Euphoria is Gen Z’s magnum opus – there, I said it.
In the last decade, there hasn’t been a more talked about teen show than Euphoria. Euphoria has become a popular culture mega-hit, inescapable from praise, criticism and controversy. The show is best known for being dramatic, with artistic visuals and tackling heavy storylines about addiction. The show polarises its audience – particularly by age. There are angry parents and organisations who have lambasted the show with accusations that it normalises drug abuse and promiscuity. But for all of the sex, drugs and melancholy the show displays, it’s more than just a beacon of criticism. It is one of the most honest TV portrayals of the pressures Zoomers are facing today.
Euphoria is Gen Z’s mega-hit
Zoomers have embraced Euphoria. The popularity of Euphoria-inspired makeup on TikTok to the revival of 2000s fashion seen in the characters’ wardrobes only scratches the surface. Each episode from the recent second season has featured heavily in the news, on Twitter feeds and memes. It’s a testament to the show’s staying power in the public consciousness. Euphoria managed to portray the exhilaration, anxiety and hardships that teen and adult Zoomers today are encountering. There are struggles Gen Z is facing that previous generations scarcely understand. Through Euphoria, they’re finally getting the mainstream attention they deserve.
Why do so many Gen Z’ers relate to Euphoria?
Gen Z, or Zoomers, are teens and adults born between 1997 and 2012 (although the dates vary slightly). This means the youngest Zoomers are 10 and the oldest are 25, a rather large disparity. Millennials are often categorised as 1981 to 1996. I am in the age group where Millennial meets Gen Z. As a result, I have a unique perspective on how teen shows have changed dramatically in just two decades.
Euphoria is nothing like the teen shows I grew up with in the 2000s and early 2010s. There were shows that focused on comedy-drama like ‘Glee’. Or wealthy teens and twenty-somethings worth envying in shows such as ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘90201’. While there’s always overlap in the way teens are depicted on TV: the awkward puberty stage, first loves and impulsive behaviour, Euphoria taps into aspects of Gen Z life that other generations are ignorant of. There are teen shows that take the melodramatic route like ’13 Reasons Why’. The fantasy route, such as ‘Riverdale’. But Euphoria takes an artistic direction. Euphoria distinguishes itself from shows about high school with its trippy visuals, dark humour and intensity. The magical realist approach to cinematography doesn’t hurt either. Nor the heavy use of ‘bisexual lighting’.
Euphoria is not a crowd-pleaser, because it’s ahead of its time
The teen shows I grew up with in my early and mid-teens tried to give teenagers something to aspire to. The characters were often living lives that most teens never see. Shopping in Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch. There was a focus on humour in shows like ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Glee’ that seems so long ago now. There is horror in Euphoria as it holds up a mirror to Gen Z circles and amplifies them for entertainment. We’re the most depressed generation on record. The proximity of social media to our everyday life is suffocating. Euphoria lays out those unspoken experiences of teen sex tapes, rehab trips and self-harm in unflinching detail. It’s a compelling argument – critics have praised Euphoria for serving as a warning from older Zoomers to younger Zoomers of mistakes worth not repeating.
The argument that Euphoria is millennial revisionism
One of the criticisms pushed at the show is that it is a Millennial revisionist drama selling Millennial nostalgia to Gen’zers. There’s criticism that the show cannot be a reflection of Zoomer issues because it was written by Sam Levinson who is 37. The claim being that he was the wrong choice to write a show where most of the characters are teenage girls.
I think this criticism is an attempt to push Zoomer issues under the rug and pretend they aren’t there. Because if we acknowledge that they are there, soon we have to start looking for the root of these issues. Perhaps a person or system is to blame for it. But the reality is, some of the issues Zoomers and Millennials face, blend into one another.
If anything, Euphoria serves as a fantastically written example of how the horrors of previous generations are building up on today’s young generation. This is reflected in the show, with various teen characters who are dealing with addiction and having parents who dealt with the same.
