CHAPTER 10 Emocosmy. Mind-Forg'd Realities in Emo(tional) Rock Music Eike Träger "Emo's Just Another Name for Romanticism' —The Danburrys I On their first and last EP—All the Good Ones Go for Jerks (2003)—The Danburrys named one of their songs "Emo's Just Another Name For Romanticism." The equation of Romanticism with emo music put tor-ward by this band is problematic and oversimplifies more comp matters, yet it has some legitimacy. It is problematic because both terms resist concise definition. If Sayre and Lowy referred to Romanticism as a "coincideutia oppositorum" highlighting its "extraordinarily contradictory character,"1 Andy Greenwald claimed in a similar vein that "Emo seems ||jely to mean different things to different people."-' In addition, neither British Romanticists nor contemporary emo bands labeled themsebes as f"ch. Andy Greenwald stated that "there is not now, nor has there ever [j^n, a single major band that admits to being emo. Not one."- This ' 'Weresting refusal of bands to be labeled "emo" is a curious cose. >ct it is Understandable due to the pejorative connotation of the uord. For this Kason, I will consider bands as being emo that have been labeled as such by cntics or by tans Despite the difficulties in defining Romannc.sm and E.I D rägcr (S) epartmcnt of Arts an I Humanities, Universit) >ť Cologne. Cologne, Ccim.ii The Author(c) 201H 183 R, >vira (ci! I.), Rucltii>»< Hom,mti^> Mgrtvc Studies in Mask •"id I iicraiure hitpv/Al<" «** i o -:oss í io 184 par ti:I1 cnaractenstics arc regularly brought Up _ , hold true for both the literary and the tv,..'^^. In: ^fc music •V ;,crrrcunonot European Romantic^>:S Ed Lo- define Romanticism as a ^anschauuJ^^ K^n>r,-. "At the root of the Romantic weddv^^ o «** ■ re^°on °f *f Pre,sent that is often^ S2 Cih" charged with emotion. Their theoretical aPpr " ^ ' ,-anitalist society with which ^— C dCn regarded as a reaction to some sort of perceived crisis '. emerging capitalist society with which many aRft ch • albeit in very different ways.3 Accordingly RQ "lantic artjst f perceived crisis^?"11 cacts emotionally. These crises might range from h tll£ ^vasthe^* 'can - wmcj. ntme.it with current political developments, as was J?CrS°nal dis- [Wordsworth, or with drug addiction, from whirh c C C3Se ______r-...i.....a&.„j ._______ , W1 aamt igt lotoriousiy suffered, up to a somewhat problemati^tf Tay'°r of masculinity struggling to free itself from accusations of etT^ output and mirror their dissatisfaction with current reaUtv "tL^ kh abert pointed out.6 " w emas«ila- ^Be manifold problems found expression in the respective same seems to hold true for emo music. Despite all possible difficulties ing this .--..>genre, one characteristic is usually agreed upon: "emosare npically co:-.>::.:c:ed as reveling in their emotions."7 For the most part, these emonons are negative rather than positive, even though exceptions do, of course, occur. Emo bands take names such as My Chemical Romance, All Time Low. or The Used, and their songs are titled "Our Lady of Sorrows," "Kids in the Dark," or "Bulimic." Many an emo frontman, rarely fronrwoman-Paramore and Evanescence being two of the few well-knoun. commercially successful examples of emo bands with female angers-veils or screams his lyrics into the microphone, creating an auno-*hereof despair, sadness, or anger that is supported by the distinct rnu Sar so H?0 8Cnre th3t is describ^ ^olloWS: "Em° mUS'C, "^"d Ito Punk] but makes use of minor chords and major* which tend to cr rU5h"8 What all of rh * T^1"' pensive mood rather ±zn 80 j hriA nc.,,ii.. „ 11 ot these banric u„... • ..:„n.|aden Jp' adrenalin' t this but with respect, . Cmo resembl 1 than w ' ;Ctioningoftllc 1ese bands have in common are emotion-sort of perceived crisis. uch »"d es British Romanticism very n"-- 0. namely that the former is an i«° £2?, ^ the seí of «*> lyrics are less concerned^ :osaß MIND-FORG'D REALITIES IN EMO(TIONAL) ROCK... 185 neo deal with strong negative feelings by articulating 1dol^cnt rhcI.cfore providing an outlet for them. Emo also pro-^P ^belonging—to the emo community in this case—and it -ense of ^ ^ one acCeptable societally approved emotion for I - J£S a ' rtillR tO "----- * ... ------—. .vr. Lso Wr io Despite rendering this form of lamentation as