This is Emo

Reading Summary

Klosterman discusses the negative impact of media on society’s romantic perception of love. He begins with an anecdote to illustrate the point that people’s desires for love and a partner are driven by what is portrayed through the media. This can happen through actors in movies, musicians in songs, or plot lines in television and cinema. There has been an erosion of “normal” love and “fake” love has become the new norm, where people fall for and desire elements that don’t truly represent what love should be for. The media also disrupts what is perceived to be desired by creating unlikely romances that cannot be duplicated in the real world. This happens through best friends falling in romantic love or the attractive woman falling for the nerdy but sweet guy, but ultimately these loves are fake and unsustainable. Occasionally, the media does an accurate job in presenting a true, realistic love story, however these are so rare and hardly materialize in the real world that the hope and faith that should be restored are eroded more. All in all, this creates a desire for fake love by those in society, which destroys faith in real love, and simply creates a society that does not believe in love because they do not see it beyond the media’s presentation.

Outside Example

What immediately comes to mind for me is the variety of love reality/competition shows such as The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Love Is Blind, and Love Island. I have watched very little of all of these shows, with the exception of Love Is Blind, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The main reason was because of its unique structure and interesting characters, as well as the portrayal of not being a fixed and overly saturated drama. Each show though, generates their own unique responses to love, relationships, their desirability, feasibilities, and the media’s presentation of it. 

Reading Connection

Love Is Blind is particularly unique and desirable by many that are not overly interested in love competition shows. It does not contain the disingenuous, overly scripted, and unrealistic love environment that other shows do. “Players” must first find love through an emotional connection and only spend a short bit of time on an extremely romantic and fantasy honeymoon before being thrown back into the real world. This part and the issues that develop before players are forced to answer the question of marriage reveals if true love can exist. While other shows keep players in an unsustainable environment to find love, this show tests players true loves. Additionally, players in other shows have incentives to stay on for as long as possible for the sake of becoming famous or “winning” the show. 

This further perpetuates the image of “fake” and undesirable love that is given to audience viewers. Ultimately when this falters, fans do eventually lose hope in true love or believe these incredible circumstances are unlikely to happen to them. With Love Is Blind, the show is based on finding true, genuine love without an physical attachments. Furthermore, players go through the whole process simply by saying yes in the beginning and have no incentive to fake loving someone to continue playing the game. Players are in everyday, real-world problems and only accept marriage if both parties are truly in love. Overall, this should give hope to real love being possible and goes against the mainstream media presentation of love in competition shows and presents many real ways in which viewers can find love of their own.