digilib.uns.ac.id
performers related to the subcultural group they represent. The behavior shown by
the performers within the music video will not be far away from the main theme
of youth subculture they signify. The behavior within the music video is the
primary way to arbitrate the values of certain youth subculture. The viewers are
purposively intended to act like what the performers show on videos to be
considered as the members of youth subculture. In this case, the exclusive value of
youth subculture has been commodified in which the viewers can do the same
thing without considering the original value of a youth subculture. It also means
that everything related to the subculture can be judged only from what music
videos show. Therefore, since Emo today highlights the gloomy side of
adolescence phase including the feeling of lost, hurt, heartbreak, suffering and
lamentation (Anastasi, 205: 313), the commodification process can be seen from
how the performers of music video actualize the value of Emo through their
performing acts.
In analyzing The Used videos, it is acquired that major Emo theme has been
exaggeratedly exploited by the performers. The general theme like rebellion and
anxiety are combined well to give the strong meaning of being Emo. The exposure
of these two major themes emphasizes the standard for adolescents to be involved
within the subculture which can encompass the two reverse feelings of general
adolescents in Emo subculture sphere.
a. Youth Rebellion
Rebellion is the basic idea which has triggered various youth subcultures to
commit to user
127
digilib.uns.ac.id
emerge. The unsynchronized relationship between young and old generation is the
basic cause why various youth subcultures come out in the society. Historically in
1980s, the phenomenal youth subculture, Punk, emerged because of the
dissatisfaction of young people toward the system of parents culture standardized
by the high class people. Young people who mostly come from blue collar people
need to acquire a space for expressing their ideas, what they feel in the
adolescence phase to the society. The imbalance position between parents who
rule the mainstream culture and their children has triggered the rebellion to
happen. When the children have found the space to grow up, they will practice all
of the ideologies within it. Historically, Punk is a youth subculture which
actualizes the rebellious ideas in various actions as El Bashir writes:
One can say that the punk subculture emerged in opposition to mass culture... The
subculture has many ideologies that have always been a form of shock and
rebellion, thus it was often viewed negatively. The political ideology most
commonly found in punk is anarchism, which is expressed in some songs. Along
with this, punks have anti-capitalistic, anti-commercial, and non-conformist views.
(El Bashir, 2004: 61)
Like Punk, before it is highly exploited by the mainstream media, other
youth subcultures with each own rebellious ideas are always on the opposite side
of mainstream culture. The society in common often considers negatively toward
the rebellious actions they take since they all are in a reverse with the normal
norms and rules. Punk has committed itself as a place for young people to express
their idea free from the involvement of the commercialism and conformism
through the establishment of the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic which later becomes
the most noticeable idea from this subculture. Azerrad affirms that DIY ethic is a
realization of Punk‟s rebellious idea
encouraging
commit
to user the members to settle on the
128
digilib.uns.ac.id
independent area (Azerrad, 2001: 6). It means that Punk has actualized the
rebellion through the use of this ethic in covering everything they practice in the
members‟ daily life.
As Punk is developed into other youth subcultures like Emo and Hardcore,
the actualization of DIY ethic was kept running in those subdivisions. Emo
previously was recognized as the root of Hardcore-Punk youth subculture which
fought back the standard and mainstream culture through Do It Yourself ethic but
in a more sensitive and personal way. However, Emo nowadays has lost its
rebellious side since the media has widely misused it as a new form of marketable
product. DIY as the realization of rebellious idea previously held by Punk has
been taunted by media so that its rebellious side does not appear anymore.
Similarly, Schwartz and Merten explain this phenomenon as the new form of
agreement of mainstream culture controlled by parents and the children in various
youth subcultures. They affirm that the traditional cycle of the intense conflict
followed by reconciliation when the younger generation takes its place in society
seems less common today than in the past (Schwarz and Merten, 1967: 458). It
means that nowadays youth subculture do not take a serious rebellious actions
since there is dominant factor like media that has been very potential to replace
the image of a youth subculture.
In Emo nowadays, the original rebellious actions have been replaced with
the perception of media in redefining its „rebel‟ side. There is an accord between
the wide society and today youth subculture in understanding the meaning of
rebellion. Through the music video for example, the rebel side of previous Emo
commit to user
129
digilib.uns.ac.id
has been replaced with the rebel side of new Emo dominated by the performance
of the performers within the music videos. In other words, it can be said that the
rebellion has been commodified into the smoother one which is impossibly free
from anti capitalism sense so that everyone can accept this idea. Through The
Used music videos below, it can be seen that there are commodification of
rebellious behavior within the Emo youth subculture.
i. Blue and Yellow
In Blue and Yellow video, the rebellious side is found within the
performances of the band members and the models which consist of the
audiences whom intentionally appeared. The singing performance concept of
band performing on the stage has strengthened the ambience of rebellious side
of Emo. Below are the scenes showing the rebellious side of The Used when
performing on the stage.
Figure 84
Figure 85
To highlight the rebellious side of the band‟s music video, the camera captures
the situation both in the venue and from the audiences‟ arena. On the stage, the
band accentuates the rebellious side of Emo through the performance of Bert
who takes a headbang action (Figure 84). Added with the performance of other
band members behind himcommit
who to also
user play the music instruments
130
digilib.uns.ac.id
enthusiastically, this scene gives the impression of common rock stars that
mostly relates to the rebellion thing while having stage performance. The using
of low key lighting behind the band clearly emphasizes the sense of rock band
concert. While this scene is lasting, Bert screams the phrase “Well you‟ll never
find it, if you‟re looking for it”. His screaming voice over the assembling music
instruments is proposed to strengthen Emo rebellious side. This screaming
technique can be found also in the previous 1980s Emo to express the painful
feeling of the song. However, screaming was not the most noticeable rebellious
sign of the old Emo bands because they still really practiced the DIY ethic by
avoiding the mainstream media interventions, establishing independent record
labels and considering the music as the place of youth expression not as the
saleable thing. The spotlight of Bert‟s screaming action in this scene gives the
general description of Emo today which only highlights the rebellious side
from the stage performance especially when screaming technique appears.
