“Love yourself”
EUPHORIA’S SPOT-ON TAKE ON TOXIC POSITIVITY AND INFLUENCER CULTURE
Written by Norhan Zouak
Euphoria’s highly anticipated second season premiered January 9th, and it has not disappointed thus far. Just three episodes in, the new season does not skimp on anxiety-inducing, yet cinematic scenes, melodic and sensational music by Labrinth, and glitter liner. Viewers take a trip into the wild imaginations of the characters—some of which truly gives American Horror Story a run for its money—from Nate’s haunting fantasy of a future with Cassie to Kat’s bizarre gladiator dream to Lexi’s charming “behind the scenes” apparition of her life as if it was a TV show.
The show tackles many hardships teenagers face today, despite not being the most accurate portrayal of high school—just look at how Maddy dresses. But a certain scene in the second episode proves to be the most realistic point in the show.
Last season, viewers saw Kat, played by Barbie Ferreira, break out of her introverted shell and exude confidence, yet this season, Kat appears more self-conscious and melancholic as she feels stuck in her relationship with Ethan.
In this particular scene, Kat lies on her bed with a carton of Goldfish, feeling depressed and dreading her date with Ethan. In the bathroom, a random woman in a bikini—hair and makeup done perfectly and posing like an Instagram post—calls out to her: “Kat, you’re one of the bravest, most beautiful human beings I have ever seen.” Kat retorts with “That’s not true” and “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I f—ing hate myself.” Another model appears, relaying the same sentiment: “Everyday you get out of bed, it’s an act of courage.” Kat continues to bicker with her as well to the point of tears, until more and more figures pop up, each yelling at her to “smash all beauty standards” and “find her inner f—ing warrior.”
The scene comes to a head with all of the imaginary women synchronously chanting “Love yourself!” over and over as they follow Kat into the bathroom as she covers her ears and screams for everyone to “leave me alone.” Suddenly everything goes quiet and all of the women disappear when a text from Ethan appears on Kat’s phone.
The scene flawlessly captures the excessive positivity radiated by social media and influencers who peached “self-love” to an extreme. While mental health awareness and self-compassion are incredibly important and indispensable to one’s overall wellbeing, that is not what is iterated when influencers caption their perfectly-edited bikini selfies in Cancun with “love yourself.” The problem with this is that it completely undermines the severity of an individual’s situation. Someone who struggles with mental illness cannot just “snap out of it” with some “positive thoughts” and “good vibes”.
Similarly, in the scene, the influencers could not grasp why Kat was full of self-hatred because she could not understand why she did not love Ethan. Instead, they continued to shout “Love yourself”, to the point of her shrieking at her reflection, fueled with fury and frustration. Kat’s raw passion and rage echoes through the screen. At one point or another, every social media user, especially women, has felt completely irritated by the ubiquitous self-love cliches and toxic positivity rhetoric that litter influencers’ and celebrities’ pages, no matter how they navigate the platform.
Kat faces yet another slap-in-the-face by the gaggle of women. Besides minimizing her mental health struggles, the women tell Kat she is “courageous” and they wish they “had her confidence” for no reason other than simply being a fat woman who appears to be self-assured and comfortable with her body and image. This highlights social media culture, especially in the realm of body positivity, and the normalization of a skinnier person posing or showing off their body, whereas a bigger person doing the same thing is applauded for their “bravery”.
In the past, social media has been criticized for setting unrealistic beauty and lifestyle standards. In an attempt to combat this, toxic positivity and excessive “self-love” cliches now riddle the internet, yet both contribute negatively to the mental health of users, especially in teenagers and young adults. Euphoria, despite its unhinged, yet sensationalist portrayal of high school, brilliantly tackles this dilemma. The shattering “love yourself” scene forces responsibility onto the current influencer culture and social media climate to bring attention to the detrimental effects induced by its unnatural and ineffective positivity.
