HBO’s Euphoria: how do you understand love and identity through media ?

Abstract

Adolescents and emerging adults are constantly bombarded with media which ultimately shapes the individuals they end up being, how they see themselves and how they see others. The purpose of the current qualitative study is to see how media, and HBO’s Euphoria specifically has affected people’s self-identity and narrative development as well as their love life narratives. Participants were interviewed and asked open ended questions related to the research questions to answer. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using inductive qualitative analysis. Through the research, five themes emerged which were relating to and seeing themselves in characters, increased open mindedness, relationship lessons, wants in relationships and increased closeness in relationships. The research supported the idea that Euphoria and fandom involvement has influenced fans’ real life. And that in a broader sense, media has the power to affect people’s identity and their relationships.