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

[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.