The next figure is a scene of diving action of the audiences while The
Used‟s band members are performing on the stage (Figure 85). The angle of
camera shows how almost all of the audiences appreciate this „diving‟ by put
their hands up to lift a boy audience. This action shows that there is a strong
relationship between the band as the performers on the stage and the audiences.
Also, this action can be found in almost rock concerts. The rebellious action of
this audiences‟ scene is used to show the general description of the members of
Emo youth subculture in general when they are coming to the concert. Similar
like the previous scene, diving action is not the only thing that is used to show
commit to user
131
digilib.uns.ac.id
the rebellious action of previous Emo in 1980s when it was not intervened by
mainstream media. Those two scenes show that the rebellious sides can only be
gained from the stage performances of a band and audiences‟ responds without
any further action like what usually found in the previous Emo in 1980s
practicing DIY ethic.
Why can this rebellion be accepted nowadays? The media, as usual,
control the hipping phenomenon in the society. American adolescents who
grow up post 9/11 tragedy are different from American adolescents who grew
up in 1980s. Seen from its social life, the 1980s adolescents lived in a strong
and powerful America which can create everything independently. Although at
that time industries ruled the every aspects of youth life shown by the growing
up of mainstream music on MTV, the adolescents still had the power to sustain
the ideology of a youth subculture. However, the media did not involve their
action because other youth stuffs such as MTV-music type were accepted well
due to the euphoria of America‟s good condition. Post 9/11 changes Americans
perception toward everything. Like what have been explained in the earlier
chapter, the glamour stuffs are not suitable with the condition of America in
general. Since the media places as the next big thing for Americans adolescents
post 9/11, everything related to Emo including the rebellious actions are
considered as the standard of being involved in Emo. Rebellion is not merely
an awareness of the members of youth subcultures to fight against the
mainstream culture like what happened in the early Emo, but simply change
into the stage performance and audience response like what can be seen from
commit to user
132
digilib.uns.ac.id
this Blue and Yellow music video.
ii.
A Box Full of Sharp Objects
Emo nowadays still practiced the rebellious actions but not like the
previous rebellion of Emo found in the 1980s history. Emo is not something
underground anymore even its rebellious actions are out as the new commodity
to attract the attention of adolescent who look for the identity. The rebellion as
a commodity in Emo youth subculture appears on The Used‟s music video
entitled A Box Full of Sharp Objects. Using singing performance concept, it
can be fully gained that the band members emphasize the rebellious side
through the stage performance rather than giving the basic rebellious ideas of a
youth subculture.
Figure 86
Figure 87
Figure 88
The first scene shows the performance of Bert and Quinn on the stage. The
angle of the camera focuses on how Quinn plays guitar passionately and Bert
spurts beer form his mouth (Figure 86). Their performance have emphasized
the rebel side of rockstars which can easily found on other rock music concerts.
Spurting beer while singing is an obvious act of rebellion where a singer can
express his feeling. This action, for sure, will not be found in other music
concert like pop or RnB. Thiscommit
what makes
to userEmo is different from mainstream
133
digilib.uns.ac.id
music in 2000s because it explores the sensitive and rebellious feeling at once
in every Emo band‟s stage perfromance.
The next figure is a scene of Bert in a stage performance to show the
rebellious side of Emo nowadays. Seen from the way he sings, his actions still
encompass the sense of rockstar‟s rebellion in general (Figure 87). The long
shot picture gives an impression of The Used as a band who perform in front of
the audiences. The stage lighting shows that it is a scene of rock concert not
pop concert. There, Bert jumps while singing the phrase of the lyric
enthusiatically “Today I feel and felt better, just knowing this matters I just feel
stronger and sharper”. In the end of the phrase, Bert screams the „sharper‟
part, the action which can usually be found in any nowadays Emo band. The
fast beat of drum and guitar rhytm with full techniques giving the strong
impression in the song as a rock song not a ballad one. The combination of the
lyric, music and Bert‟s stage performance emphasize the rebellion of
adolescents in the perspective of Emo today. The phrase “Today I feel and felt
better, just knowing this matters I just feel stronger and sharper” makes an
impact on the strong and unbeatable young people which commonly close to
the rebellious acts. The rebellion is also initiated in the next figure which is a
scene of Jeph Howard playing bass keenly in the video while the bass
dominating the music. The short duration of his stage performance, however, is
used to strengthen the rebellious side of The Used as an Emo band (Figure 88).
Considering the condition of America post 9/11, it is impossible for
young people to go back to the previous situation when everything was strong
commit to user
134
digilib.uns.ac.id
and poweful so that they can happily enjoy life like what is described by pop,
hip hop and RnB music and totally fight against the system like what is
practiced by underground Punk in 1980s and 1990s. Emo youth subculture is
considered as a right place for American adolescents to express their feeling
due to the anxiety of adolescence phase and national grief after the tragedy of
9/11. However, the ambience atmosphere after the tragedy encourages young
people to focus on themselves and to deeply explore their feeling since the
media also support it by exploiting Emo youth subculture. Unlike the previous
Emo who mainly focused on the rebellious efforts to sustain this hardcore punk
rooted youth subculture from the mainstream media, Emo today only depicts
the rebellious sense in the stage performance of the band. Incongruously, these
rebellious acts have been appeared in the video as the requirement to be
involved in nowadays Emo.
iii.