a pos-pg nie": angaeavor, Anastasi highlights the importance of emo as one jjhlv religioUS e° ternis' with problems, which is the articulation of some- oming step111LU thin? beill^^ir°"faj importance of the self is another point of intersection The ^Romanticism and emo music. Disregarding the academic prefer- caution in defining Romanticism, the online Encyclopedia describes this Weltanschauung as emphasizing, among others, the personal."11 This development in *)f, which uT lyrÍCS leSS u ňsvch0< y part ^ a»drogynous and šere A3 ť be traCed baCk t0 ? n> ^ ~ I ^ On 5^* ^ observed a " ' Aaron P. Anastasi argues that emo m" I between gritannica I individual, the subjective literarv history finds expression in many ways, but most prominently in the omnipresent "I" of Romantic poetry, as in John Keats's "O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell" (1817), to name only one example. Morse Peckham observed a link in the Romantic poet's self-centeredness and t their dissatisfaction with the status quo. He assumed that this "intense preoccupation with the self" was the natural outcome of being at odds with given reality and a society apparently corrupted in so many ways.12 The same "preoccupation" is to be found in emo music. It becomes evident in some of the bands' names: API (A Fire Inside), for example; it is hinted at m album titles like Diary (1994) by Sunny Day Real Estate, or EanD-i °f SOngs like "Miss You Love" by Silverchair, in which front-sZJT J,°hn declares: "I love the way you love but I hate the way I'm S7e°cS^to love you back.">3 asn°t bein1 "i*CfenSe °f ^ Romantic poet's preoccupation with the self FM critic? y any means a simple narcissism"14 is directed against fre-is regularlv'Sm simi'arly seems to be applied to emo in general. Emo Self-centeredeqUated With whining> cheesy lyrics and with an immature W'ear their henCSS' Em° fans dress in a distinct> often androgynous way, P°st threadsTL-tS °n their sleeves> displayed with a certain theatricality, and "^opuddi "What sonss made y°u wanna cry?"15 on websites such 3nd Sllbversiv C°m" Despite offering the genre's possibility for progressive 3nd culture r8Cndcr ^-constructions, Emily Ryalls criticized emo music "0rmsl6In,k eventually re-establishing heteronormative gender the anH_,nous ^ emotionaIly expressive lifestyle of emo n re|a,"/,,J"c observed a "supposed crisis of masculinity, one t a lat,Ve'y minor problems (with girls, for example)."17 Despite 186 E TRACER '"Of Rvolls making an important point, it should be highlight thj not only deal with a -crisis of masculinity" but rather with \>d personal crises and that those can be of central importance? vidual's psychic reality. 0 thc indj This dissatisfaction/disillusionment might not have th importance of a French Revolution, but for the respective indtvn °rica! might be an all-encompassing center of attention. This is at { lS many emo songs seem to imply, and they do so in sometimes ccf* What lyrical ways. They point towards a great discrepancy between realir?1*'115' imagined ideal world, a Weltschmerz that literally creates a cosmos 7** in lyrical form, and this feeling necessitates an initial introspection^ confrontation with the self in order to eventually overcome these ne ^ feelings. Yet some emo lyrics convey the impression of the author b caught up in a state of melancholia described as follows by Sean Homer "In melancholia the act of mourning is narcissistically turned back upon the self and the subject identifies his/her own ego with the lost object."11 It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Oscar Wilde This famous quotation from Oscar Wilde's preface to The Picture of Dortan Gray (1891) points toward two central concepts of Romantic criticism: the pathetic fallacy, as described by John Ruskin, and poetry as a m h° aÍT' naTd W Baumgarten and elaborated on by 'that amTu ™' u f°rmer term describes a special kind of personificauon obi ed *iskl an em0ti°nS to inanimate obJects- j0hn *Ť excusable to himTu^ °r>at le^t, in such a state that this seemed lent feelings have'thefa^ Ul (1856), he stated that -AB * impressions of external th" They Produ« in us a falseness in all«» 'pathetic fallacy'."'