cjdonahue

[cjdonahue]

Do Sad Girl cultures perpetuate sadness?

“Sad Girl'' is a primarily online aesthetic and subculture based around celebrating emotion and sadness rather than shuning it. It is often combined with a gloomy or panic-pixie aesthetic, and is related to music, as well as social media. The modern idea of Sad Girl originated on Tumblr in the early 2010s, but has come to be represented on most if not all social media. In principle this idea of being vulnerable to one's own sadness sounds like a healthy expression of emotions, and being part of a community of people who do the same may have real benefits. However, if there is a community of people united by sadness and bonding over the media related to it, it raises concerns of the way the existence of the culture may perpetuate a cultural sadness rather than remedy it. In recent years, several academic efforts have been dedicated to proving Sad Girl cultures as a negative force for this reason. In this collage essay I will compare academic perspectives of the negative effects of Sad Girl cultures, to media from within the communities and dispute the idea that Sad Girls perpetuate sadness. Keeping Thelanderson’s definition and context of Sad Girls in mind, I do not expect to provide an end-all answer to the effects of Sad Girl, but rather to depict the positive effects as represented by media from within the subcultures.

To do this I hope to look at a couple of precursor subcultures to Sad Girl: Goth and Riot Grrrl. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s these subcultures occupied a similar space as Sad Girl, generally celebrating emotion and bonding over related emotional media, usually music. By looking at the way these predecessors affected their members and how they evolved, it should give insight to the overall effects of a modern Sad Girl culture in its current form. A key musical influence in Sad Girl is Lana Del Rey, a musician with a moody aesthetic and lyrics that are often melancholy, so I will also speak of a counterpart to this figure in the 80s goth scene, Robert Smith of The Cure. Additionally we will look at one figure represented as an icon of Riot Grrrl, Lucy from Peanuts, in a brief overview of zine culture and media used by these subcultures.

There are several academic perspectives of modern goth subcultures and the effects they have over youth who identify as part of those cultures, so I will attempt to synthesize the perspectives and data as best I can, however I do not believe that the data represents enough on its own to determine a definite answer to the question. Overall, my goal is to represent several facets of subcultures based around sadness or emotion, and show the benefits that these groups have as represented in their media.

[cjdonahue]

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00331.x

This academic journal targets goths as the byproduct of poor mental health or some sort of traumatizing event. 

“Teens turn to the Goth subculture as a result of difficulties in school, feeling alienated, and as they look for a way to express their feelings. Some are even victims of abuse, discrimination, and systemic ridicule. Many feel like social misfits with a dislike for authority. They generally lack extracurricular activities that involve sports or social clubs. Some just simply enjoy the music, the fantasy found in role-playing games, and the shock value they receive when walking around in the mainstream culture. Many tend to be nonviolent, passive, pacifistic, and tolerant, whereas others can exhibit signs of anger, depression, and violence”

From the very start, members of goth communities are represented as troubled victims, or mental cases that could flip at any moment. It cites multiple statistics about increased rates of depression, self-harm, suicide and violence among teens who are goth, suggesting that the subculture causes or sustains these things. What it fails to acknowledge is the equal likelihood of these types of subcultures just being more accepting of people who may fit under those descriptions. A subculture that does not judge or force anyone to be happy is almost assuredly attractive to a teen who feels isolated among their peers because of their mental health. This could very easily account for the increased number of people with mental health struggles in alternative subcultures, without suggesting that the subcultures are to blame. 

“Some Goths are drawn to cult activities that focus on animal sacrifice, body mutilation, sexual rituals, and the drinking of blood. They may wear clothing such as trench coats that make concealing weapons easy.”

This is the exact type of propaganda language used to isolate other religions and cultures through the centuries, writing off anyone who deviates from the norm as “drawn to cult activities” as well as armed and dangerous. The author's consistent profiling of members of alternative communities essentially ruins its own credibility, revealing its intense bias. Furthermore, the journal argues that adults in school systems have some sort of responsibility to intervene when they see a student who identifies with these subcultures. This is a ridiculous idea and only further serves to isolate people that the authors have already identified to be prone to feeling alone.

[cjdonahue]

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01294-y

This article, much like the last, also heavy-handedly correlates goth culture with depression, in this case specifically music in goth culture. A study was done that found a connection between teen fans of music with “goth themes” (not just goth music, but music with dark or violent subjects) and depression. At the very least the authors in this text acknowledge that the culture may not be the cause of these symptoms, but rather attract people who already have them:

“The immersion in Goth culture may instigate or worsen problems, but young people with problems may also choose Goth as a scene sensitive to and reflective of problems they have already encountered.”

