02-27-2024, 07:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-27-2024, 08:06 PM by TranquilPanther.)
I have noticed a trend in media and wonder if others here are seeing/feeling the same thing.
Let's harken back to the "Global Financial Crisis" of ~2007-2008 and the ensuing years of recession. Think back to predominant themes being presented in popular media. Maybe this is biased by what I personally noticed during that timeframe, but most all popular forms of fiction seemed to be markedly apocalyptic. It seemed as if we were being inundated with all things zombie, and if it wasn't to do with the undead it was instead some kind of Orwellian future. I'll give some examples below:
Of the Zombie Variety
- Walking Dead
- The Last of Us
- Day Z
- Zombies in Minecraft
- Dead Rising
- Left 4 Dead
- World War Z
- Zombieland
Other Dystopian
- The Hunger Games
- Maze Runner
- Divergent
- Black Mirror
(*Note: I think it's also interesting that during this particular period in school they had us reading The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World. Maybe these are standard reads, but it's too coincidental not to mention.)
I would posit that the inordinate rise of apocalyptic representations in media was an external manifestation of the internal feelings of dread and hopelessness regarding the financial and societal instability of the time. As all the current data indicates that we either are or imminently will be in another global recession I think it's prescient to survey themes in media today to see if there is a similar externalization of the collective unconscious.
I believe that we can see the same phenomena being played not in the realm of narrative this time, but rather in music. There have been 3 major rap releases in the last ~six months by some of the most popular figures in the genre which have been explicitly dystopian.
Travis Scott's Utopia: It's right in the name. If you watch concert videos you can see the rapper wearing Mad Max style improvised armor.
Kanye's Vultures: Go and watch the video for the "Havoc Version" of the title track. Extremely dark, borderline explicitly satanic, emotionally evocative of the kind of scenes you might imagine during a Revelation type scenario. This is the most in your face Kanye gets with the theme, but there's undercurrents of this throughout the album and the promotional material/performances.
Yeat's 2093: The entire thing is basically a concept album aping the cyberpunk style of Deus Ex.
Whether or not you appreciate rap as a form of music it's indisputable that it has a stranglehold on the collective psyche of the west, and with a combined monthly listenership of over 160 million the impact from these artists is massive.
I believe we're seeing a mirroring of what happed leading up to and during the "Global Financial Crisis" in the media landscape which is coinciding with data suggesting that we are in for another crash.
Let's harken back to the "Global Financial Crisis" of ~2007-2008 and the ensuing years of recession. Think back to predominant themes being presented in popular media. Maybe this is biased by what I personally noticed during that timeframe, but most all popular forms of fiction seemed to be markedly apocalyptic. It seemed as if we were being inundated with all things zombie, and if it wasn't to do with the undead it was instead some kind of Orwellian future. I'll give some examples below:
Of the Zombie Variety
- Walking Dead
- The Last of Us
- Day Z
- Zombies in Minecraft
- Dead Rising
- Left 4 Dead
- World War Z
- Zombieland
Other Dystopian
- The Hunger Games
- Maze Runner
- Divergent
- Black Mirror
(*Note: I think it's also interesting that during this particular period in school they had us reading The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World. Maybe these are standard reads, but it's too coincidental not to mention.)
I would posit that the inordinate rise of apocalyptic representations in media was an external manifestation of the internal feelings of dread and hopelessness regarding the financial and societal instability of the time. As all the current data indicates that we either are or imminently will be in another global recession I think it's prescient to survey themes in media today to see if there is a similar externalization of the collective unconscious.
I believe that we can see the same phenomena being played not in the realm of narrative this time, but rather in music. There have been 3 major rap releases in the last ~six months by some of the most popular figures in the genre which have been explicitly dystopian.
Travis Scott's Utopia: It's right in the name. If you watch concert videos you can see the rapper wearing Mad Max style improvised armor.
Kanye's Vultures: Go and watch the video for the "Havoc Version" of the title track. Extremely dark, borderline explicitly satanic, emotionally evocative of the kind of scenes you might imagine during a Revelation type scenario. This is the most in your face Kanye gets with the theme, but there's undercurrents of this throughout the album and the promotional material/performances.
Yeat's 2093: The entire thing is basically a concept album aping the cyberpunk style of Deus Ex.
Whether or not you appreciate rap as a form of music it's indisputable that it has a stranglehold on the collective psyche of the west, and with a combined monthly listenership of over 160 million the impact from these artists is massive.
I believe we're seeing a mirroring of what happed leading up to and during the "Global Financial Crisis" in the media landscape which is coinciding with data suggesting that we are in for another crash.