* R V*. which I would generally characterize »»! fallacy, but all the example" I ™ hi? definition of the p*g Jon which therefore has tf j! glVes d« include some sort of p«*f * Inh"P^scriptivelymorali bregarded as an essential characteristic0 £ t££% °CCUr lf *^nthCOry>SUch * P^ative mistake, jjj EMOCOSMS: MIND-FORG'D REALITIES IN EMO(TIONAL) ROCK... 187 „ of mind. What is crucial to Ruskin's definition of the pathetic |pers0lialSthat it ascribes "characters of a living creature" to inanimate pcy * Ruskin makes his definition of the pathetic fallacy crystal clear in reC||' wing example: "Homer had some feeling about the sea; a faith in the toll°atjon 0f it much stronger than Keats's. But all this sense of some-^ ^living in it he separates in his mind into a great abstract image of a tpower. He never says the waves rage, or the waves are idle. But he says I Tre is somewhat in, and greater than, the waves, which rages, and is idle, I ^ thathe calls a god."21 Neither is the symbol "another version"22 of the "athetic fallacy as Michael Sprinker argued; a symbol can be a subliminal relative, a non-personified version of the aforementioned phenomenon, I but strictly speaking, the pathetic fallacy is the attribution of human emotions to inanimate objects by an artist who is in a state of emotional I arousal. Ruskin's theory epitomizes an artist's emotional involvement in the imagined outside world, an emotional addition to reality. In British Romanticism, however, this animation of nature and die out-I side world is more than just a personal admixture of feelings. Many [ Romantic poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries believed in "a divine presence in nature" called "sensus numinis."23 Therefore, animating such objects in their poems is more than just an emotional investment in I their artwork. It is an expression of their understanding of the world, and | it relates to another central project of Romantic poetry: "An important aspect of Romanticism, then, is the re-enchantment of the world through imagination."24 Such an understanding of the world is not likely to be found in modern emo rock. Their worldview seems to be governed by a skepticism towards religious beliefs and the presence of a benevolent deitY-25 Emo might rather be labeled as a complete ^enchantment of the *°rld heightening the sense of being lost. The personal admixture in the creation of poetry and lyrics leads us to J second concept mentioned above, which is the poem as a hererocosm: .In Romanticism emerges the modern idea of the artist... as a unique and individual who creates new realities as wel as reflecting existing °nes."26 -pi. . , ..."c* . ,, nnDOSed to Ruskin's understanding of ide J 15 dlamet" ^naC the way it "objectively" is. C«ntm' art'St " ^Tlo^or the.r creativity, for their inno-vatilmP°raryartlStsare,nStea_lP™ fves. and for inventing alternative ribed thc term as follows: "The key event in leVelo;m« ^"replacement of the metaphor of the poem as cities.27 ln 1735.2« M. H.Abrams descn ' a imitation, a 'mirror of nature,' by that of the second nature,' created by the poet in an act anaU^"1 3S hetercv of the world." g°Ust0G0d,c - ""'"ogous to Go~d'°C0Sni^ of the world."19 Scr^0n The artist is the creator of new worlds which are certainly in • whatever he or she may perceive as an objective reality, but it j"*^ what the individual might add to this perceived reality that makes iu^' more interesting and maybe even fascinating. In our case, many a R0m ^ poem is expressive of the poet's feelings, interests, and intentions t? emphasis is even more so the case with emo rock lyrics. If Abrams describ'5 the heterocosm as a poem that is a "disguised self-revelation,"30 the sar^ does not hold true for emo lyrics and culture. It is quintessential to this subculture that self-revelation is made explicit. Apart from dark clothing, hair, and makeup, the habitual cutting of one's arm and "emorexia" are frequently appearing occurrences among emo kids identifying as such." Emos openly display their suffering. The same is evident in emo lyrics, and they might be labeled as "undisguised self-revelations."32 These songs either straightforwardly express some sort of perceived crisis or they create a mood that can hardly be interpreted in more than one way. The former is the case in songs like "Screaming Infidelities" by Dashboard Confessional. Examples of the latter