I can’t believe I missed this piece of news, but the Russian government has announced a bill trying to ban emo and goth music and culture.
Russian emo fans protest potential ban
There’s not much to really say here, because the story really speaks for itself. A post-communist government that doesn’t quite understand a music-based culture that its youth are listening to, merely taking the incorrect stereotypes attributed with the culture from other countries and believing said misinterpretations as threats to its dominant culture. As wrong as the Russian government is to ban emo and goth, it should be seen that these are, in their own way, threats to the Russian heirarchy. The fact that the government would go as far as to ban a form of creative communication means that there is a certain popular influx of that culture, which the individuals in charge aren’t completely knowledgeable about. And you often fear what you don’t know. And when the few facts you have about a certain cultural phenomenon is a supposed (and flawed) link to suicide, it’s easy to see how one would react in such an extreme way in order to help the youth of your country. It’s more than absurd and pretty hilarious, but slightly understandable in some light.
Plastic People of the Universe
But, if anything, if Russia actually goes through with the ban on emo and goth, the country can only expect the opposite effect to happen. If anything, those who sought out emo and goth as an escape from the rigidity of mainstream Russian culture will be further driven into the world of emo, despite the consequences that await them. To draw upon a narrative concerning music and socialism, Tom Stoppard’s marathon-sized play, Rock N’ Roll, showed how rock music became a conduit through which anti-socialist ideals boiled to a head. As rock music continued to be seen as a negative aspect that drew away from the socialist cause in Czechoslovakia (as seen in the real-life narrative of the band The Plastic People of the Universe), more individuals became drawn to rock music despite and because of the consequences that the socialist rulers passed down on rock music listeners. The rest is really history. Who knows what will happen with emo in Russia, but it’s not unbelievable to think that emo’s popularity will continue to grow in the country.
Origami – Bez Lishnih Slov video (Russian Screamo):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLL73OkWsf4]
that is good for them cuz i like that music and i would be pissed if they tried to do that here in the US
Understandably – it’s ridiculous to ban someone’s musical preference simply because you don’t understand it. If anything, one’s choice to outright ban emo and goth is a sign that they’d rather not understand it or the youth of Russia who are drawn to it in an effort to bring them up in their own community. When it comes down to that, the real problems begin…
1st Emo Altercation of 2009 « Perfect Lines
[…] outbursts in Mexico, the “cult suicide” in the U.K., and the proposed ban on the genre in Russia. But in just over a week of 2009, it appears that the name of emo is already being dragged through […]
I heard of this it really shocked me because no one has the right to tell you what music to listen to or how to dress. People are just ignorant.