Euphoria is an American teen drama television series created by Sam Levinson for HBO. It follows a group of high school students as they navigate relationships, identity, drugs, social media, love, and friendship.
The show has generated a lot of discussion around its dark, graphic, and controversial content involving teen sexuality, drug addiction, mental health struggles, violence, and more. Many critics have called the show boundary-pushing and raised concerns about its depiction of teens.
So what exactly makes Euphoria so dark? There are several elements that contribute to the show’s brooding tone and disturbing themes.
Explicit Content
A major aspect of what makes Euphoria dark is its explicitly graphic content, especially when it comes to sex, nudity and drug use. The show has drawn comparisons to Skins and Degrassi for its mature themes, but Euphoria takes things to another level.
It features full frontal nudity from both male and female actors, including the underage main characters. There are scenes depicting statutory rape, choking, violence against transgender characters, and more.
Nothing is off limits or taboo in Euphoria’s world. The raw, uncensored depictions of teen sex and violence contribute to an extremely dark atmosphere.
Drug Abuse
Another huge element of the show’s dark tone is the constant drug abuse among the teen characters. This ranges from weed and psychedelics to harder drugs like heroin, fentanyl and morphine.
Rue, played by Zendaya, is a 17-year-old drug addict who we often see consuming various pills and injections. The show graphically depicts her struggles with addiction, withdrawal, relapse, and overdosing.
Seeing the violent, damaging impact of drug addiction on Rue’s mental health and relationships makes her storyline extremely gloomy and troubling. Other characters also develop addictions and dependencies throughout the series that fuel the show’s dark subject matter.
Mental Health Issues
Along with addiction, Euphoria also delves deep into the mental health issues faced by teenagers today. Rue, Kat, Jules and other characters exhibit symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, body dysmorphia and more.
Rue’s depression and suicidal thoughts are prominently highlighted. She frequently has emotional breakdowns and engages in self-harm. The show suggests her drug abuse is an unhealthy coping mechanism.
Seeing these young characters wrestle with overwhelming mental health disorders they don’t fully understand is a distressing aspect of Euphoria. It’s a reminder that behind their mature exteriors, they are still vulnerable kids.
Toxic Relationships
The majority of romantic relationships depicted on the show are extremely dysfunctional and toxic. These harmful relationship dynamics are a significant contributor to the show’s gloomy ambience.
Nate abuses Maddy. Rue and Jules struggle with trust issues and co-dependency. Kat and Ethan have an unbalanced power dynamic. Cassie can’t recognize that she deserves better than McKay and Daniel.
Most interactions involve manipulation, gaslighting, cheating, or violence. The constant fighting and miscommunication leaves little hope that these characters can maintain healthy relationships. These dysfunctional dynamics reflect how many real teens treat each other poorly.
Social Media’s Dark Influence
Euphoria also highlights social media’s damaging impact on teenagers and their self-esteem. Kat’s cam girl experience leads to blackmail and body image issues. Teens send nude photos that get leaked.
Cassie and Maddy feel pressured to dress and act provocatively to get likes and attention. Characters are constantly shown taking selfies and obsessed with filters that hide their real faces.
The toxicity and unrealistic standards promoted by apps like Instagram are represented as having detrimental mental health effects. Social media adds to the show’s pessimistic perspective on Gen Z.
Identity Struggles
Many characters on Euphoria struggle to figure out their sexual orientation or gender identity amidst external and internal pressures.
Jules is a transgender girl who faces mistreatment, but also has her own issues being faithful in her relationship with Rue. Kat experiments with her sexuality and presentation, but feels ashamed of who she really is.
Nate grapples with sentiments about his masculinity, sexuality and feelings for Jules that he tries to suppress. The messy journey of discovering who you are and facing judgement from others adds to the show’s melancholy vibe.
Cyclical Abuse
There are implied cycles of abuse throughout Euphoria that contribute to its dark fatalistic worldview. For example, it’s hinted that Nate’s aggressive toxic masculinity is related to his abusive father.
Rue and her sister Gia have a fraught relationship with their mother who seems to have mental health and addiction issues herself. The teenagers often inherit and repeat patterns of harmful behavior they experienced growing up.
This cyclical abuse across generations diminishes hope that these characters can escape the darkness they were born into. They seem trapped perpetuating toxic cycles subconsciously.
The Dark Aesthetic
On a stylistic level, everything about Euphoria’s cinematography and visuals lend to its gloomy vibe. There’s a washed out color palette and heavy use of shadows. The lighting is often dim and murky.
Even the fashion has a dark edge, with Rue and Jules wearing smudged black eyeliner, long dark nails, and plenty of leather and mesh. The makeup and costuming choices enhance the moody, gritty aesthetic.
The show often uses surreal dream sequences or depictions of characters’ inner psyche that grow increasingly twisted and nightmarish over time. Even the school lockers are full of foreboding occult imagery.
No Parental Guidance
A common theme in dark teen shows and films is absent or oblivious parents and Euphoria is no exception. Rue’s mother Leslie is worn down and unable to properly care for her daughters.
Nate’s father Cal is cold, aggressive and engaged in criminal activity. Cassie and Lexi’s mother Suze is an alcoholic who brings strange men home. Kat and Ethan’s parents are unaware of their kids’ secret lives.
The lack of wisdom or support from parental figures in these teens’ lives compounds their feelings of isolation and being lost. They are left on their own to make bad choices that pull them further into darkness.
Pessimistic Outlook
Ultimately, perhaps the most depressing thing about Euphoria is its bleak, nihilistic perspective on life, especially teenage life. The characters all seem trapped in escalating misery and hopelessness.
Despite moments of levity like parties and friendships, there is little sense that things will genuinely improve. Euphoria presents adolescence as an almost sinister limbo state that destroys innocence and stability.
Escape or redemption feels impossible when surrounded by so much addiction, violence, neglect and pressure. The show offers an extremely grim portrayal of contemporary teenagehood that leaves little room for joy.
Conclusion
Euphoria stands out as a particularly dark teen drama due to its graphic content, unflinching depictions of mental illness and addiction, toxic relationships, identity struggles, bleak aesthetic and fatalistic outlook.
These elements combine to create an enveloping sense of darkness and dread regarding Gen Z. The show is a nihilistic reflection of all the anxiety, depression, loneliness and dysfunction lurking under the surface of young people’s lives today.
Euphoria is a challenging watch precisely because it shines a light on those pitch black corners of the teen experience that society prefers to keep hidden. It remains to be seen whether any light can break through the darkness.