I Caught Fire (In Your Eyes)
Like what have been repeatedly stated before, rebellion according to Emo
nowadays does not merely apply the DIY or Do It Yourself ethic anymore
because everything is handled by the media so that the DIY ethic which
generally rejects the interaction with the mainstream media has been replaced
with the new squashier ideas. Through another The Used music video entitled I
Caught Fire, it can be gained that the rebellion of previous Emo with its DIY
ethic has been replaced with another ethic focusing on the peer relationship.
commit to user
135
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 89
92
Figure 90
Figure 91
Figure
The scenes above are captured from I Caught Fire music video which applies
the singing performance semi narrative concept. The narrative side performs
the models of Emo Kids consisting of suburban boy and girl adolescents. Their
fashions, like what have been discussed in the previous subchapter, have
strengthened the sense of being Emo so that everything they perform there is
close to Emo meaning. The first figure is a scene where a group of Emo Kids
are sitting in front of the closed shop (Figure 89). The angle shows how they
have so strong relationship as a youth subculture that they sit together in the
edge of the road with their peers, a common idea which is usually found in any
kind of youth subculture. The next figure is a scene when Emo Kids are
walking along together to the unknown place. Using similar angel like the
previous scene, it can be seen that the kids walk to the same direction (Figure
90). One direction means that they have a really close relationship which
covers the unity idea in Emo besides the rebellion since they live on the street.
to user
Their appearances and actionscommit
at least
have explained Emo as a rebellious
136
digilib.uns.ac.id
youth subculture. Just wearing the similar fashion and hanging around together
will simply mean that the Emo Kids are rebels. It is very different with the
previous Emo youth subculture which actualize the rebellion by producing the
music and concert independently not simply spotlighting on fashion and peer
relationship.
The next two scenes captured from the video are also used to strengthen
the other rebellious sides of Emo as a youth subculture. The next figure is a
scene where the kids are stepping on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame
(Figure 91). The camera takes close up shot of a Hollywood Walk of Fame star
under the feet of those kids. Hollywood Walk of Fame is popular as the
appreciation symbol for the Hollywood stars who have dedicated their life for
film. This scene unintentionally describes the Emo members as the rebel kids.
The scene raises an impression that the kids are different from the normal
people whose names are represented by the names written on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame star. The next scene is a close up shot of a paper board with the
typography “Let‟s be honest. It‟s for beer” (Figure 92). Beer signifies the
popular alcohol drink which mostly becomes a favorite drink for adolescents in
general. The scene intentionally confirms that beer is the basic need of those
Emo Kids. Sometimes, drinking beer contain of alcohol will prove that
somebody is strong and rebel. The rebellious side here is only proven by the
consumption of alcohol drink rather than doing something more useful like
what was found in 1980s Emo.
The regular appearance of Emo Kids in the media has proven that
commit to user
137
digilib.uns.ac.id
rebellious side of this youth subculture has been commodified. The early Emo,
like Punk, actualized its rebellious idea through the application of DIY ethic
within the subculture. However, after dejecting by the media, Emo today
focuses the rebellious actions on the daily life simply like peer relationship and
alcohol consumption. Why is this new form of rebellion easily accepted by the
media? As it is known that post 9/11 American need a healing phase to build
back its power. The out coming of Emo in youth life is punctually right since
media has publicized it as a sensitive youth subculture which can cover youth
life to compromise with the mainstream culture by only focusing in daily
activity not the brutal one akin to old Punk and hardcore youth subculture in
1980s. Peer relationship is what this young American generation needs because
before 9/11 happened, most of them focused on their individual business.
iv.
Blood on My Hands
Another video showing the commodified rebellion in Emo youth
subculture is Blood on My Hands. Here, the video applies singing performance
semi narrative concepts fully performed by the band members. Bert, the main
character in the video, shows the rebellion through his acting. Mainly this
music video narrates about Bert as a psycho who has killed more than one
victim.
commit to user
138
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 93
Figure 94
The scenes above are captured from Blood on My Hands music video. The first
figure is an opening scene of the video where Bert sits alone in a dark room
(Figure 93). The long shot camera is used to catch all of his appearance
together with the background behind him. Here, Bert clutches a cigarette
between his fingers while thinking something seriously. The low key lighting
in this scene stresses on the gloomy atmosphere which can be occasionally
found in any music video related to Emo. A cigarette which he clutches along
with his informal fashion signifies the rebellious idea in a new form. In the
past, rebellion can be got from the real action of adolescents in the society by
applying DIY ethic, now the rebellious sense of Emo is found from the similar
appearance and smoking habit like Bert does.
The last figure is a close up shot of Bert‟s hands full of blood while
holding a knife while stabbing on a man‟s body (Figure 94). This bloody scene
is the main scene in the video since it is suitable with the title of the song. Bert
stabs the victim when the assembled instruments of the music simply played in
a faster tempo and he sings the phrase “There's blood on my hands like the
blood in you. Some things can't be treated so don't make me, don't make me be
myself around you”. The capturing of this scene reveals assassination as the
new form of rebellious idea in Emo way. Combined with the lyric, this scene
raises the threatening act which is actualized with the assassination act.
Assassination or murdering was not considered as rebellious act in the previous
commit
to user
Emo. However, Bert‟s acting here
shows
that Emo member can be rebels too
139
digilib.uns.ac.id
by simply kill anyone. Assassination is put as the new rebellious idea in this
music video.
In 1980s, Emo youth subculture did not take the harmful action like the
tough of killing anybody else in showing the rebellious ideas although Emo
avoided the mainstream culture interfere. The previous Emo only focused on
how created the exclusive space for expressing the ideas through the
production of different music. However, after being exploited exaggeratedly,
Emo now always relates to something gloomy, sad and even brutal like suicide
and assassination similar like Bert‟s action in the video. This new rebellion
related to suicide and assassination can be accepted in Americans youth‟s life
since the various media take Emo gloomy feeling excessively as the new trend
after the tragedy of 9/11. Even, according to the report, Emo youth subculture
has caused the rising number of suicidal action among adolescents in
American. It proves that Emo now is close to the demising thought as the
extended form of rebellious ideas.
b. Youth Anxiety
Adolescence is a phase when young people try to look for their identity in
facing the next adulthood phase. In particular, adolescents experience the
adolescence phase at a deep and painful level (Nouwen in Anastasi, 2005: 303).
