A rambling thought i am having: hate that edgy culture is dominated and defined by shitty disenfranchised men that dont know how to express or identify an emotion, instead of like. Traumatised, alienated, genuinely othered people, who make the best authentically dark art & media

A lot of these guys like edgy shit because it affects them and that is rare and thrilling for them. and I think a lot of people get the same thing, even just from horror. We like getting to safely explore things that are intense and new, and trigger new emotions.

I think Edgy Guys are edgy because their internal lives tend to be empty; they are not encouraged to express or reflect on their emotions, they are dissuaded from showing weakness, and they have been taught to associate violence and invulnerability with power.

Edgy content is both a way to safely feel fear and to conquer it. It's thrilling, new, it forces a reaction. Its a safe, distanced peering into a world that intrigues them. It proves they're unflappable. It's a way of dominating fears via numbing them by exposure.

It's a shame THAT is who defines edgy culture, because the best horror and NSFL content touches into real, dread inducing pain. Real trauma. And that kind of content isn't made to be conquered, it's made for the purpose of catharsis; a release for the traumatised. Not numbing.

A good example is Ari Aster's Hereditary and Midsommar. Both are informed by Aster's own experiences of family tragedy, and both clearly contain all of that pain and turmoil. They are harrowing to watch. But so many edgy guys found them underwhelming, which is telling to me tbh

A lot of these guys can't access truly feeling these complex, emotionally visceral medias. And that carries through to more blunt and high impact media too. They want to prove they can widthstand viewing it, not peer into the void and see themselves there, and reckon with that.

and thats why alienated trauma queers make the best horror end of ramble