Zoomers and addiction
One of the differences in my generation from previous ones is our willingness to discuss difficult topics out loud. Primarily, we talk about mental health more than any other generation has ever done before. Maybe it’s because we’ve reached a tipping point – with the worst mental health of any other generation. Or it seems that way only because we talk about our mental health in a way that gives that impression. Depression and anxiety are gateway stresses to experimentation with drugs and Euphoria is very frank about this connection. The opioid crisis in the US was declared a public health emergency in 2017. Drugs were taken openly around me when I was in my teenage years at school in a way that my parent’s generation could hardly believe.
A criticism that the first season of Euphoria received was that the finale showed Rue falling straight back into her addiction. It disappointed viewers who were rooting for Rue’s recovery. But the finale chooses to leave us with uncertainty. Realism rather than fantasy. The truth of addictions rather than pretending that Rue can be cured of struggling with addiction in a single season.
As they say, recovery is a journey, not a destination.
What makes Euphoria so good?
One of the things that has made Euphoria wildly successful with Gen Z is that the characters reflect people we know in real life. Or we can even see ourselves in a character or two. I relate to Euphoria characters in ways I was never able to with a show like ‘Gossip Girl’ from 2007. Euphoria is Gen Z’s success story. Rather than falling into the lazy stereotyping expected of teen shows, the show is reinventing characters to fit the Zoomer palate.
In places like the US, where healthcare is unaffordable for many, people self-medicate to cope with stress. These habits often start in one’s teen years. The main character Rue, played by Zendaya, isn’t a vapid, uninteresting vehicle for companies to sell products to teens. She’s a girl suffering from the hopelessness plaguing many young people today. Who don’t know what to do with their lives. As Rue calls it, it’s an “ugly” world she doesn’t want to be a part of. Thus, she uses drugs as escapism rather than for fun.
Euphoria tackles the escapism love promises when Ali confronts Rue about replacing her addiction to drugs with an addiction Jules. Rue confronts Jules about how she “loves being loved”. The show takes a critical look at how Jules, a transgender character, tries to validate her gender identity as a transwoman through the validation she gets from men. Jules, played by Hunter Schafer, also depicts the vulnerability of transwomen to abuse. The different ways that self-harm is achieved is the vein running through the subtext of the story. Through silent self-harming, which we see in Jules at the end of season two. Or her willingness to put herself in risky situations to validate men who don’t want to be seen with a transwoman in public.
The show defies the stereotypes associated with teen shows
Maddy, the popular girl is no ‘mean girl’ like Regina George. She’s a strong personality struggling to accept that her boyfriend is abusive. Kat, played by Barbie Ferreira, starts the series as an insecure virgin. She isn’t just the ‘fat friend’ or a background character there to support the other girls. She’s a girl trying to figure out what self-love, control and power means to her. All while beginning to project her cruel inner dialogue onto the people around her. Kat’s imaginary ‘self-love’ scene was incredibly popular on social media precisely because she’s relatable. The conversation with supermodels invading her bedroom who tell her to love herself is all about the double standards of celebrity-influencer life. They sell us body-positivity and self-acceptance while undergoing cosmetics procedures. They sell us ‘fit-teas’ and hide behind Instagram filters.
Cassie is an emotionally-scarred young girl who is promiscuous. She tries to embody the confusing messages teen girls are suffocated with. To be fun, forward, flirty and exciting and doe-eyed, virginal and innocent. I’ve known so many Cassies in my life – so many of the other characters too. I find myself forgetting Euphoria is a show in a way I’ve never experienced with other teen dramas.
The show frequently incites conversations in and out of my age group that I haven’t seen before. The fact that so many of my Gen Z peers can remember a time back at school when a student had a sex tape or nude photos end up on social media is disturbing, yet common, for example. But Euphoria doesn’t try to pretend these things don’t happen. Instead, they show the consequences and turmoil these experiences cause.
Does Euphoria glamorise the pain Zoomers are experiencing?
There has been a slow shift in the way that drug usage is being depicted in TV shows. What was once shown as recreational and taboo is now being shown in a multi-faceted way. Most of the people I have met who have taken drugs do so as a coping mechanism and this is reflected in Euphoria’s narrative. Through shows like Euphoria, more people are beginning to understand that the attraction to drugs isn’t just about rebellion. For many, it’s a form of escapism and self-medication for stress which can lead down a dark path. As a result, I’d argue that Zendaya’s portrayal of Rue in Euphoria is educational.