This phase of finding the identity is often followed by the anxiety feelings where
most adolescents feel insecure, lost, and desperate. Besides, they have to struggle
to get a right place for expressing their anxiety feeling. Emo as a youth subculture
commit to user
140
digilib.uns.ac.id
based on hardcore-punk music can respond this condition well by perceiving the
youth anxiety sensitively, not violently, through its behavior as the symbolic
system of communication. Youth anxiety generally is a major theme of Emo music
which includes the feeling of desperate, lonely, hurt, rejected, lost, and insecure.
Although the theme is mainly used within this subculture, the previous Emo in
1980s did not take these values too deeply. It could be proven by the application
of DIY ethic showing that the previous Emo had a position as the susceptible yet
independent youth subculture. However, by the exploitation of the media, now the
theme is the only thing that is highly exploited within this youth subculture
regardless to the independent ethic which makes Emo is the most vulnerable youth
subculture since it focuses only on the anxiety feeling of adolescence phase.
In analyzing the videos, here, the view of youth anxiety is based on the
common performance of the performers within the video related to the Emo theme
not on the psychological aspect of the anxious feeling. Therefore, the
psychological approach is not appropriate to use in the analysis since subjects that
are being analyzed are correlated only with Emo‟s behavior as the commodity
within the video. The following The Used music videos show how anxiety is
commodified under the label of Emo subculture.
i.
Buried Myself Alive
In Buried Myself Alive music video aired on 2003, the anxiety sense is
acquired from the narrative mixed with singing performance video concept
telling about the four band members with each individual problem which
commit to user
141
digilib.uns.ac.id
visually and symbolically described by scenes as follows:
Figure 95
Figure 96
The scene above lasts from 00:00:37 until 00:01:05 which tells about Bert who
is being trapped inside a coffin. While the scene is lasting, Bert sings the lyric
“well this time I‟m not going to watch myself die… I think I made it a game to
play your game and let myself cry... I buried myself alive on the inside so I
could shut you out and let you go away for a long time...” The highlighting of
Bert‟s slow voice over the assembling band instruments gives a possibility for
the viewers to hear what he sings while watching his performance on the music
video. From the beginning of the scene it can be seen that Bert holds a lighter
while being trapped in a coffin (Figure 95). This scene is intended to show the
effort of Bert who tries to escape from the coffin. The medium close up shot let
the viewers observe what Bert does inside the coffin. The low key lighting
from the lighter is used to emphasize the gloomy sense inside the coffin (Figure
96). Added with the phrase from the lyric “well this time I‟m not going to
watch myself die … I buried myself alive on the inside...” the scene tries to
visualize the desperate feeling experienced by Bert because logically if
somebody is buried alive in a coffin, he or she is going to die soon due to the
lack of oxygen..
The visualization of lyriccommit
in thistoscene
user is purposively made to illustrate
142
digilib.uns.ac.id
the same idea that being buried alive is torturing although being buried here
does not literally mean „really buried in the soil‟ but a sense of very deep
depression. Of course, in visual Bert‟s acting commonly reveal the sense of
being depressed which feels like facing the death. The phrase „I‟m not going to
watch myself die‟ represents the suicidal idea which in general suicide is known
as the deadly effect of being depressed. As it is known in America today that
the number of depression and suicidal action among young people is rising due
to the problems surround youth life (http://ezinearticles.com/?Facts-AboutTeen-Depression-You-Need-To-Know&id=789323). Emo is considered to
respond this problem seriously through music and lyric that provides a space
for adolescents for exploring their anxiety. Desperate feeling related to suicidal
idea has been commodified within the videos to fit the image of performers as
Emo band, like what can be seen in Bert‟s scenes. The idea of being buried
alive inside the coffin till the vocalist is dying shown by these scenes show
how the depression has been a commodity to strengthen The Used‟s image as
an Emo band.
Figure 97
Figure 98
The picture above illustrates about the hanging Quinn which lasts from
00:01:55 until 00:02:03 using a messy room with nobody in it as the setting of
place of the scene. Quinn, the commit
guitarist,
to tries
user to release himself from the ropes
143
digilib.uns.ac.id
or belts which hang him up (Figure 97). The low key lighting coming out from
the window here indicates the gloomy situation of the room while the hanging
Quinn who tries to release himself symbolizes the alienation and hopelessness
since nobody is coming to help him. Captured using normal angle, the focus is
only on Quinn‟s effort of letting his body loose from the tight rope (Figure 98).
The lyric “I guess its okay I puked the day away, I guess it‟s better you trapped
yourself in your own way and if you want me back, you‟re gonna have to ask
nicer than that” sung by Bert strengthen the desperation described by Quinn‟s
performance. By using the visualization of the video, the word „I‟ does not
merely refer to Bert, the vocalist, but also to every viewer who sing it and
explore the music vide deeply while the word ‟you‟ may refer to other person
which could be a girlfriend, friend, family or another figure who has hurt the
„I‟‟s feeling or made mistake on the „I‟‟s life. This lyric, together with the
visualization of the video starred by Quinn, emphasizes sort senses of
adolescence‟s anxiety feeling similar like what have been illustrated by Bert‟s
scenes.
The two other members of The Used also perform the symbolic way of
desperation in several scenes. Branden, the early drummer of The Used, is
described of being a lost boy trapped in a room full of mirrors so that he can
not find the way out instead of being confused of seeing his various reflections
everywhere. He can not find the right reflection until finally he decides to
break out the mirrors (Figure 99).
commit to user
144
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 99
The slow tempo of music instruments let Bert‟s voice come up when the
Branden‟s scene appears. The lyric “I took advantage of myself and felt fine but
it was worth the night...” plainly brings the impression of being regret on
something. „I took advantage, felt fine‟ and „it was worth the night‟ are such
kind of irony since the word „advantage‟ and „felt fine‟ contains optimistic
sense while „worth the night‟ tends to raise negative sense because it raises an
impression to „something that has been late‟ or failure. The viewers are invited
to feel this regression feeling through the visualization of Branden who is
desperately trying to find a way out from a room full of mirrors. The
illustration of Branden delivers the meaning of confusedness in adolescence
phase to look for the right identity. It has become a common problem that in
this phase, many American adolescents are trying to find their identity through
the deep and painful experience.