But even in doing so, there is first an implication that Goth culture perpetuates or even instigates these “problems”. The author also implies people drawn to alternative subcultures are attempting to isolate themselves:

“Adopting a Goth style may limit their social contacts to peers with the same style and signal to more mainstream oriented peers that they do not aspire contact. Goth style, thus, creates a small, familiar group of likeminded peers. Rejection from peers outside this group can then be attributed to the dislike of their highly identifiable looks, setting them apart from these peers, and not blamed on their shyness”

Goths are reduced to just people afraid of rejection and social settings. Yet again, the author reveals their extreme bias in what is supposed to be a scientific study. While slightly more open to the idea of some people feeling more included in these types of cultures, the article as a whole is junk, as it is fundamentally structured around personal biases that do not reflect the reality of alternative cultures.

[cjdonahue]

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00584.x

This was a study done on multiple radical subcultures, and was the first study I read that did not immediately dismiss the idea of members of these groups being regular functioning members of society. The data found that members of radical subcultures (punks, goths, synths, etc.) had higher rates of depression, and lower self esteem. This is nothing unexpected, but at the very least the author recognized that the correlation does not indicate those groups to be the cause, and even offered another possible explanation:

“One alternative explanation is that inhibition and depression developed after youths chose a Radical style and got negative feedback from parents, teachers, and peers who did not like the way they looked”

While I still believe that attempting to represent the effect of a subculture on mental state through data is pointless, this article is one of very few that recognizes the societal pressures that could impact youth who identify with alternative subcultures. It’s still ironic to be making that point in a study that will only be used to further separate alternative youth from their peers, but it does add a small bit of validity to the study by admitting their biases. In the conclusion they even manage to address the idea of parents and teachers who find these groups offensive or disturbing:

 “Parents and teachers might get upset over features such as green hair, black lipstick, white face paint, or painted-on bloodstains. Our results suggest that parents' and teachers' concerns for these youths might be well founded, but their concerns should be about these youths' internal adjustment rather than about their makeup, hair, or any other aspect of their outer appearances.”

I still reject the premise that goths and punks have to be examined under careful watch because of some inherent mental health risk, and saying that prejudice against punk aesthetics is “well founded” seems unnecessary, but this is a still a very small step in the right direction for academic studies on alternative subcultures. Bottom line is that determining some youth to be depressed because of one thing or another is a fundamentally flawed idea. The same resources spent trying to prove that Sad Girl cultures cause sadness could just as easily be spent addressing whatever alleged issues they assume to be linked with these subcultures.

[cjdonahue]

Robert Smith from The Cure is a quintessential figure for the first goth movement, which is possibly the earliest example of a “Sad Girl” movement in pop culture that I could think of. The Cure made music that expressed emotion very blatantly, as a protest to the overly produced pop songs that were emerging in the late 70s and early 80s. Instead of shying away, it celebrated angst, heartbreak, and despair as a regular part of life.The band's aesthetic also played a major role in establishing their own sad girl culture. Robert Smith and his bandmates wore lots of black, heavy makeup, messy hair, religious symbols and smeared lipstick in contrast to the brand names and louder colors of the time. His disheveled look was iconic, and a physical manifestation of melancholy. Unlike most rock band front-men, Robert Smith did not exude confidence or power in his image, he was a figure of vulnerability. This vulnerability unlocked a new chapter of pop music that paved the way for artists like Lana Del Ray or Billie Eilish as modern figures of vulnerability. Not only was he openly emotional and rarely put together, he was also getting radio time. This is especially impressive given the context of the country, and what was on the radio at the time.

In the UK, the 80s began with a recession. With low employment and high inflation, the country was in a general depression that left many of the UKs teens and young adults feeling hopeless. UK radio stations played positive pop music with more commercial messages like Duran Duran or Aha on the radio, but UK teens were sick of hearing about a lifestyle that wasn’t true to England. The punk movement rejected this false lifestyle violently, but burned itself out by the end of the 70s, leaving a gap for the next subculture. The goth movement filled this gap in a way that gave a venue for self expression, and embraced the beauty in the imperfect. Robert Smith played a major role as the leader of one of the earliest bands in the goth scene, who helped define not just the sound of the genre, and the aesthetic, but the attitude too.

