Another fandom-related rant. Subject: "Emo"

[timepiececlock]

Like others I'm sure, I've been irritated this year with the prevalent overuse of the term "emo", especially when applied to each and every male character in the fandom multiverse who looks even remotely unhappy. Not every sad person is emo. Not every angry person is emo. Not every grieving or depressed person is emo. If we're going to throw stereotypes at fictional characters (who are, let's face it, really easy to "type"), at least let's pick the right one, shall we? In that vein, I give you another angry letter to the A:TLAB fandom. Well, "angry" is probably an overstatement-- I mean, it's not like I'm going to weep for a week about it and cry over my internet guitar like the real emo rockers do.


Dear Avatar fandom,

Zuko is not now, has never been, and never will be emo. Zuko is not the Emo Kid, he's an Angry Young Man. Respect the stereotype! If Zuko were to hole up in his tiny metal room on his ship after a long day of failing to capture the Avatar and brooding over his estranged relationship with his abusive deadbeat father, he would not listen to Dashboard Confessional or A Simple Plan or AFI or Bright Eyes, he would listen to System Of A Down. And maybe throw in some Disturbed and a few tracks by KoRn. That's what Angry Young Men do. ...When they're not screaming at the world from a mountaintop in the rain, kicking random objects, shouting at people who only try to help, sulking silently for hours (possibly days) on end, picking violent fights, plotting revenge, avoiding confrontations with loved ones, or running away from home. Zuko doesn't want to slit his wrists and then write bad poetry in his own lifeblood. Zuko wants to go somewhere that he can eat real Fire Nation food, beat up his overachieving sibling, have it out with Daddy Dearest, and rule his own country again.


Thanks,

A Mildly Irked Zuko Fan

Comments

[memlu.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. I've been meaning to rant about the misuse of "emo" in fandom for ages now, but you've done it very well here.

HONESTLY.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

It's just ANNOYING sometimes. I mean, when the term first popped up in fandom, it was funny to call Zuko emo-- but it was funny because he clearly WAS NOT EMO. It belittled his tragic childhood and very real problems and his buckets of unresolved anger, shrinking all that down to a trite little descriptive music term that had nothing whatsoever to do with his situation. That made it funny in the way of ironic understatement. And then people started using it like a real descriptor, and in my head I'm like "QUE? SAY WHAT NOW? ...NO. JUST NO."

[memlu.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. It started as something funny in fandom, but now it's used seriously, which is ridiculous. It's become shorthand for anyone behaving in a manner that isn't Happy! Perky! Sunshine Yay! and.

Yes.

It sort of ticks me off.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

The idea of ZUKO listening to Bright Eyes or AFI makes me laugh.

he would listen to System Of A Down. And maybe throw in some Disturbed and a few tracks by KoRn.

Throw in some tracks by Skid Row and Sepultura and he's set.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Hm. I've never heard their songs. (I did grab that music you posted last night!)

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Both were 80s/90s metal bands who sang a lot of songs with hatred for the man and the system. Sure, it seems like a lot of them did, but SR and Sepultura raised it to an artform. I'll see if I can't locate some of their stuff. I was into heavy metal back in those days, so I acquired quite a bit.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

You probably don't need to on my account. I'm not really into metal bands... I only can take a few System of a Down songs, for example. I was more into alternative/grunge at that point (i.e. my middle school and high school years). But if there's a few songs in particular you like, I'll listen to those. Or anything that was popular on the radio that I might have heard.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

I can't stand System of A Down. Or most of the newer bands who're basically trying to be what metal was back in the 80s and very early 90s. I miss the old days, when the bands were still dressing like they were glam rockers and Mick Mars didn't look like he'd been dead for ten years. (And nobody'd told him.)

I'll see what I can scrounge up this week.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Uh ... and I just posted a music-related question in my LJ I'd love to have your honest opinion on. I'm curious, really.

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

EMO=Eat More Oreos!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Now that's good advice!

[loveroftheflame.livejournal.com]

I bow to your greater wisdom and vow to never call Zuko emo again.... He is "vexed"...

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

"Vexed" is an awesome word in general, and a hilarious understatement for Zuko. :)

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I might have used angst and emo interchangeably a couple of times. In my defense, they're both words I don't use much and figure don't have much to do with me anyway, so I haven't really given it any thought at all.

[jakia.livejournal.com]

Mostly I'm inclined to agree with you, however, there are times when Zuko is an emokid. When he's crying in the rain at the end of Bitter Works, it was like Dashboard Confessional was planning in the background while Zuko wallowed in his angst and woe.

Also note: Mai is an emokid.

And she is so going to write bad poetry in Rebirth!verse. Lots and lots of really, bad poetry. :) :)

jak

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

We'll simply have to disagree then, because I don't consider one tear in the middle of shouting at a storm on a mountaintop to be emo. I don't think one tear in particular has anything to do with it, because crying doesn't equal emo. Not to mention Dashboard Confessional frequently sings about romantic angst, when all of Zuko's angst and anger is directed at his family and his lack of purpose in life. Anyway, I just don't see it.