Jeph, the bassist in other scenes is narrated of being a drowning boy who
tries to get out from the flooding water in a scene from 00:02:15 until 00:02:30.
Figure 100
commitFigure
to user
101
Figure 102
145
digilib.uns.ac.id
While Jeph scene is appeared, Bert clearly sings the bridge-lyric “with my foot
on your neck…I finally have you, right where I want you”. The lyric brings an
impression of desperate feeling which has been translated visually by Jeph‟s
effort to escape from the flooding water alone without any help (Figure 100 Figure 102). This scene symbolically describes the painful feeling of an
adolescent who tries to get out from problems surrounding his youth life since
he or she feels like to face the anxiety problems alone. This scene describes the
desperate theme raised by Emo. The long medium long shot of Jeph lets the
viewers watch and understand his hard effort to get out from the water for
several times. Similarly, it will raise the impression like what can also be found
from other members‟ scenes: the hard efforts in overcoming the problems
happen in youth life alone, a theme that is acceptable in nowadays Emo.
And why is desperate theme in Emo accepted by most American
adolescents? Emo here does not merely reveal the common anxiety feeling in
adolescence phase but also the gloomy feeling of most American post 9/11
event. Like what has been stated in the previous chapter, 9/11 aftermath brings
a massive effect to Americans in every sector of life. In youth life, the previous
glamour lifestyle to respond the pre and post millennium hysteria has shifted
reversely into the gloomier one as form of commiseration toward the national
suffering. This process is certainly stirred by the role of media in making the
gloomy stuffs as the new trend in youth life. The early Emo in 1980s and 1990s
were not really famous in America because the media have not exaggeratedly
explored the gloominess of this subculture. The theme carried out by 1980s and
commit to user
146
digilib.uns.ac.id
1990s Emo did not represent the major American life at those eras since
America was recognized as the most powerful country, the police of the world
which was strengthened after the victory of Cold War with Uni Soviet in the
early of 1990s. Desperation was not commonly found in youth life. This theme
was still exclusively owned by the underground American hardcore youth
subculture in 1980s rooted in Washington D.C such as Rites of Spring.
However, the media have found that Emo is a right stuff to replace the glamour
theme with something sensitive which encompasses the national grief post 9/11
and the anxiety feeling of adolescence phase. Emo which is exclusive at first
become popular because of the exaggerated exploitation. Therefore,
desperation brought Emo is now a major theme which simply accepted by
Americans especially youth.
ii.
Taste of Ink
Another The Used‟s video describing about youth anxiety is Taste of Ink.
Here, Bert dramatically shows his anxiety feeling through the scene where he
is sitting alone in a base room of his house.
Figure 103
Figure 104
Captured using long shot frame, it can be seen that Bert sits alone on the sofa
while anxiously thinks about something (Figure 103). The room where Bert sits
alone is such a messy one. Thecommit
wall is to
full
of scratches while the goods are not
user
147
digilib.uns.ac.id
put in order well. The low key lighting strengthens the anxiety sense while Bert
in the beginning of this scene clearly sings the lyric “Is it worth it can you even
hear me, standing with your spotlight on me”. The visualization of lyric
illustrates Bert‟s anxiety feeling as a young boy, representing the common
adolescents. „Can you even hear me, standing with your spotlight on me‟ here
means that Bert, of which rule as the common young boy, feels the terrible
loneliness because he doubt that somebody can hear him although they are
close to Bert‟s life. The medium close up shot of Bert chewing the pen which
he used for scratching the wall behind it strengthens the alien and lonely theme
(Figure 104). This scene painfully illustrates Bert‟s desperate feeling which
make him chews the pen as a result of his anxiousness. Generally, this scene
describes the common anxiety of adolescents‟ life where most of them are
doubt about the people‟s existence on their life.
Most of adolescents feel that adolescence phase is irritating because they
are demanded to grow up with the standard of normal society. In America,
before 9/11 tragedy, young people did not have the right place for expressing
their anxiety feeling. Adolescence phase was considered as joyful phase where
they can find the new experience which has not been found yet in childhood
time. Culturally, the media supported the joy side of adolescence phase by
exposing normal stuff such as pop music, blinking stuffs and the like. There
was almost no space for adolescents to express their anxiety feeling because
media at that time focused on the powerful era of America so that everything
was considered normal and tough. However, 9/11 tragedy proves that America
commit to user
148
digilib.uns.ac.id
is not merely the strongest and most powerful country anymore but a weak and
vulnerable one. America needs the healing stuff which can cover the condition
of American after the tragedy. Emo is easily marketable in the media because it
captures the right moment when most of American begins to explore the
gloominess, misery and vulnerability. Also, Emo becomes a right place to
express the anxiety feeling experienced by young people in general. Bert‟s
scene above shows how Emo today has covered the individual problem of
adolescents such as terrible loneliness. Adolescence phase means anxiety.
Anxiety is really close with loneliness while loneliness is the aspect of misery
of which Americans in general experienced after 9/11 tragedy. Loneliness is
something accepted in Emo youth subculture which other youth subculture
based on rock music can not admit. It makes Emo something that is exploitable
by the American media. In fact, the early Emo youth subculture members
originally applied DIY ethic which means that they were more powerful and
independent than what is appeared on the media now. The loneliness was not
important on the early Emo subculture, but now loneliness is really acquired
within Emo subculture.
iii.
Take It Away
The next video showing about the exploitation of anxiety feeling is Take
It Away. Applying singing performance semi narrative concept, the video
mostly describes about young people‟s anxiety including the hopeless,
confused and alienated feeling.
commit to user
149
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 105
Figure 106
Figure 107
Figure 108
Those four pictures above are captured differently from Take It Away music
video. Here, Bert acts as young boy who is nervously facing his surrounding
environment. Using the night as setting of time, those scenes impress alienated
and confused feeling through Bert‟s performances. The first scene appear in
the beginning of the song, where the guitar riffs and bass lines are entering the
song together with the fast beat of the drum. There, Bert is anxiously awake on
his bed because he can not sleep due to the insomnia he suffers (Figure 105).