kind of song lyrics leave more room for interpretation, but the mood they create is usually fairly straightforward. These kinds of lyrics will be examined in some more detail in the following. "Miseria Cantare" (AFI) As has been stated above, recalling a certain "hostility towards present reality," a "rejection of the present," is the denning characteristic of tW Romannc Weltanschauung according to Sayre and Lowy. They gr°uPea -Romantic anti-capitalism" into six major categories that they defi* according to thnr relationship to capitalism" and labeled them as & lows: (1) Resmunonist, (2) Conservative, (3) Fascist (4) Resigned, (5» Liberal, and (6) Revolutionary and/or i i.l aS°St' { ' authors, "Resmunonist" Roman/cl t0pian-3 According to these tW> European Romantidsms * whcreas *™m**s up the vast majority * to assume-according to what has'bee,, *er hand, it seems legiO*f emo genre could be defied as "Res " l*ed so far-that most of*6 dommantly apolitical and almost exclUs£ v ^anticism, for it is Pre' .mpl.es a certain degree of resignation a „ !ntr°spective in nature, w*»cb sistically turned upon the self. ' '^'^ho, ^ ™™ EMOCOSMS: MIND-FORG'D REALITIES IN EMO(TIONAL) ROCK xhe rejection of present reality is expressed in manifold manner ,n Landc poetry It appears in escapist phantasies of perfectly harmon.ou Sure, as in Percy Bysshe Shelley s "The Invitation- (1824). It is expressed " thc Romantic poet s idealization of the "primitive" lifestyles exempli fied by William Wordsworth's "Anecdote for Fathers" (1798). Finally this dissatisfaction with present reality is uttered straightforwardly, as is the case in William Blake's "London" (1794). In this Romantic heterocosm, Blake paints a desolate picture of living conditions in eighteenth-century London. People are weak and suffering, children are crying in fear, there is blood running down the palace walls, and the "marriage-hearse" (4.4)3S is befouled by prostitutes. But, most importantly for the purpose of this chapter, it is the "mind-forg'd manacles" (2.4)36 that the lyrical "I" hears in the people's cries. In this "mind-forg'd reality," objectivity can hardly be expected. Blake heightens the desolation of living in England's capital, yet he gives an accurate account of his "hostility towards present reality." He is the god-like creator of this heterocosm, and it mirrors his state of mind commingled with perceived reality. Despite this poem expressing some resignation, William Blake's oeuvre can certainly not be classified as belonging to that particular category of Romantic anti-capitalism. His Songs of Innocence (1789) at least partially prove that he did not consider all hope to be lost, and his visions clearly show his belief in a benevolent deity. Criticism and lamenting of perceived reality is also to be found in emo lyrics, yet it differs from Blake's criticism substantially. Allmusic.com describes the band Finch as a "California-based emo quintet" that "combines Deftones' heaviness with pop-punk ot the Jimmy Eat World variety "37 Despite all other possible labels that could be ipphed. ^cing some sort of emo vibe in their music is certainly justifiable. Their m"sic incorporates post-hardcore elements such as screaming and yelling, their lyrics are intensely emotional, either pensive ^ag^vem "ature, and, most importantly perhaps, the mood cr«ttdbythe kss explicit kmc frequently paints a picture of a suffering mdn dual m a has ,:l , V rrecluc"u>' V noo7) creates a nebulous heterocosm ot >le world. "What It Is to Burn (20O2J ere ^ ^ fire and pain. The exact speculate on the mean- Pretations.com many-mosdy-"g^S pealing ,,rh suicide, >ng of this song. These Sbeing about "the goddess of finding comfort in an empatfm pai ^V38 t rhe actual topic of the song, the mood created by it is Irrespective of tbt , ^ uui defiled) suffcnng from blisters explicit. The lyrical Idaim! 