Mai probably is, at least somewhat. She's not depressing, but she's got that sulky bored disdain thing going on. I can see her keeping an angst journal, and listening to Jimmy Eat World while painting her fingernails black, then deciding she'll go to the mall just to hang out and be bored there instead of at home.

[littleduchess.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Emo connotes that it's not that bad and it's mostly a phase that will blow over. When it comes to fandom (especially Zuko) it often is that bad. Also Angry Young Men out to change the world rock and have a very strong tradition in literature and film. ::nods::

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Emo connotes that it's not that bad and it's mostly a phase that will blow over.

YES. That's another major problem with it. "Emo" is said like it's an affectation, an attitude you choose about how you want to present yourself to the world, and just like any other attitude is something you'll grow out of after you hit 25. But for characters like Zuko, it's not a phase or some silly teenage way of coping with adolescent frustration-- it's genuine, justifiable anger and grief. And he won't grow out of it until he resolves his conflicts. Certain things he will grow out of-- temper tantrums, rash decisions, neglecting his relationship with Iroh (I doubt he'll run away to "find himself" again, since last time he did that Iroh was almost killed), lack of social skills. But even if he grows out of those things, he'll be a very angry, frustrated, and depressed person until he either confronts his family or totally lets go. We know he won't let go, so until he confronts them it's not something he can get over, not a phase. It's not him being dramatic for the sake of attention, because no one is paying him any attention.

[littleduchess.livejournal.com]

He seems to have already grown out of a lot.
At the begining of the show he would freak over practically everything.
In the latest season the only times I can remember him losing it is when he thought his uncle was dying and in the thunderstorm- the culmination of many years of feeling inferior and hurt.
The way I see it, that was the only time he lost it over something directly related to what his real problem is. Everything else is superficial venting that doesn't solve his "inner turmoil". Now he's getting more focused.
But I doubt you ever grow out of neglect and child abuse (emotional and physical) because that was essentially what his scar is.

Emo is something that everyone goes through to an extent and can be a healthy way of finding your feet in a big, scary world. Parents put up with it and that's fine. When parents try to kill you it crosses a slight line into unhealthy child raising techniques, me thinks.

Ps- can't wait for the big Vader-style confrontation...

[misao-kunoichi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been really irritated with the use of the word "emo" too. It gets really tiring to hear people say, "OMG, how emo" about a person if they so much as *look* sad. And I agree: Zuko is angry, not emo.

[flamingly-fey.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH.

You like both Avatar and Farscape; you're a damned good writer; you're female... run away to the Netherlands with me and get married?

FARSCAPE IS LOVE.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Are you asking as a male or female? Because if you want our elopement to be legal I require the Y chromosome, but if you just want a hot and heavy livejournal affair, I'm more flexible. ;)

[xlovelylightx.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'll ever be able to call Zuko "emo" ever again! Even for a joke! xD

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

It was funny as a joke, but I got tired of people saying it and meaning it. I mean, the kid isn't going through a goth phase, here. He was physically abused and abandonned and has had a very rough childhood. He doesn't need a poem journal, he needs therapy.

I'd say Zuko was more moody and introspective in season 3, and closer to emo in those 10 episodes than in any of the two previous seasons, but even that looked more like continued depression than a teenage rebellion phase. I really think Zuko's character was depressed for the entire series until episode 3x10.

Seeing him in the latest episodes is weird because even though he's frustrated with the water siblings or with Aang's immaturity, he still seems more relaxed and normal than we've ever seen him on the show. That's why it's so weird and hilarious. We've never seen a not-depressed, not-angry Zuko before. This is what he *should* have been like for the last 3 years. The writers really made Ozai a bastard, putting his child through all that crap.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

may I ask how you stumbled across this post?

[demizeku-otp.livejournal.com]

(Sorry for the random appearance and rambling; I found this searching for arguments against emo!Zuko and tend to be very rambly about annoying fandom issues. Delete this if it's too annoying.)

*APPLAUSE* Thank you thank you thank youuuuu. Angry=/=emo. I don't even think he was angsty or depressed. Close, but just about one step below. Mostly, he was just angry, conflicted, and overwhelmed.

They call my other favorite character emo, too, but this one especially gets under my skin, because I was just like pre-3x10 Zuko when I was his age; snapping at everyone, ridiculously oversensitive, abusive father, shunned by everyone, etc. I've been through it. It's not fun. It's nothing like sitting around and listening to angsty music while writing poetry.

That word "emo" just gets under my skin, too. Emo is a genre of music, not a blanket statement for anyone who doesn't act like they just ate an entire bag of sugar. The Avatarverse is a fictional Asian world probably about 200-300 years behind ours in technology and such. They don't even have radios, let alone emo music.