Insomnia or sleep disorder often happens if people excessively think about the
problems they have. The low key light on a medium close up shot enable the
viewers to watch Bert‟s unhappy expression caused by his personal problems.
Bert represents most of American adolescents in having the similar problem
that they have to overcome it alone.
Move to the next scene, Bert finally decides to go out of his room since
he cannot sleep (Figure 106). The long shot using night crowded road as the
background reinforce Bert‟s character as a lonely young boy in a crowded
place. This scene describes the adolescent‟s terrible loneliness which becomes
the main theme within Emo today. Added with the lyric, “I'm a worm with no
more chances” while this scene lasts, the impression of desperation and useless
is highly highlighted here. „I‟mcommit
a worm‟
to phrase
user strengthens Bert‟s visualization
150
digilib.uns.ac.id
of a lonely and useless young boy because in reality, worm refers to the weak
invertebrate animal which does not have enough power to survive. „With no
more chances‟ emphasizes the hopeless sense of facing what has happened in
youth life.
The scene then moves to a bright place inside a hospital where Bert
stands in front of older people and furiously screams “I'm so apathetic in my
resentment, Living, loving, knowing not” while the other band instruments are
highly distorted to support the lyric‟s intention (Figure 107). The use of
„apathetic in resentment‟ phrase describes the feeling of uselessness. „Living,
loving, knowing not‟ phrase delivers an idea of boredom in life. This feeling is
commonly experienced by most American young people as Anastasi states that
many adolescents have an intense need to feel love and accepted. They
desperately seek love and acceptance but often lack the means to attain it
(Anastasi, 2005: 303). Bert as the young boy here represents the common
feeling of adolescents in being rejected by the society since nobody really cares
of his presence. The last picture is a scene when Bert is cornered alone in a bus
while lip-singing “take my hand” for eight times (Figure 108). The low key
lighting impresses the gloominess and vulnerability feeling of a young boy.
The phrase „take my hand‟ here is deliberately made to show the adolescents‟
longing for attention, help and love.
Here, The Used‟s music video has reflected the common adolescence
problem related to the feeling of confused, unnoticed and useless. The
application of those general youth problems within the video is intended to
commit to user
151
digilib.uns.ac.id
show that Emo is a right subculture where young people can freely express
their common problems. Produced after 9/11 event, as it has previously stated
that Emo has successfully captured the grief moment common Americans with
the anxiety feeling of young people in their adolescence phase. Compared to
the previous rock band before the tragedy happened, the adolescence problem
themes are not commonly exploited in rock music. It happens too to several
youth subcultures like hip hop for instance, which applies the hedonism, the
joyful youth and other optimist themes of being youth. Emo in the first wave,
around 1980s, still applied the optimistic sense of being young by practicing
DIY ethic. However, it has changed since 9/11 tragedy happened. Stroke by the
terrible event in a sudden, America is now being alienated and hopeless. There
is no reason anymore for America to be as optimist as before the tragedy. To
commemorate the event, Emo which basically digs the pessimist theme of
youth life appears to give a place of expressing the national sorrow which
gradually combined with the anxiety feeling of adolescence phase.
iv.
All That I’ve Got
Applying singing performance semi narrative concept, All That I‟ve Got
music video attempts to explore the anxiety feeling through a little boy‟s acting
as the main model within the video. It is told that the little boy enters the old
bookstore until finally he is trapped inside a book that he opens unintentionally.
Inside the book he finds a strange place where he can meet the band members
of The Used whom are narrated as the other characters within the book. The
commit to user
152
digilib.uns.ac.id
little boy asks all of The Used band members one by one in order to find the
way out from that strange place.
Figure 109
Figure 110
Figure 111
Figure 112
This music video dramatically narrates a tragic-ending story where
finally the little boy is perpetually trapped inside the book. The high key
lighting mixed with the medium close up shot give an innocent notion on the
little boy‟s face (Figure 109, Figure 110). The dialogues “how does the story
end?” and “I‟m looking for the end” are plainly written on those two scenes to
highlight the innocent idea of a little boy who tries to look for the way out the
book. Ironically, in the end, the boy can not go out from the book-world instead
of getting trapped as a cartoon character forever there (Figure 111, Figure 112).
The repeating phrase of song lyric sung by Bert “I‟ll be just fine pretending
I‟m not, I‟m far from lonely and it‟s all that I‟ve got” illustrates the tragic
ending story of that little boy. „I‟ll be just fine pretending I‟m not‟ phrase means
that the „I‟, referring to that little boy illustration that he will be in fine state
although actually everything in his life is miserable. Here, the little boy is
commit to user
terribly trapped forever inside the book, a fact that he has to accept. The rest
153
digilib.uns.ac.id
phrase „I‟m far from lonely and it‟s all that I‟ve got‟ means that the „I‟ does not
get anything better except being far away from the terrible loneliness.
Generally, this scene depicts the satirical condition of young people in
overcoming the adolescence phase because sometimes there is no right place
available for them to express their anxiety feeling.
Repeatedly, this music video is proposed to show the viewers about the
correlated problems suffered by American in general and adolescents
specifically. The miserable condition shown by the little boy is similar with
what America endured at that time. After the 9/11 attack, like what have been
stated in the previous discussion that everything connected with miserable and
desperate feeling have covered various sectors of Americans life. No more
luxurious stuff can represent American condition post 9/11 suitably since the
great national suffering has changed the perception of America toward
everything. It seems that there is no other way out for America to come back to
its previous position before the tragedy had happened as a superpower country
in the world. This fact might raise the miserable feeling of general Americans.
While the miserable feeling is being experienced by almost all Americans, the
industries especially those who concern on youth culture have found that Emo
youth subculture is the next saleable big thing. The exploration of miserable
feeling in Emo is made exaggeratedly which can be watched in almost all of
The Used music videos. Young people are invited to experience the anxiety
feeling deeper and more sensitive than facing the reality of life optimistically.