[cjdonahue]

“Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure is a quintessential goth song with Sad Girl themes. The sound is very pop, but the vocals are raw and moody. Robert Smith writes about a breakup and feeling remorseful for the things that he had said, and admits that he will lie to himself to try and not feel those emotions. The lyrics ironically say that boys shouldn’t cry, but are really advocating for showing and feeling your emotions, depicting how ridiculous it would be not to be sad in a moment like that. This was one of their earlier popular radio hits and The Cure’s sound would eventually become darker, and the lyrics more moody, but even in the band’s early stages Robert Smith advocated Sad Girl values.

[cjdonahue]

http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:860716001

This page from a 1994 issue of The Daily Campus gives a solid overview of goth, as well as describing some of its aesthetics. It also shows both the birth and decline of the subculture as of ‘94, but doesn’t mention much about the aesthetics' ties to emotional themes. It does however mention at the end that the subculture as a whole was on the verge of being nothing more than a, “media-milked cash cow” by the 90s. A community that started exclusively to oppose that commercial lifestyle and monetization found its way in support of those things in just over a decade. This idea of an aesthetic being commercialized is one that I think is important to relate to Sad Girl. In the modern day, the majority of interaction being done by people who identify as Sad Girl takes place online, through social media. On social media there isn’t necessarily an open forum the same way there would be when participating in a subculture in person at a concert or some other gathering. Instead there is moderation done by the social media platform, and more importantly there is advertisement and brand sponsorship that impacts both what users see, and what users are allowed to say on these platforms, which has the potential to commercialize subcultures in the same way. Thelanderson even spoke about brands that have emerged that use Sad Girl aesthetics and messages as their gimmick. They claim that the idea of their Sad Girl brand is to promote healthy emotion and whatnot, but it doesn’t take much more thought to realize that it completely takes advantage of the trendiness of a new subculture, as well as taking advantage of sad people when they may be vulnerable. It is possible that this is the first sign of Sad Girl becoming the next “media-milked cash cow”.

[cjdonahue]

Lusy’s Angry is a handmade zine from the 90s in the UConn Archive, and is a great example of a precursor to Sad Girl culture, and a descendant of punk (much like goth was) which is Riot Grrrl. This was a movement of feminist punks actively engaging in societal change and advocating for more empowered women. In this zine, you can see that Lucy from Peanuts is explored as a Riot Grrrl figure, similar to how Lana Del Rey would be considered a Sad Girl figure today. Zines were always an important part of punk cultures, as an expression of freedom of opinion and producing physical media for people who don’t fit in to the target demographic of commercially made magazines. But zines were particularly important to Riot Grrrl as a way for women to express unadulterated opinion, and network with other Riot Grrrls who might also make their own zines. Usually only a handful of pages, the printer paper would be plastered with radical opinion, stickers, stamps, drawings, foul language and most importantly, emotion. Typically riddled with spelling errors (left on purpose of course) and bleeding ink, Riot Grrrl had a distinctly punk aesthetic but at the same time aligns with some of the concepts of Sad Girl, like their praise of the power of emotion as a way to empower themselves and take back the derogatory stereotype of women being emotional. In this issue there is an ode to Lucy as a figure of rage and power. By highlighting these features of the character, it serves not to celebrate them inherently as positive things, but to celebrate the characters ability to feel and utilize those emotions. This is comparable to Lana Del Rey as a figure of sadness, not because sadness is celebrated, but for the courage and vulnerability to fully experience those emotions.

[cjdonahue]

Bikini Kill is a Washington based punk group from the first wave of Riot Grrrl in the 90s. In “Double Dare Ya” Kathleen Hanna calls for “REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE NOW” and dares her female audience to be whoever they want to be, and be openly emotional. The point was not just to make women feel more comfortable expressing their emotions, but to encourage women to actively stand up for their rights, and stick it to the man. There’s no violence, or promoting being sad, just pure empowerment. 

[cjdonahue]

In contrast to that rage and power, here is the handwritten note from the author of the zine to the owner of the collection. These notes were common in my exploration of the Riot Grrrl zines in the archives. So common that they could be found in almost every single issue I picked up and skimmed during the brief period we were there. Quite noticeably the notes would be incredibly sweet and positive, as well as inviting future correspondence and community. Trading handmade zines, with handmade notes like this, was a huge part of this era of Riot Girrrl and zine culture. To share art is a vulnerable thing, so I imagine there was some solace found in other people having and expressing similar opinions in similar ways.  It may be a very Gen Z take, but it seems to me that these sorts of interactions, of sharing art and keeping correspondence, are the direct precursor to Tumblr’s use of notes and mutuals. As far as community building goes, it is a rare to find sincere and genuine handwritten notes, which suggests that despite all the rage and fuck-shit-up mentality of Riot Grrrl, there is real positive side affects of finding other people who are as pissed off as you are.

