Who knows, maybe us oldsters can teach the young-uns what being an individual and making a statement is really all about.
Except I'm afraid that the "statement" we were making 20 years ago has been irretrievably watered down by the pop-culturization of it. Granted that, in some ways, it still annoys the "normals" and therefore it still has some value, but it's become so mainstreamed now that I think most of the impact of it has all but disappeared. When I was 15 and chopped my hair off and dyed my tail blue and wore a safety pin chain as an earring, it meant something, and had an effect on the shit kickers, metal heads and preppies I had to put up with then. I think it all changed when people started making money off of it. When Manic Panic became widely distributed, and Hard Candy started up, etc. Once Hot Topic showed up, I knew we were lost. I still shop there on (very rare) occasion but there's no joy in it anymore. Part of what we were doing then is creating our own style, our own individuality that was different than the monoculture we were expected to adhere to. We made our own clothes, our own jewelry, or bought them from independent vendors and craftspeople. We made mix tapes from friends' indie records because we couldn't find them anywhere for sale in our town. There was a family in that subculture. People you could trust to understand why you didn't want to wear pink sweaters and Jordache. They knew you were probably queer, probably had a shitty childhood, probably had a strong creative streak. We were the kids who prowled the streets at 3 am, couch surfed at friends' houses because we didn't want to go home to whatever madness awaited us there. We had kinky sex in someone's brother's bedroom. We cut and dyed each other's hair (with kool aid, thanks) saved up the black nail polish and green lipstick from when it came out at Halloween. Wrote our zines. Went to Rocky Horror to get laid. Drank cappucinos at the one place in town you could get them. Dreamed of living in San Francisco or Europe.
Now you can buy this stuff anywhere. The people who wear it just think they're cool. They're all the same mall kids as they always were, they just have sarcastic comments and pink hair now. It's just another trend to follow, it's not a statement of individuality or solidarity with other disenfranchised people. The girls I grew up with who dressed like this would have kicked the living shit out of the giggly little twits who wear it now. My culture, like everything else, has been sold to poseurs and wannabes.
I'm reminded of some of the stuff Poppy Z. Brite has talked about in recent years, since she stopped writing horror and got out of goth culture because of all the little baby bats who kept clinging to it as fashion. I feel for her. Never read her stuff myself, but as a person, I can totally understand why she's so angry at those kids. The same thing happened to the hippies, too. And black culture. And it's starting to happen with queer culture. I don't mind people getting into something if it really truly speaks to them personally, but it really bothers me how so much subcultural identity has been bought out by people who want to make money off of it and sold to het suburban white kids who are embarassed by their bland lives and want to be cool so they co-opt the fashion of the disenfranchised. Fuck them. Fuck them all.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 11:05 pm (UTC)Except I'm afraid that the "statement" we were making 20 years ago has been irretrievably watered down by the pop-culturization of it. Granted that, in some ways, it still annoys the "normals" and therefore it still has some value, but it's become so mainstreamed now that I think most of the impact of it has all but disappeared. When I was 15 and chopped my hair off and dyed my tail blue and wore a safety pin chain as an earring, it meant something, and had an effect on the shit kickers, metal heads and preppies I had to put up with then. I think it all changed when people started making money off of it. When Manic Panic became widely distributed, and Hard Candy started up, etc. Once Hot Topic showed up, I knew we were lost. I still shop there on (very rare) occasion but there's no joy in it anymore. Part of what we were doing then is creating our own style, our own individuality that was different than the monoculture we were expected to adhere to. We made our own clothes, our own jewelry, or bought them from independent vendors and craftspeople. We made mix tapes from friends' indie records because we couldn't find them anywhere for sale in our town. There was a family in that subculture. People you could trust to understand why you didn't want to wear pink sweaters and Jordache. They knew you were probably queer, probably had a shitty childhood, probably had a strong creative streak. We were the kids who prowled the streets at 3 am, couch surfed at friends' houses because we didn't want to go home to whatever madness awaited us there. We had kinky sex in someone's brother's bedroom. We cut and dyed each other's hair (with kool aid, thanks) saved up the black nail polish and green lipstick from when it came out at Halloween. Wrote our zines. Went to Rocky Horror to get laid. Drank cappucinos at the one place in town you could get them. Dreamed of living in San Francisco or Europe.
Now you can buy this stuff anywhere. The people who wear it just think they're cool. They're all the same mall kids as they always were, they just have sarcastic comments and pink hair now. It's just another trend to follow, it's not a statement of individuality or solidarity with other disenfranchised people. The girls I grew up with who dressed like this would have kicked the living shit out of the giggly little twits who wear it now. My culture, like everything else, has been sold to poseurs and wannabes.
I'm reminded of some of the stuff Poppy Z. Brite has talked about in recent years, since she stopped writing horror and got out of goth culture because of all the little baby bats who kept clinging to it as fashion. I feel for her. Never read her stuff myself, but as a person, I can totally understand why she's so angry at those kids. The same thing happened to the hippies, too. And black culture. And it's starting to happen with queer culture. I don't mind people getting into something if it really truly speaks to them personally, but it really bothers me how so much subcultural identity has been bought out by people who want to make money off of it and sold to het suburban white kids who are embarassed by their bland lives and want to be cool so they co-opt the fashion of the disenfranchised. Fuck them. Fuck them all.