This kind of feeling exploration can be accepted well by the American youth
commit to user
154
digilib.uns.ac.id
since Emo can represent what most Americans suffer as the impact of 9/11
strike besides general miserable feeling experienced by adolescents in puberty
phase. The little boy within the video who is confused in looking for the way
out unintentionally describes the miserable feeling experienced by those two
sides: Americans in general and adolescents. Historically, the previous
members of Emo, around 1980s did not really focus on the miserable feeling in
this youth subculture. DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic applied by the members of
early Emo in 1980s proved that miserable thingy was not the main focus in the
subculture. It was true if the gloomy or miserable topic was also used in the
1980s Emo youth subculture, but not as the main theme which had been deeply
exploited. From this process, it is clear that the miserable thing, a feeling of
hopelessness and confused, is a form of commodification found in nowadays
Emo youth subculture.
v.
The Bird and The Worm
The Bird and The Worm applies the singing performance mixed with
narrative video concept where in here, Bert figures out youth anxiety feeling in
various scenes.
commit to user
155
digilib.uns.ac.id
Figure 113
Figure 114
Figure 115
Figure 116
The first scene appears in the beginning of music video. Here, Bert anxiously
sits in a messy room while other band members are not with him (Figure 113).
He covers his head with upper part of hoodie to visually reinforce the anxiety
feeling. In the previous subchapter before, it has been discussed that hoodie in
Emo raises the sense of anxiety, mysterious and gloominess. The purpose of
scene take in this figure is to show the anxiety and mysterious side of Emo
experienced by the band members represented by Bert. In the next scene, he
opens his hoodie while watching his surrounding area worriedly as if
somebody was hunting him (Figure 114). The medium long shot are used in
those two scenes to focus on Bert‟s fear expression. While those scenes are
lasting, he sings „he wears his heart safety pinned to his backpack, his
backpack is all that he knows…shot down by strangers whose glances can
cripple the heart and devour the soul‟. From the lyric, Bert as the singer
poetically describes the fear toward something invisible while he has no power
to face it. It can be obviously seen from the phrase “he wears his heart safety
pinned to his backpack, his backpack is all that he knows” in describing his
weakness so that as if he only has the „backpack‟ to protect himself from any
destruction. His fear toward the „invisible creature‟ is depicted by the rest of
the lyric „shot down by strangers
whose
glances can cripple the heart and
commit
to user
156
digilib.uns.ac.id
devour the soul‟. The word „strangers whose glances can cripple the heart and
devour the soul‟ poetically means that there is something that is really feared
by Bert. This fear is a common topic owned by most of young people in facing
the adolescence phase.
Next figure is a scene when Bert peeps what happens outside his room
through the door hole. He can see that there is an unidentified haunting him
(Figure 115). The coming out of this creature is intended to show the
realization of fear feeling. Next scene is scene where Bert suddenly drowns in a
mysterious deep water inside the chair he sits (Figure 116). Both of these
scenes are running together with the instrumental sounds without any lyric
heard. The function of this instrumental is intended to strengthen the
dramatization of Bert while struggling with his fear problems. All of the
visualizations of The Used‟s music videos reflect fear in general suffered by
young people. Repeatedly, the comings out of those scenes are intended to
strengthen fear impression of being older in the Emo style. Before Emo
emerges in the early of 2000s, there is no music exploring dread thing in such
way, even Emo in the early of 1980s. However, everything related to the fear
seems like a common and popular Emo formula since 9/11 tragedy has
happened. American young people can deeply explore their fear in Emo.
Similar like the previous phenomenon, the rising of nowadays Emo is used to
emphasize the ambient atmosphere post 9/11 with a component of anxiety
feeling suffered by common American adolescents. Fear is the most visible
thing that America experienced after the tragedy since her symbol of
commit to user
157
digilib.uns.ac.id
superpower has been destroyed unexpectedly by the unknown enemy. The
scenes of the video have clearly described the dreadfulness of America.
Similarly, fear is intimately experienced by adolescents since they have to enter
a new stage in their life which will be different from the childhood phase. The
way the video explore the feeling in Emo style, has change the fear as a legal
requirement in this youth subculture. In fact, Emo previously is an underground
youth subculture which faced „fear‟ of getting older in contrast with such
vulnerable way by practicing DIY ethic. Overall, The Used‟s music videos
show the commodification of Emo by exploiting youth anxiety as the only
main theme with the related topic like depression, loneliness, alienations,
vulnerability, confuse and the like as a standard image of Emo Kids represented
by The Used.
commit to user
158
digilib.uns.ac.id
CHAPTER IV
A. Conclusion
Youth subculture is a group of young people in gathering and expressing
their adolescence sense in a resistance to the dominant parents’ role. One of the
most noticeable youth subcultures is the existence of Punk in 1980s which
legalizes the rebellious side of young people against the standard norms of British
life controlled by parents. In America, there are various youth subcultures
applying the same ideas in acquiring a space in the society controlled by the
dominant role. Within a youth subculture, the members are obliged to
communicate each other using the agreed means of communication such as
fashion, behavior and music. The different means of communication between one
to another group shows that each youth subculture has its own characteristics in
accordance with the norms made by the members.
Along with much exposure in media, the previous meaning of youth
subculture has lost. The peculiarity of youth subcultures is what the media look
for to make the next big thing consumed by the society. Therefore, youth
subcultures today are not like the previous groups who merely focused on how the
members get a place to express their feeling due to the identity crisis facing by
adolescents. Youth subcultures’ exclusive means of communication such as
fashion and behavior have been commodified to easily sell in the market. The
commit
to userall of youth subcultures existing
commodification process is found
in almost
158
159
digilib.uns.ac.id
today. As it has been stated in the background of thesis, the commodification
process is also found in today Emo youth subculture. There is a wide range of
differences found in nowadays Emo compared to the previous one especially in
the scope on how the members communicate each other. To see on what kinds of
youth subcultures commodification are, the analysis is anchored in ten of The
Used’s music videos as the main data.
