Why do People Want to be Sad?
Basically, the title. Why do people want to be sad so badly, and why are mental illnesses so overly romanticised?
This is basically a rant, so don't count on this having any order, and don't question this if it ends up in an entirely different direction.
First- the 'stereopypes'. I say that in air quotes because, well, it's not really a stereotype, but a misconception, something people wrongly yearn for. The Sad Artist, Beautiful but Broken Girl, and the Writer with a Tragic Backstory are all examples of this.
For the first two points, people often want to be the 'sad artist, or 'writer with a tragic past', because the art of these people is the overconsumption of it, where deep and complex art is the norm, and is sometimes thought to be superior. I've read books-- too many to count-- where the main character desires something bad to happen to them, purely because they'll feel more validated as a writer or an artist, with the misconception that all writers need to be sad, broken people. Often, especially in literature, writers of sad, tragic stories are seen as more valid than writers of heartwarming, lighthearted literature. People see something alluring and beautiful in misery.
This is where I feel like the 'Tragically Beautiful Girl' came from. She's often described as mysterious and veiled, but her hair is messily perfect, and she shows up to school with eyebags from being up all night-- probably writing raw and deep poetry-- somehow, even her eyebags are graceful; she has a Tumblr account, where she vents and posts tragically beautiful images. She always has her headphones in; she only listens to smaller, underground artists. people lust over the sad and mysterious girl, and either want to be her, or be with her. She's disturbingly, tragically, perfect. Why? Because she's... she's just...
Not like other girls.
Well, of course, it had to come to this. Doesn't everything nowadays?
Honestly, I could probably find some link to misogyny and the 'prince charming' complex hidden in this stereotype, but my hands are tired, so that's enough for today.
Please take my words with a grain of salt, because everything I write is based on what I see online, a lot of which is usually (annoyingly) unsourced. I write for fun, and to increase my ever-expanding vocabulary.