190 I TRAGBR 191 because the sun apparently keeps searing mercilessly" The SUn whi. M1,IK understood to be .1 source ol lite, light, and warmth,is' usu Portr herein the worst possible way. Yet, burning is ambiguously refe«cd?W sonic thing negative ("blistered") but also positive, for "She'stheo who knows what it is to burn;' and the lyrical 1 keeps "felling fester down to her"'" In the chorus, the lyrical 1 describes liim/hcrsclfasa"badstar"«' by making use of a simile. He or she is a (ailing star, a "broken" star thai is incapable of remaining in the night sky, burning up in the atmosphere .is u is falling rhis bad star has .1 clearly negative connotation, conveying the idea of having fallen from grace, but yet there remains an unknown refuge from the outside world.42 These lyrics convey the idea of being attracted to something dangerous. I he\ form an emotionally charged heterocosm, a "mind-forg'd reality"of pan foi which the mood is set in line three at the very latest: "The sky is bleeding above me."13 This pathetic fallacy ascribing human emotions I pain through being wounded, referred to by the "bleeding") to an inanimate object (the "sky") is the outcome of a process in writing that is reminiscent of Wordsworth's description of his work as a poet, often cited m academic work on Romanticism, as "emotion recollected in tranquility. The bleeding of the sky is a personification of a perceived reality of danger, threat, and pain that yet offers some pleasure/refuge. Accompanied by the recurring reference to "burning" and "fire," the author of these lines giv« the audience a glimpse into his psychic reality, but not reality as it "rca ) is This heterocosm and the manifold interpretations found online that enabled by the opacity of the lyrics are closely linked to Oscar WiW^ understanding of art quoted above. The spectator he was referring to c» be both the artist, as the spectator of reality and the spectator, as tn recipieni of art. The lyrics are therefore revealing of the psychic reality 0 the author, and the various interpretations of the lyrics offer a glimpse,n 1 their reception and resonance with emo fans. The world outside (capita consumers / mainstream?) is described by Nate Barcalow as pO»n& > threat, and his tans seem to agree. Yet there is shelter to be found U»» seemingly harmful symbtos.s with that nebulous, burning entity could an ,------„.„ „.U1 uiai nebulo bui.nin„ ent,ty ia dest uc ,ve person feelmg out of plaCe>) h seems as if this song guably be classified as "Resigned" u " 1 if the^ __1:____.fL. . &lu-a Romanticism, even u u .. remains a glimpse of hope, but then again this '1 .^sts in an apparently harmful alliance that bl^^f^ °?°p?loVS category six, but instead of being Utopian R yrC S ht to label this as almost "dystopian" Romanticism! mantlcism» we oUg Immense — „ 0mstc.com describes them as a "Long runnmg (.mom msic has encompassed goth rock, hardcore punk, and sk,itepunk."i; Yet certajn emo elements are discernible and quite cat.nnk the tmotion-|acjen lyncs suggest a proximity to this genre. The song "Death of Seasons," released on the 2003 album Sing the Sorrow—which is an "emo" album title—is an emotional heterocosm of literally cosmic dimensions of hatred and sadness. The lyrical I is painfully sick and tilled with hatred, knowing that the comforting words uttered by others are merely empty phrases. The exact subject of the song remains, once again, opaque, Inn il is very expressive emotionally and paints the picture of an apocah'ptic see nario, of floating either in a universe or emotional state of hatred, ennui, and despair. The sense of an emotional apocalypse already arises from the title Death of Seasons"; it is also hinted at in the description of ominous tribes juxtaposed with the extinction of the human race, reminiscent of the Gog and Magog, the infernal people associated with the end of the world, and it is referred to by the falling of the stars.46 The feeling of ennui is expressed by the lyrical I characterizing the world as being banal, by the indifference towards mortality, and by the scorn for the world apparent from the last llne of the song, in which he or she expresses the hope to cast a shadow onto the world while disintegrating.47 While the verses are being screamed b)' the lead singer, the chorus is sung melodiously, conveying a sense of anger in the former and vulnerability, pathos, maybe even tenderness in th-e latter. In the chorus, an emo heterocosm, an a "second "ature" of sadness and despair is created by making use of a pathetic fal-lacy: "I watch the stars as they fall from the sky / I held a fallen star and it wept for me dyin' / I feel the fiillen stars encircle me, now as they cry. T| 1 ■ • „3rririnates in the author's mourning; all the weep-t ne who e universe participate* m »" ^ , >ng stars gather around?hin, These tnammate H,„ . r . „„ ,-Tvirine a universe that has txen LOinpierei) h emotion of «dnc», sta,. This sensc of bcing lost ,n absorbed by thei authors: awteni ^ ^.