Feross Hawatmeh

COMS 301
Professor McDonald
December 8, 2014
Paper #2
Politics of Resistance
In the book, Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture,
authors, Sturken and Cartwright state that, A subculture is a group that defines
its distinctions from mainstream culture through various aspects of its style-dress,
music, lifestyle, etc (Sturken and Cartwright 64). The subculture of raves and
EDM, short for Electronic Dance Music are indeed groups that differ from
mainstream culture. Raves were underground back in the late 1980s through the
1990s and have remained silent up until around 2009. Now that the Electronic
Dance Music scene has exploded in todays society, raves are now being dubbed
as festivals and are being professionally produced and also welcome security.
Raves resist the social norm because everybody in that subculture wants to
differentiate from what is considered normal. This goes for many other
subcultures, such as the ones discussed in class, pachucos, lowriders, and zoot
suits.
The values, ideas, and beliefs held by the rave subculture consist primarily
of PLUR, the mantra of the Electronic Dance Music scene. PLUR stands for
Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. Since the 1990s, this motto gives ravers a
shared sense of belonging. PLUR is considered an ideology of the scene that still

exists for many caring, loveable, and respectful people in the scene. Sometimes,
the ideology of PLUR is hardly used with many people in the scene because of
what it has turned into since it became mainstream. Becoming mainstream is not
always a bad thing, but when a subculture such as the EDM scene does become
mainstream, it loses its values due to the sudden popularity it achieves. The main
purpose of PLUR was for ravers to rejoice and trade kandi by the means of the
PLUR handshake. In the editorial, Should We Let PLUR Die?, author Diane
Tamulvage of YourEDM states, I have seen Peace, Love, Unity and Respect
acted out in ways that salvaged my hope in humanity, and then I have seen
the acronym PLUR thrown around in an embarrassing attempt to be a part of
something that people did not fully understand. Perhaps the worst is that I have
seen our unified scene ripped from our fingertips, thrust into the mainstream, and
returning in broken shards (Tamulvage). This passage directly affects the way I
feel about the scene and how cheesy it has become, but I manage to stay away
from the negative aspects of the rave scene. In the sense of staying away from
negative aspects, I stay away from what makes our scene look bad to people
outside the subculture.
One main reason why PLUR is not as positive as it was before is because
of its entrance into the mainstream. Once upon a time, the scene was all about
the love, but it has now broken down into smaller groups who like and dislike
different things in the EDM world. There are many subcultures or subgenres of
the Electronic Dance Music scene, such as kandi kids, bros, and plurmaids.
People in the scene also associate themselves with different genres such as

trance, big room house, deep house, techno, and many other genres. I believe
this is due to the commercialization of EDM. Electronic Dance Music is mostly
known as EDM, which many of the bandwagoners of the scene do not know
what it stands for. Many people in the scene, as well as myself, are waiting for
the term EDM to die out, and have the proper term, Dance Music take the
throne. PLUR has become a thing of the past at events such as HARD, in which
anything rave-associated with PLUR, such as kandi was prohibited.
The rave and Electronic Dance Music subculture protests dominant and
mainstream conventions in many ways such as how ravers dress, different kinds
of music they listen to, and the use of drugs. It is not very often that you see half
naked people attending rock, pop, or country concerts. The rave scene ultimately
protests dominant and mainstream conventions by how the ravers dress. Ravers
dress up in a variety of different ways. Most of the time, female ravers, or
plurmaids, dress up in scantily clad outfits such as bedazzled bras, bedazzled
thongs, tutus, fish net leggings, pasties, fluffy boots, or nothing but body paint.
The male ravers, known as the bros, dress up in tank tops in different designs
ranging from the US flag to neon colors, board shorts, bandanas, underwear, and
anything in between. Sometimes, the guys dress like girls, and the girls dress like
guys, which is totally fine in the rave scene because everyone is accepted for
who they are.
Imagine attending a rock concert, pop or country concert and seeing
someone dressed a raver, you would automatically notice that they do not belong
at the event. It would be abnormal for someone to dress a certain way at a

different kind of show. I feel that ravers dress the way they do because they are
showing the mainstream world that they are not like everybody else; that they
can be something different and not be judged for it since everyone in their
subculture accepts who they are.
Another way ravers of the EDM scene protest mainstream conventions
are by the different types of music they listen to. There are so many different
genres of dance music that people outside the subculture do not even know.
Instead, the people outside the rave culture just call it EDM. When I was in high
school, the cool music to listen to was pop and rap, but I did not listen to that
music. Instead, I listened to Romanian dance music, trance, and house. My
friends and family thought I was weird for listening to artists such as Edward
Maya, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, and Swedish House Mafia. This goes
the same for people in punk rock, metal, and screamo subcultures, because
everyone thought the people who listened to those styles of music were weird as
well. Us ravers listen to the different styles of dance music because it gives us a
sense of belonging, an outlet in which we can be our true selves.
The rave and EDM culture is not just a youth subculture in which only the
youth are partaking in it to resist against social norms. It is a subculture in which
it affects many people, regardless of age. It gives ravers someone to look up to,
such as their favorite DJ. Dance music created a new and highly enjoyable youth
experience. Your background was irrelevant; everyone comes to the dance floor
with one goal in mind, which is to have fun. People in the rave scene were not
specifically rebelling against authority, although it appeared that way and still

does. Ravers were and still are labeled as troublemakers by the dominant
cultural group. According to the dominant societal group, people are labeled as
outcasts if they are behaving in a way that is not considered normal to the
dominant societal group. Whether it is raving, rioting, the way they dress or the
music that they listen to, the dominant societal group will not approve nor
understand. As stated by Hocking in her essay, Rave Is More Than a Subculture,
she states, The lack of importance placed on social and cultural differences
within the rave scene is helping todays society to become more cohesive and
tolerant towards others of all backgrounds and cultures, if you can do it on the
dance-floor then it is easy to behave in the same way in other areas of life
(Hocking).
The ways people protest mainstream conventions in the rave and
Electronic Dance Music subculture can sometimes be effective and successful.
The way ravers dress and the types of music they listen to are ways of attracting
newcomers into the subculture. Sometimes, it does not work and pushes people
far away from this subculture. People might assume that all ravers are druggies
who take drugs, but that is not we are all about. More and more everyday, the
mainstream is slowly accepting what the PLUR life is all about. Artists from
different genres are using EDM elements in their songs, talk shows are having
guest DJs perform, as well as famous DJs crossing over onto mainstream radio,
such as Zedd, Audien, Armin van Buuren, Kaskade, and Deadmau5.
Our subculture is about embracing everyone for who they are and rejoicing under
the electric sky for the love of feel-good music.

Works Cited
Hooking, Jessica. "Rave Is More Than a Subculture." Arasite.org. N.p., n.d. Web.
Tamulvage, Diane. "Should We Let PLUR Die?" YourEDM. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
May 2014.
Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to
Visual Culture. Oxford; New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.