Emo in 1980s was rooted from Hardcore and Punk scene by practicing Do It
Yourself (DIY) ethic and claimed to be free from any mainstream media
interference. Emo term is derived from Emotive Hardcore because the first
generation of Emo youth subculture came from Washington D.C. music scenes
creating the more personal and sensitive songs yet still wrapped in the noisy tunes.
The recent Emo term, however, dramatically turns into a term for youth subculture
of which members focusing only on the personal problems related to the
adolescence phase and neglecting the basic idea of Punk, DIY. Media have
exaggeratedly exploited Emo that adolescents know this youth subculture
mistakenly. Being the members of Emo subculture means that they have to dress
and act in Emo way. Means of communication such as fashion and behavior have
been commodified by media which lastly encourages young people to do the
things alike in order to be considered as Emo members.
The commodification of youth subcultures is simply found in the production
of Emo bands’ videos. Here, ten of The Used music videos have been analyzed to
observe that the elements within the videos show the commodification of Emo
subculture in terms of fashion and behavior. Having developed the main research
commit to user
160
digilib.uns.ac.id
question mentioned in the early chapter, the analysis is held to see the
commodification of fashion and behavior within the music videos. Fashion in the
early Emo in 1980s was not really exaggerated like what can be watched within
The Used’s music videos. Although gloominess became the basic theme of this
subculture, but the fashion was still not inflated because of the influence of
Hardcore and Punk scene at that time. However, nowadays Emo’s fashion has
been adjusted with the theme of the group which spotlight on the gloomy and sad
theme. To see the aspects of Emo fashion in details, it is needed to make points of
analysis about the commodification of Emo fashion within the music videos such
as clothing, hairstyle, accessories and make up.
The gloomy theme brought by the Emo subculture has been applied on the
upper and lower clothing such as the wearing of dark colored t-shirt, bright
colored t-shirt and tight pants. Also, hairstyle as the aspect of fashion has become
the commodity in the video since the performers have shown various kinds of
Emo hairstyle to the viewers. In the scope of accessories, the commodity within
the videos is found on the wearing of additional stuffs related to Emo theme such
as certain type of shoes, wristbands, piercing and tattoos. Last, the wearing of
make up for boys of which previously considered as improperly used is also kind
of commodity in Emo fashion shown by the performers within the videos. From
all of the analysis on fashion, it is gained that The Used music videos seem to
make the viewers understand the standard of Emo through the details of fashion
shown by the performers of the music video either the band members or the
models.
commit to user
161
digilib.uns.ac.id
Furthermore, the behavior of the performers within the videos is also the
commodity found within the music videos. In 1980s, Emo practiced DIY ethic
which became the basic idea of Hardcore and Punk scene although their music
and lyric focusing on more individual problems. Emo behavior nowadays has
been commodified by focusing in a personal and sensitive problem only. Dealing
with the adolescence problem, Emo has been stated as a youth subculture which is
very sensitive about the common experience in youth phase such as rebellion and
anxiety. The youth rebellion of Emo is gained well within The Used music videos.
If the in the 1980s Emo, rebellion was delivered from hardcore subculture
members practicing DIY ethic, Emo rebellion today gains from the behavior of the
Emo members on the music scene particularly on the stage. The stage
performances of The Used members appeared on the video describe well the
rebellion side of Emo today. Another commodification in behavior is also found in
how the performers within the videos give the description of anxiety feeling. The
previous Emo did not take the anxiety feeling seriously because the subculture
was rooted from hardcore and punk music scene which was recognized as a strong
and rebel youth subculture. However, in conclusion, through the performance of
the performers within the videos, it is concluded that common feeling of
adolescence phase has been commodified because Emo today is commonly
popular for the relation with the general anxiety feeling such as alienated, terrible
loneliness, rejected and the like.
The commodification of Emo subculture in America will be impossibly
happen without the influence of the society’s social and cultural background. It is
commit to user
162
digilib.uns.ac.id
needed to notice that Emo subculture is dramatically popular in post 9/11 era. If it
is connected to the general situation in America at that time, the gloominess
covers all aspects in that country including the entertainment business. Before the
national tragedy of 9/11 happened, the millennium hysteria still dominated the
entertainment industries. Music genre such as hip hop, R&B and pop could be
accepted well by the society as the form of hysteria post early millennium period.
However, after the tragedy happened, such hysteria collapses due to the national
suffering. American media focuses to search the next big thing that can cover the
situation in America at that time. In entertainment business for youth, Emo
becomes the right target to sell. Combining the national suffering post 9/11 and
sensitive feeling in adolescence phase, Emo is considered saleable and acceptable
in American youth life. This basic background has encouraged the subculture to
be exaggeratedly exploited and commodified.
B. Recommendation
Analyzing various phenomena of youth subcultures is really interesting.
There are various extra factors behind the phenomena of youth subcultures’ rising
and down period in a society. To study what kinds of factors behind it is
challenging. Due to the lack of youth subculture’s analysis, it is really
recommended for the other American Studies researchers, who have a great
interest in studying youth subcultures, to find out the phenomena happens to
certain youth subcultures since it has been acquired that nowadays youth
subcultures are rising and down dramatically due to the additional factors behind
commit to user
163
digilib.uns.ac.id
it. Moreover, since the symbolic systems of communication of a youth subculture
are being commodified by the industries, it is needed to look the idea of youth
subculture deeper than what can be seen through media perspective. Not all of the
youth subculture’s symbolic systems of communication described by the media
nowadays have really represented the real youth subculture. Thus, the further
analysis of various youth subcultures is expected.
commit to user

the commodified emo subculture in america through the used`s

Transcription

Similar documents

Olivia Fiske, Alix Alto, Olivia Dooley, Dana Walker, Nicole Betz, Lisa

Power of Laughter

Field Day Talk WebView - Halifax Amateur Radio Club

Evaluafion and Development of Strategies for Facial Features

EMO T - IMI Hydronic Engineering

polygon sepeda

Emo$on

Interview with Carl Martin