Stereotype Case Study

Emo Culture

• Most of these images focus on the fact that ‘Emo’ culture is depressive, this however is untrue, but it is a popular misconception that all ‘Emo’s’ self – harm and most will be suicidal. Some of these images could also be stereotyped as Scene images. There is a fine line between telling the difference between the two cultures as they dress and look alike. The only difference is their music taste normally. Most of these images use bright colours or the people are wearing black with bright contrasting colours. Emo’s are mostly pictured wearing ‘Converse’ or ‘Vans’ but many other cultures wear these brands. I thought I’d pick the most stereotyped images as most people will put them all into one group with these images.

About The Pictures

• Emo culture comes from the word “emotional” which represents the type of music emo’s listen to.

• “Emo is a genre of music that originated from hardcore punk, though today's Emo is often incorrectly associated with pop punk. The Emo lifestyle has been burdened with many stereotypes, such as all Emo's are depressed, wear all-black and cut themselves. Actually, the word itself has come to describe a lifestyle. It's a shock to some people, when they realise emo is a way of life, a deep and artistic culture and a genre of music, and not just a superficial clothing style. In this guide you will find out how look Emo - cutting away from the untruths and myths, and getting into the real fashion.” http://www.wikihow.com/Look-Emo

• Emo is not a cult it’s a way of life!• The emo culture is much more accepting of people, regardless of sexual

orientation, gender or ethnicity.• Most people see the emo culture as depressed and self harming but the

majority are mostly happy people who want like the same music and look.

Emo culture

Photo AnalysisThis is a promotional photograph publicising My Chemical Romance’s album ‘The Black Parade’.In this you can clearly see that there is a heavy gothic influence from the use of gas masks and all black clothes. My Chemical Romance are a band typically well known in the ‘Emo’ culture. The image is mainly a very depressing one, no one in the photo is smiling which is typically a stereotypical image from the ‘Goth’ scene.

Icon RepresentationOli Sykes

About the pictures• Oli Sykes has been represented over several years in different ways. Some of

his earlier official portraits arte a lot more pensive than those that you see now. He is now pictured to be a bit wild and unpredictable. Also he used to be pictured in much more subdued colours but now he is always pictured wearing bright colours.

• Most of the publicity photographs now focus around his tattoos.• Sometimes he is pictured in photos as insecure and unconfident but in most

now he is pictured as confident.

Scene Culture

• Scene culture is very prominent at the moment and for the case study I decided to pick the most stereotyped images I could find. All the images I chose are bright and contrasted. Most of these images are similar to the ‘Emo’ images I had on the previous slides. The two cultures can often be stereotyped together into one group. In these images the fashion seems to be big bold hair with bright clothes. The music taste within this group can vary drastically, here is a list of genres the group can listen to. Rock, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Skate Punk, Electronic Punk, Rock Hardcore, Metalcore, Deathcore, Hair Metal, Indie Techno, Dance, Trance, Happy Hardcore, Crunkcore, Electronica/Electro Pop, powerpop, Emo, Screamo. This will normally reflect on the way the individual scene person will dress.

About the pictures

• “Typical Scene Chick: -Choppy short hair. Usually black however blonde and lots of 'strange' colours are used to make themselves look unique. Bandana in hair. Bows are popular, Heavy make up, usually around the eyes, sparkles are quite common. Tries to pull of Vintage look. Dates only scene boys.

• Typical Scene Boy: -Long bangs usually covering eyes. Usually, black or different colours such as orange, red, blue, purple ect. Make up, usually centred around the eyes. Eye shadow, black usually pink or purple. Tight pants, extremely tight band shirt. Sometimes a too tight jacket. They do tend to be full of themselves and unfriendly to anyone they deem unworthy or not in the scene. Dates scene chicks. However may branch out to preps.

• Both sexes: -MySpace, Over 100 friends. Girl pants. Thinks they're not conformist. May or may not be straight edge Vegan. Scene kids usually go to local shows have extremely tight groups. They may be there for the music but usually they are there for the social time. Scene kids are usually very picky about who they talk to and associate with. If they deem you cool they may go up to you and talk to you and act as if they've known you for years.” http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=scene%20kids

Scene Culture