^ a universe rf-dn-^S ^oLS of the song, as the screaming grating is ^^,^5^1«*^ as he keeps on screaming -f rhclrontm.t,1ne tender sounds of strings. This ■Was**" has --♦Jet's feelings, which is reflected in the 192 | TR.WHt use more ■ of the pathetic fallacy and the cosmic dimension of the , aananon edging on disgust and repugnance could hardly be 1 nCs ^re clearly. There is not the slightest bit of hope for this wodd/W^ for the people of our tune, as the only way out seems to be com?' (x ,cnon, in the shading of the world and its despicable ways. Ag^ aop . so . tion to the ills of the world—which ought to be read 1 sign of resignation—is all that seems to be left in this "rmacasm," La Dispute, the third and final band of interest here, is probably the hardest to classify. They have been labeled post-hardcore, screamo, and experimental. The last label deserves to be highlighted, for they almost completely resist the use of choruses, and in their vocals they regularly diverge from traditional pop/rock, song structures. On Allmusic.com, Fred Thomas describes the lead singer's lyrics and vocal style as leaning "tow-ird the spoken yvord style of his written poetry and prose, finding,! space between stream-of-consciousness fluidity and imagery of everyday life."49 If the lyrics of the first two songs resembled lyrical poetry, the next song is closer to narrative poetry. Yet yvhile many of La Dispute's songs tell stories that at first glance seem to be less self-centered than many an emo song, they are emotionally very expressive, and despite their seemingly objective descriptions they convey manifold but mostly negative emotions, challenging the Ruskinian understanding of objectivity. The song "Hudsonville, MI 1956" from the album Rooms of the House U014) tells the story of a woman visiting her parents while waiting for her husband to come home from yvork as a storm hits the town. In the lyrics, everyday family lite is constantly interrupted by the approaching threat of the storm and the anxiety inflicted by it.50 Throughout the song, the protagonist tries to reach her husband on the phone When she finally does get through, her mother says: "I swm-t«• ■ ■ ...v approaching storm ough aan an objective description of historical events. . e The storm gives insight into its creator's state of mind and vievv of w odd, which is put forward in the second and last line of the lyrics, there * framing the song: "There are moments of collapse."52 If Shelley's "0cle * a the West Wind" weaved "around the central image of the destroying an preserving W ind, the full cycle of the myths of death and regenerate l)vU> MIND PORQ'DRBMJ BMCH riONAJ I ROCK 193 mian, and divine *M La Dispute lead singer [ordan Dreyer's ^cetat'011, ' u ., iqca" focuses on the storm as ,i completely random I human, am> v" • ---- « \ll ll)^o" focuses on the storm as a completely random iiWs°n • ,|v idyllic family life. It lingers outside the family home, threat to seem ,. . ......,t.,„ lT|.,« f-Vvnsinu on such a nai -I urn.- ■■■ threat to seeming!) idyllic rainu, „.,. hovVlJnu iind bending in the window glass, Focusing on suchTnaS phenomenon, as opposed to man made misery, highlights the complete randomness of misery inflicted by natural catastrophes or other, ["he tor najocs that occurred in Michigan in 1956 were ,i n.m\tw\ disasteragainsi which the people were completely defenseless. Situated in a seemingly idyllic family setting—someone's making coffee, thanksgiving is referred to, affectionate kisses are being exchanged54—the force of the wind approaches "victims" who are totally ignorant of its danger. The storm embodies the momentariness of harmony, the thfidny of luppincs^, the constant threat that seems to be an inevitable part of Jiffe.88 Coincidence alone may or may nor change everything, as is the case with a woman and her baby mentioned in the lyrics, who, by chance and cluwcc alone, sur vives a car crash despite being thrown into a barbed wire fence." I'lie storm is a non-personified