However, organisations like D.A.R.E. have argued that the show has glorified drug abuse and erroneously represented it is widespread among teens. I would argue that organisations like D.A.R.E. would not need to exist if it were true that drug abuse is uncommon among young people. Instead of showing the taboo nature of drug usage as exciting and alluring, Euphoria shows how prevalent drug usage can be among groups of young people and why. So many young people have parents who are overworked and unaware of their children’s addiction. Giving a false impression that it’s uncommon.
Young people are at a higher risk of drug addiction due to the easy availability of drugs today and the stress the age group is going through. Sadly, trying to avoid showing the reality of drug abuse among young people will make young people no less likely to experience it. It has been proven time and time again that not exposing children to things like sex and drugs does not make them less likely to engage in either. Mystery creates intrigue and intrigue creates the opposite of what was intended.
Can a show be serious and cool at the same time?
There is a fear among many parents that the ‘cool’ visuals of Euphoria dilute the serious messages in the show. Unintentionally glamorising drug highs and sex among minors. As evidenced by the tragic opioid crisis we’re still feeling the consequences of, people don’t start taking drugs with the intention of becoming addicted. Opioids are taken by Rue in the show, not as a glamourous, rebellious and fun drug to experiment with, but as a way of feeling close to her father when he was dying from cancer, bed-bound and surrounded by pain-numbing opiates.
Euphoria is Gen Z’s voice in the entertainment world right now. The show uniquely blends humour, drama and tear-jerking scenes together to create a show that seems like real life in moments and a dream world in others. The popularity of the show is a testament to how successful the unique tone of the show is.
Euphoria is redefining the high school TV show
Every high school experience is slightly different from the last but there is overlap between generations, shared experiences and traumas. One of the running storylines in the background of season two is how Cal has been repressing his sexuality for years. An attitude he passes down to his son Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi. A subject that has become important to many young people is how toxic masculinity affects all of our lives. These two characters embody many toxic masculine traits that affect all of the characters within the show. Gone are the times when the most serious aspect of teen drama was the identity of Gossip Girl.
I don’t doubt that there will be teen shows in the future that I struggle to relate to – it’s part of getting older. But not understanding the hardships of Zoomers is a choice the older generations have chosen, to the benefit of no one.
If scenes where Rue and Jules rate dick pics are too explicit for you, that’s too bad. Zoomers are more likely to have been exposed to sexual content online at a young age than any other generation and this needs to be addressed. Our generation has sent nudes and sexted more than every other generation combined and while it should concern parents, trying to avoid admitting that it happens helps no one. Long gone are the days when a teen sneaking out of their window at night is the most controversial aspect of a teen show. Watching Euphoria has become a crash course for other generations to get a glimpse of the intense problems Zoomers are up against.
If nothing else, the show has achieved bringing awareness.
How Euphoria represents Zoomers accurately
Euphoria is Gen Z’s favourite show right now precisely because it’s uncomfortable. Sam Levinson, the writer of Euphoria was “in and out of rehab” throughout his teens – more evidence that these issues aren’t exclusive to Zoomers. But they are amplified among our generation. Euphoria held a mirror up to the worst things young people are facing today and the Boomers who deride the show are finding blame in the wrong places. Euphoria is a comfort to those of us in Gen Z who want to feel heard. It’s not an encouragement to give one’s life up to drugs and death.
Teen dramas are ripe for controversy – they always have been. Exposing the secret world of teens, reflecting teen issues back to their target audience and terrifying parents all at the same time.
This is not a new formula. Because today’s teens can demand inclusivity from the TV shows that depict them in a way that previous generations couldn’t, teen shows today are perhaps going to be more accurate moving forward. When I was in my early teens, I saw the teens around me trying to imitate the shows we watched. Now the tide has changed, it is the TV shows we watch trying to keep up with us instead. Euphoria is Gen Z’s best hope for honestly representing the pains of the Zoomer generation. Gen Z is everyone’s best hope for a generation that is messy, sure, but truthful about addressing it. Truthful about our messy coping strategies and willing to create open dialogues about finding better ways to live in this world.
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Written by Chanté-Marie Young
Illustrated by Francesca Mariama
