by Allison Lee
In a world where everyone is simultaneously entangled and isolated, television is one of the few things that bring people together, be it to discuss the plot, obsess over cast members, or find common ground among strangers.
Many viewers of the hit TV series Euphoria will claim the series as a ‘cultural reset’. It is not. It is, instead, the lively, aesthetical projection of an entire generation.
Held side-by-side to other shows like Riverdale and 13 Reasons Why—targeted at the same age group—Euphoria is nothing like your ordinary teenage drama series. HBO’s brainchild reaches deep under the psyche of Gen Z to uncover their ways of operation and thought, the show venturing to where no show has gone before to explicitly depict the trials and tribulations of the youngest living generation.
Right from the premiere episode, Euphoria has already proven itself to be—in youth slang—‘not like the others’. The series’ main actress, Zendaya, posted before the premiere that “it’s [Euphoria] a raw and honest portrait of addiction, anxiety and the difficulties of navigating life today. There are scenes that are graphic, hard to watch, and can be triggering,” cautioning viewers to only watch what they can handle or to enjoy the episode in the presence of an adult.
Euphoria orbits around the lives of Rue Bennett, Jules Vaughn, Maddy Perez, Nate Jacobs, Cassie Howard, Chris McKay, and Kat Hernandez, all high schoolers in the same institution, each struggling with their own problems, as all teenagers do. The show focuses mainly on Rue, who is fresh out of rehab and has no plans to stay clean. As she slowly melts back into her normal life—that is, if you reckon buying drugs after school from an eleven-year-old dealer to be normal—the eclectic Jules moves into the area and befriends her, the young drug addict’s life is then swept away by a whirlwind of events enhanced by excess makeup and surreal mind trips.
Each episode commences with Rue narrating the life of one of her classmates from young up to their current age, detailing their life encounters, most of which are either depressing or borderline abusive, endured through gritted teeth and snazzy comebacks. From the alarming use of makeup and glitter for self-expression to the honest portrayal of drug abuse and withdrawal, exploring sexualities and identities to the culture of slut-shaming, dangerous addictions to mental health struggles, Euphoria is a well-woven script brought to life.
However, it would be too far of a stretch to say that all of Gen Z subscribes to this lifestyle where the air is constantly puffed with rivalry and drama, where kids are on the hunt for pills and potions at parties gone-wild, and where everybody is trying to satisfy their sexual wants and needs every waking moment.
The show focuses on the extreme ends of Gen Z behavior, much like an eight-episode psychedelic music video bedecked with grit and glitter. When you see it from that perspective and dive a layer deeper, Euphoria’s central message isn’t what the kids in the show are doing, rather why they’re doing what they’re doing; it’s a show that walks the tightrope between fantasy and reality.
Imagine a diagram of an iceberg: the tip is how most people view Gen Z—fragile snowflakes who grew up with the internet and suffer from mental illnesses. As boomers are slowly leading our planet to doom, as Gen X continues carrying the workforce, and as millennials work tirelessly to pay off rent and student loans, Gen Z has been depicted as the weakest pillar in the population. But they shouldn’t be.
Take into consideration the submerged half of the iceberg: that Gen Z was raised amidst a turbulence of economic depressions, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, gun violence, climate change, injustice and inequality, and more. To top it all off, this generation is the first to be brought up as digital natives, having been born in a time where the Internet was—and is still—rapidly advancing and being assimilated into every living aspect. These instabilities have frayed the fabric of this generation by inducing existential dread and have become the norm for them.
The key distinction between Gen Z and their predecessors is that, while all living generations have worked through their share of difficult and troubling times, as an inhabitant of the digital age, Gen Z is constantly exposed to a plethora of information, whether voluntarily or otherwise. Though this wired connectivity allows them to be more knowledgeable and resourceful relative to their parents’ generation, it has equally damaging consequences. Global events are updated on all kinds of online forums and social media platforms with each scroll and refresh, making it hard for this tech-savvy generation to miss a thing. This clutter of data thus makes it overwhelming to digest, consequently disrupting the mental health of many Gen Zers.
They have grown accustomed to their devices, meaning that even when they don’t want to receive updates, they will; whereas the older generations have gone through decades without the internet, so they can choose to live without it more easily. On top of that, remember that a large proportion of Gen Zers are still in high school and have no prior obligations or engagements outside of the classroom, allowing them to redirect most of their energy toward the likes of online news, YouTube, and Netflix. Being Gen Z isn’t all glitz and glamor; we have traded the physical and livelihood struggles of the previous generations for mental ones. Thus, it stands to reason that when one has received detailed accounts and lived through the ruins and debris of failing systems and societies, one no longer seeks happiness; instead, one longs for authenticity.
The core focus of Euphoria lies within mental health—the commonplace of it and the struggles that accompany it. It comes as no surprise that the majority of studies aimed at this generation have found high counts of mental health struggles; it’s natural for one kid to suffer from multiple mental disorders, common ones being anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia. The danger of this isn’t just the effect these disorders have on the development of Gen Zers, it is the generation’s tendency to collectively romanticize their struggles, a phenomenon amplified by social media.
When Rue gives in again and again to drugs, the ‘trips’ she ventures on are beyond euphoric, only to plummet back to searing withdrawal. Jules falls into a spiral of texting strangers and seeking solace by engaging in sexual encounters as her childhood was rather disrupted as a transgender kid. Kat struggles with her body image in the first few episodes, and is also seen trying to lose her virginity to fit in with her clique that had already lost all of theirs; this presents an unnecessary competition that messes with the girls’ minds in a futile effort to draw popularity between boys. Cassie has to deal with her private videos circulating the internet without her consent—an invasion of privacy that can deliver a deadly blow to her self-esteem. Nate and Maddy, the stereotypical jock-and-cheerleader couple in every high school film, suffer through each other’s toxicity in the relationship, especially when Nate is confused about his own sexual identity and exhibits abusive patterns. And Chris, fresh into college, feels the need to keep up with his seniors, in turn neglecting his relationship with Cassie.
The truth is that depression isn’t ‘cute’, anxiety isn’t ‘quirky’, eating disorders are not personality traits, and addictions are definitely not ‘edgy’; yet, an observation garnered within this age group is that whatever the majority owns can be deemed as a trend, hence the inevitable romanticizing of mental disorders.
Well, enough of that downer information on mental health. Bonus points go to Euphoria for their inclusivity in the series, not just featuring multiple LGBTQ+ characters but also sharing the struggles they go through in a world that is, still, relatively closed-minded. Gen Z is often the more accepting bunch, comfortable with same-sex marriage and gender-neutral pronouns. More and more Gen Zers don’t feel the need to label themselves; they are more concerned with saving the world than fitting into a box.
What the TV series does is normalize the stigmas surrounding youth culture. Prominent topics of sex and mental health should be widely spoken of and understood. While America and Europe are making strides to combat these taboo topics, most Asian countries still remain closed, unwilling to participate in the conversation of what is troubling their youth, from therein constructing barriers that make it harder for young people to seek help and sympathy.
The teens inside Euphoria and outside the screen are looking for clarity in the things around them. They’re trying to figure out how to win the battle against their own minds, how to help their parents understand things like sexuality and mental health, how to demolish gender, age, and racial stereotypes, and how to pull the world back from the brink of the eternal damnation that we are currently headed for.
Euphoria’s portrayal of Gen Z, dark as it may seem and unbelievable as it may appear, is in many ways a real cry for help from the youngest generation living in the most pain.