[cjdonahue]

Sing Street

Sing Street

The Irish film, Sing Street shows the story of a kid growing up in Ireland during the 80s recession, and finding himself through the different subcultures he finds interest in. A highschool age kid named Conor finds his way through transferring schools, pursuing a girl, handling his parents divorce, and trying to find hope in a country that seemed to be in decline, while also beginning his journey as a musician with a band. He starts as fairly quiet and unconfident, but grows into himself by the end of the movie, using different musicians and subcultures as different venues to explore himself and what he wants from life. In this media, the role of a sad or emotional subculture is strictly a positive one. He gains new confidence through different music genres representing different subcultures throughout the movie, and eventually gains the courage to leave the country to pursue his dream. At one point in the movie, Conor and his bandmates even try to emulate Robert Smith and the Cure’s look, which can be seen in the first picture. There is a recurring theme through the movie that is established using the Cure, which is the idea of “happy sad” meaning to find happiness and comfort in the sadness, and the consistency of that sadness. This is contextualized in the movie by Conor’s older brother handing him The Cure’s The Head On The Door. He describes the Cure as happy sad because they promote generally sad ideas but they do it by making something productive out of it, celebrating that emotion. In this case it's in the context of goth culture, but it applies to Riot Grrrl and Sad Girl just as much. While fictional, this is a generally realistic depiction of the positive effects of engaging with sad cultures.

his scene is not the climax of the movie, but is the peak of Conor’s character development: when he accepts Sad Girl values. He finds comfort and confirmation in the subculture of his choice, and it allows him to be happier and more true to himself. Even without the community aspect of goth, identifying with the values has a genuine profound effect on his life, and the way he manages the situation he’s in.

Obviously this is fictional, but the point remains the same as many people have lived through the same experience of finding themselves through adopting the values of a group like this. Conor didn’t conform to what the school wanted him to be, or what his parents wanted him to be, or to any subculture, he just accepted himself. This was made possible by finding a group that celebrates self acceptance, which is not a concept that is found outside these groups very often. As a whole, this movie is a great representation of how a seemingly dark and negative subculture can have distinctly positive effects and morals, but also the importance of having subcultures available as an outlet for kids growing up.

[cjdonahue]

Works Cited

Assaultonelectricdreams-blog. Sing Street Cure Album Photo. 2017. https://assaultonelectricdreams-blog.tumblr.com/post/155443483352/sing-street-2016-what-does-happy-sad-even. Accessed 2024.

“Análisis Sing Street - in Between Days.” YouTube, 8 July 2019, youtu.be/dGzxqlsbKqQ?si=Jq-ZltT1OtfszIkM. 

Bešić, Nejra, and Margaret Kerr. “Punks, goths, and other eye‐catching peer crowds: Do they fulfill a function for shy youths?” Journal of Research on Adolescence, vol. 19, no. 1, 18 Feb. 2009, pp. 113–121, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00584.x.

Biggs, Chris, and Erik Amundsen. “In A Gothic Daze.” The Daily Campus, 1994, pp. 44–44.

Bogt, Tom ter, et al. “Goth Music and Depressive Symptoms among Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study - Journal of Youth and Adolescence.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 6 July 2021, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-020-01294-y.

“Boys Don’t Cry.” YouTube, 19 May 2015, youtu.be/YSAqXEcgoZ4?si=73vp38jiCm62vhcC. 

Cosmo Films Unlimited. Sing Street Cast Cure Photo. 2016. https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a34631/sing-street-movie/. Accessed 2024.

“Double Dare Ya.” YouTube, 4 Sept. 2018, youtu.be/71djaZpj5L4?si=zfYKY4lwpRFS3Umz. 

Runningofspace. PrayerTour89. 2009. Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/PrayerTour89.jpg.

Rutledge, Carolyn M., et al. “Vulnerable goth teens: The role of schools in this psychosocial high‐risk culture.” Journal of School Health, vol. 78, no. 9, 6 Aug. 2008, pp. 459–464, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00331.x.