And a few more of your least favorite things

[exsequar]

I don't quite understand why bandom is looked at with such disdain by so many people. Never before have I felt so supremely judged simply for taking part in a specific fandom. I don't see this one as any different from any of my others - in fact, it's kind of Jsquared to the nth power. And I thought we were all gay friendly around here? So what is it about boys acting somewhat feminine that freaks people out? I just don't understand it. Does the music somehow not come up to some obscure standards? Are they too young? What is it that makes this fandom the subject of so much persecution? I've never been reluctant to post about a fannish obsession of mine before, and I kind of hate it.

This is just another set of boys. Another set of boys who love each other a lot, a lot a lot, and aren't afraid to show it. Another set of boys to write beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, gorgeous stories about, stories that reach out and touch you. Another set of boys to ogle and drool over and giggle at and flail about every time there's a new picture of them completely ignoring the concept of personal space. It's just more boys. So why does fandom at large make me feel ashamed?

I just had to get that out of my system. Moving on!

I did a lot of shopping today, and it was fun! My mom's fiance got me a $30 gift certificate to Borders, so I went and shop shop shopped, it was so much fun! I ended up with quite the haul:

• "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace - This author came to give a talk at my school last year, and oh, he was wonderful. I read one of his short stories before he came and he's so FUNNY! Incisively brilliant, too. This is his long novel and it was at a really good price so I couldn't resist.
  
• "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman - I've been wanting to read this one for a long time. I loved lyra_wing's Supernatural AU based on this, so I bet I'm going to love the book too.
  
• "Invisible Monsters" by Chuck Palahniuk - Damn you Ryan Ross! I probably won't like it, but who knows.
  
• Sci Fi magazine, with Katee Sackhoff on the cover (KATEE! ♥) and containing the fall TV preview.

Yay! So essentially I'm set on reading material for the next, oh, year. I've been reading so slowly lately, sigh.

I also took my sister to Staples for her school supplies, and then to various clothing stores for school clothes. I got myself some cute long sleeved things for Ireland, including a couple hooded tops because hoods = love. Even if they're not quite hoodies *g* So that was a fun afternoon, just us girls!


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

*deep breath* Okay. Okay. So videos are simply exploding onto the internets from the two Decaydance fest shows recently - Cologne (on my BIRTHDAY) and Paris! And at Paris, Brendon fucking Urie dedicated a song to Ryan fucking Ross, who proceeded to look embarassed and pleased and then pull Brendon in for a hug. YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP YOU GUYS. OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I MIGHT COMBUST. The audio on the video is absolute SHITE, and I'm looking for a better version, but HUG, GUYS, HUG. The beauty starts about 1:05 in. I love how shy and pleased Ryan looks! Eeeeeee!

Other highlights: BRING IT with Gabe William and Travis! Who are all so snuggly together! It's ridonkulously adorable.
Panic! covering The Band's "The Weight" (?) - They do such a beautiful job with this song, I love it.
Panic!'s new song Middle of the Summer - Soooo good. Can I has new album naow? Kthx.
Panic!'s new song Nine in the Afternoon - Ryan introduces it (!) and that's what he calls it! Brendon sounds even better hear than he did at Virgin Fest, and I reeeeally love this song. Like a lot.
Build God Then We'll Talk - It's strange seeing them performing without their costumes and vaudeville troop and elaborate set design, but it's fun to just focus on the boys. You can't hear Ryan very well, alas, but they're as great as always! I love Ryan saying thank you to Paris near the end, and Jon coming over to Brendon's piano at the conclusion. Yay boys!

God, I can't even imagine how I would react to going to one of these shows. RYAN BRENDON JON SPENCER PETE PATRICK JOE ANDY WILLIAM CHIZ SISKY BUTCHER MIKE GABE TRAVIS VICKYT AND MORE ALL IN ONE NIGHT???? *dies* They must be having SO MUCH FUN traveling together!! If we don't get some priceless behind the scenes TAI TV or other videos, I will be muchly disappointed! I love all these boys (and girl!) to such a ridiculous degree. Whee!

Well that's certainly enough out of me, so shutting up now.

Comments

1/2, I don't even know.

[jocondite.livejournal.com]

(exsequar, honey, feel free to delete this if you do not care for the dramas! I know I oughtn't engage with the anon, but I had to jump in and reply to this comment. You can tell I am procrastinating on coursework right this second; I'm waxing verbose).

Jessica Hopper's Emo: Where The Girls Aren't is a great essay, and I have always thought it makes some very salient points, many of which still hold. However, Hopper's article was written and published in 2003, when the emo scene was markedly different from the scene today; I don't think it's possible to conflate the low-fi, sub-genre emo scene of 2003 that she was writing about with the glam mainstream pop-punk that's dubbed 'emo' today.

Sure, a lot of her points are still valid; you only have to listen to Panic's I Write Sins to find an excellent example of miosgyny in the lyrics (not surprisng, given that it was written by an eighteen year old boy who'd just had his heart broken by his first real girlfriend, and had no idea the song would ever gain a smidgen of the audience that it did, but we'll gloss over that).

However, the real difference between emo in 2007 and in 2003, above and beyond the bands, the sound, and the aesthetics, all of which have altered beyond recognition, is the audience. In 2003, Hopper wrote about the fact that girls who listened to emo had no place in the scene, dominated by male musicians and male fans; in 2007, the scene is understood to be their province, almost exclusively. Teenage girls are now the acknowledged major consumers of mainstream emo, and they're the audience the emo bands of today are consciously playing too; hence the fanservice of boytouching, Pete's Questions and Answers on fobr, etc. Rather than being elided, the emo theatre is now tailored to their interest. The lyrics are changing. If you compare 2007's Infinity On High to 2003's Take This To Your Grave, ignoring the internal factors (TTTYG was written after Pete's then girlfriend cheated on him twice in one weekend, and reflects that personal rage; IoH is about someone else entirely) that influenced the lyrical change and which I actually do think ought to be taken into consideration when passing judgment upon the content, the misogyny of the earlier lyrics is not present in the latter.

Another interesting theory that, since you're interested in Hopper, I think you might wish to take into consideration, is Sanneh's perception of the new glam emo as a deliberate, exaggerated aesthetic in which the overblown lyrical usage of the dismissive "honey", "sugar", etc is so deliberately exaggerated and thus mutually understood as posed that it undercuts itself.

Is there still misogyny in emo? Yes. Is there still the dynamic Hopper discussed? No; I think the misogyny present in emo today is a broader reflection of the imisogyny sadly still present as a theme across the music scene today. Which sucks, and needs to be addressed, but I don't think that the particular supercharged atmosphere described by Hopper is present anymore, and that the place of girls within the emo scene has markedly changed in the past four years along with 'emo' itself.