The Emo Subculture (Essay Sample)

The Emo Subculture
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The Emo Sub Culture: Characteristics and Relationship with The Mainstream American Culture
A subculture is a group that differentiates itself from the mainstream culture through their values, norms, beliefs, language or even clothing style. I belong to the Emo subculture. The Emo subculture started in Washington D.C. in the 1980. Emo is short form for emotional hardcore, used to describe rock bands that add emotional elements to their music. Today the Emo are a group of people with their own behavior, style, fashion, values and life perspectives making it a subculture. The Emo subgroup members are usually shy, quiet, sensitive, in other words Emos are introverts. Emos are misunderstood as being mysterious but they are normal people really. The mainstream America culture encourages people to speak openly and give their opinion on issues that concern them. The Emo subculture members who do not want to express themselves through words may appear strange. They like poetry of the emotional and romantic kind, they like hanging out with their Emo friends and going to concerts.
The Emos have characteristic hairstyle and fashion that distinguishes them from other people. The hair may be straight, layered or spiked but must have a long fringe that is brushed to one side of the face, covering one or both eyes. Usually the hair is dyed black or other colors like purple, red, pink. The Emos wear skinny jeans that are black, vintage t-shirts or tight tops and zip hoodies. The shoes Emos wear are either skate shoes or converse. They accessorize with studded belts and wrist bands, black nail polish, thick rimmed glasses and black eye liners. Emos have difficulty expressing themselves therefore some express their emotions through their clothes and may wear the brightest clothes. A person does not have to conform to the gothic like look. The decision to join a given subculture is a personal decision, therefore how a person chooses to cut or dye their hair or what they wear is not the defining characteristic. The Emo subculture does not have a language different from mainstream American language. Their words are usually more expressive of their feelings and may be irritating to a non Emo.
The mainstream American does not accept alternative subcultures and people belonging to these groups are usually attacked. The Emo music and Emo subculture has attracted severe criticism. Emos are described as whiners who do not want to deal with everyday problems just like everyone else. It is believed that the subculture promotes dangerous beha...