symbol resembling the Ruskinian pathetic lal lacy insofar as it is fairly expressive of its creator's srare of mind and a natu ral phenomenon is presented as "moody." The god like artisi having created this heterocosm seems to be engaged in contemplating random misery, vulnerability in a familiar and presumably sale setting. Family Crag edies or other "moments of collapse" may occur at any time Despite being objectively descriptive, "Hudsonvillc, MI 1956" conveys a feeling °t vulnerability by making use of a "non-personified pathetic fallacy." It resembles "Resigned" Romanticism insofM- as it portrays life itself as threatening and happiness as fleering irrespective of societal, political, or any other possible sources of misfortune, [flife \tsc\f is the root of the Problem, resignation can be the only logical consequence. We have no Great War. No Great Depression, Our Greal War's a spiritual war ... our Great Depression is our lives.''7 David Fincher's Fight Club (1999) presents contemporary consumer,s, society as devoid of meaning and spiritual fulfillment. The movie ,s about People-almost exclusively men-trying to find purpose and meaning ,n a senseless and hostile world. The protagonist (perf. Edward Norton), an unnamed white collar employee suffering from insomnia, is a member oi this svstem who "frees" himself from these ^mmd-torgd manacles through a process that culminates in insanity, terrorism, and attempted 194 I IKAGl-.R kU,c.«i- II" above quoted ImeMittcrcd hy'lylcrDurdoi^pgjj fc the,.....*.....«'»'"" ;rv"',yt ;nuch rc«mbu IV^./.nnM,,, vh.cl.ua view olth. world thai „, « j ■ ally pessimistic .lun .lul ol the Roman... poets, ,|, ,|)IU. „](. ^j.. r, i ..- warto. severe c.....omn dcprciitom. SpacedoeinoTJ .. , i.....Mlic nun WduimchanunjiA\M\ il.. ftyroftj, |,,,(( jj , „ r 4 irvi ..liny i nit. .ivor, li.il ilini ..llili.iiion sccmst^ ,, -tin- Hyion.i hero is always .. figure Wthe&aJh , „,.„,.,» i Kir.ujrdtn.ti / Inn ■■< II conlounding energy ivhowpetional wholeness has i.< i n shattered l>y tonic dark actio.....ilie pait."MIfWliim ■ w*t Mill able to identify Hficirl.il ills n. Ins poem "London" (fcg fa H»y»tem symbolu ally hinted al in llir Wood running doWttthcpal ate v. • i mil .1 he iherelnie was < apatite ol uiia»,.ii.uy, change fnnli' i.i ltd lit- if.i ii is ihc eino tragedy, at leasl ;u i ording to llie songs analyzed ii th. Romantics were at least pan.ally pironiipicd with the re riiiii.intiiir.i. '.i tin world, believing, in lienrvoleiii deities, seeing beauty • thing*, cherishing "i.....litivc" lifestyles, most emo lyrici «* i omplct. ///•. rn, li.iii.nirni ol ii. The sun, the stars, and the '• malignant lours oi ihey tnirioi the artist's deep seated feeling ■tml saihu-ss Ihlir Koinantt. poets were increasingly intorewed'11 ,hc has become the all encompassing center of attention ,n" •• m™n js a wjth přo ■! , ,s J "J "' *■ Process of mourning but it is only the first step "cmocom,: "What,, is tl) Bur, - 111 ™o dilemma. 1 b<-sc .„ Ml 1956/ .......linglv ,,„;;;"; »f Seasons," and "Hudson" tangible because it involves an ill • ^ sclf ^ntcredness that is» ity, poss.bly anting from an incr^dnP',SM'^ "■"icction of currentfe express a perceived helplessness rcuar,l...U,mplcxi,v 1)1 rllp w"ir'11' tonal rm« ----- ■ ,-«asing rcjectio ..>e, „um an increased complexity of uic «"'"" i'-ef express a perceived helplessness regarding, th, manifo\d societal »n° J „{ son..! crises, resulting in resignation Sometimes dystopian M putative "hope" are uttered in these sot^s, as opposed to a prcdo."'0*' ^ "Restmn.ontst" Romanticism, which, according ,0 SlVre and 1-''nV>'' ,',r preoccupied with the re establishment and refinement of a' former, W svstem, but these imagined perspectives seem Ulrte prormgmf. / MOcOSMS MIM' 11 m.'U UMU I DM IN I MO': BUM, lot* Noils 10 11 12 13 16. 17. 1«. I". 20 21 22 Itobcri Sayrc and Michael /x>wy, "Figure* of Romania Am, CssJM A(,jy Crccnwald, MtfA^ /•«/, Good Punk R*k Qmmm „,v i ,N'cw Vork. St. Martin i (irifSn, 2003), l * /w" (1,1.1., 2. Sayrc and htv/y, I igumofRotttaoA Aim <„.|,n ,J,-n "54 11,„1,0011 Sec Ina Scliabcrt, Engliicht Uferttuytubkbtt MmnrnDmOmgim tin '.11 hi ihr <,<::< lilrihlrr/i,, , In,,,,■/ ....... , . ■,'/, .^J)( '-""'/ ''/•'»••. Aiiksi, M.,v,. l„-,„, .„„1 .M,v„ii,:.i, ,., r.run ' «»