Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Media Studies

Reader 1

Ruti Talmor

Reader 2

Carlin Wing

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Rights Information

© 2022 Brooke Platt

Abstract

Emo first emerged as a subgenre of hardcore punk in the mid-1980s. Two decades later, the advent of Web 2.0 and a corresponding boom in alternative retail launched emo’s rebirth as a full-fledged subculture. It was at this time that two camps of emo emerged: those who listened to pop-punk and ‘dressed emo’ and those who rejected pop-punk and the idea of a dominant style altogether. Since the early 2000s, members of the second camp have criticized members of the first for their dismissal of punk’s underground and anticapitalistic roots. I should note, however, that not all fans fall neatly into this binary nor believe their styles or musical preferences are superior to others'; my two-camp distinction is a generalization that will serve as the foundation for an exploration of within-culture conflicts in the emo community. Through a chronological dissection of emo’s musical and stylistic evolution, I have set out to answer a question at the root of these conflicts: has style replaced music in emo subculture? And to what degree can emo style, dependent as it is on the commodification of subcultural aesthetics, be considered authentic?

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