In all seriousness if you haven’t read any of his work, stop reading this and order one of his books, they’re all phenomenal. One of Gladwell’s bestsellers is entitled The Tipping Point in which he claims that there is a “magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire”. For example in his introduction he recounts an anecdote where a type of shoe (hush puppies to be more specific) was fading into obscurity when a subset of individuals in Manhattan started purchasing the shoes and within months their popularity exploded.
My blog post is diametrically opposite in subject manner and quality. Society is full of examples of these “points” where trends explode, but I’m positive these same “points” exist in the death of trends. Examples were society becomes so saturated with a certain idea that the balloon literally bursts and the trend is sentenced to a quick death. For all the good he’s done, God in all of his infinite wisdom did not place me in charge of dolling out the death sentences for the fashions and movements that have overstayed their welcome. But luckily for you Yahweh is not in charge of this blogosphere, I am. And as the supreme ruler of this space I give to you a short list of ideas, trends and movements that I am doing my best to move toward and over a true tipping point into an everlasting abyss.
Let’s break these down into some broad categories
Clothes:
Neon everything
I get it, fashion is cyclical. What is “in style” will eventually fade into obscurity only to return to prominence decades later. Neon is no exception to this rule. I believe that within reason someone from the summer of 1992 could be brought to the future and fashion wise, would fit right in.
Personally I was slow to adopt this new trend and am quickly becoming eager for its demise. There are times where I feel like a social pariah because I wore only grey blue or black to the gym. Seriously, it’s completely out of control. In reality, a little neon is fine. Wanna wear a neon tank top? Great. Feel like rocking some neon yoga pants? More power to you. But as we all learned in high school, adults ruin everything. Kinda like Kevin Hart
Just a little advice if you’re all in on the neon trend (especially if your college years are behind you). 1. Pace yourself 2. Don’t simultaneously wear different shades of the same neon color. 3. Not everything you own has to be neon 4. You probably look a little less than ½ as cool as you think you do.
Neon everything
I get it, fashion is cyclical. What is “in style” will eventually fade into obscurity only to return to prominence decades later. Neon is no exception to this rule. I believe that within reason someone from the summer of 1992 could be brought to the future and fashion wise, would fit right in.
Graphic shirts with sayings
This is a pretty specific trend, and is generally limited to Adidas, Under Armour and Nike. Quick history lesson, the pioneer for this trend (years ago) was And 1. With beauties like this...
Quick update, if you are in the mood for some current And 1 merchandise make your way to your local Wal-Mart’s sales rack. However the geniuses in Eugene decided to raise this trend from the dead, but now instead of good natured (albeit ridiculous) smack talk these shirt reek of sexual innuendo and tired clichés. I’ve found that If you need a shirt to tell people how awesome you are at athletics, you probably suck.
My personal favorite is this recent offering from Nike:
Whenever I see a teenager at my gym wearing this shirt I calmly walk up to him and begin to apologize for my inability to to not perspire over his swag. The teenager usually looks completely confused as I offer to explanation and continue walking….yeah I know, my life sounds awesome.
Media:
Post-Apocalyptic Media
In general the movie industry is a joke. Seriously, look at this summer’s line up of films. Hardly appetizing. But this lack of Hollywood quality is a well-documented trend. Accordingly the argument that Hollywood is seemingly out of ideas isn’t exactly novel. There is no greater example of this awful trend then Hollywood’s over reliance on post-apocalyptic films or television series. What is our fascination with this idea? I have zero interest in the post-apocalyptic universe.
Why on earth (pun intended) would I care what life is going to be like some natural disaster destroyed half the planet?
Are we interested in paying money to see what life could be like if we apes started running the show?
Seriously, how can we be tricked into being entertained by the thought of teenage girls leading revolts against overbearing governments?
Zombies / Werewolves / Vampires
Can we all agree this has run its course? Now, I’m not against fantasy as a media genre. There resides a special place in my heart for Tyrion Lannister, Legolas, and Mad Eye Moody.
And the previously mentioned three fantasy series each contain elements of human like beasts, resurrected beings and blood thirsty folks with sharp teeth. But they aren’t the focus of the show. They don’t put these people in realistic settings. Who wants to go to high school with vampires? Who wants to run around in rural Georgia with zombies? Who wants to cheat on a vampire with a werewolf? Media is saturated with this idea.
Use some logic, if werewolves start popping out of the forest and shredding folks we will figure out a beneficial way to eradicate their habitat just like the Dodo. If the most famous ethnic group from Transylvania stages a mass migration to the US, some medical device company will create an insanely expensive metal collar (preferably neon colored) for all of us to wear. And finally, if the dead starting resurrecting from the grave we will do what Americans do best…. Discriminate.
Combo:
Super hero media and clothes
This is a pretty specific trend, and is generally limited to Adidas, Under Armour and Nike. Quick history lesson, the pioneer for this trend (years ago) was And 1. With beauties like this...
Quick update, if you are in the mood for some current And 1 merchandise make your way to your local Wal-Mart’s sales rack. However the geniuses in Eugene decided to raise this trend from the dead, but now instead of good natured (albeit ridiculous) smack talk these shirt reek of sexual innuendo and tired clichés. I’ve found that If you need a shirt to tell people how awesome you are at athletics, you probably suck.
My personal favorite is this recent offering from Nike:
Whenever I see a teenager at my gym wearing this shirt I calmly walk up to him and begin to apologize for my inability to to not perspire over his swag. The teenager usually looks completely confused as I offer to explanation and continue walking….yeah I know, my life sounds awesome.
Media:
Post-Apocalyptic Media
In general the movie industry is a joke. Seriously, look at this summer’s line up of films. Hardly appetizing. But this lack of Hollywood quality is a well-documented trend. Accordingly the argument that Hollywood is seemingly out of ideas isn’t exactly novel. There is no greater example of this awful trend then Hollywood’s over reliance on post-apocalyptic films or television series. What is our fascination with this idea? I have zero interest in the post-apocalyptic universe.
Why on earth (pun intended) would I care what life is going to be like some natural disaster destroyed half the planet?
Seriously, how can we be tricked into being entertained by the thought of teenage girls leading revolts against overbearing governments?
I was under the impression that the Left Behind series had just about handled the rapture angle, but low and behold HBO has decided to make a extremely depressing series about it.
And to top it off Nicholas Cage has decided that Kirk Cameron just wasn't convincing enough the first time around....
Can we all agree this has run its course? Now, I’m not against fantasy as a media genre. There resides a special place in my heart for Tyrion Lannister, Legolas, and Mad Eye Moody.
And the previously mentioned three fantasy series each contain elements of human like beasts, resurrected beings and blood thirsty folks with sharp teeth. But they aren’t the focus of the show. They don’t put these people in realistic settings. Who wants to go to high school with vampires? Who wants to run around in rural Georgia with zombies? Who wants to cheat on a vampire with a werewolf? Media is saturated with this idea.
Use some logic, if werewolves start popping out of the forest and shredding folks we will figure out a beneficial way to eradicate their habitat just like the Dodo. If the most famous ethnic group from Transylvania stages a mass migration to the US, some medical device company will create an insanely expensive metal collar (preferably neon colored) for all of us to wear. And finally, if the dead starting resurrecting from the grave we will do what Americans do best…. Discriminate.
Political correctness
I’m so tired of this trend. There is a certain amount of this that needs to happen. Obviously we can’t have everyone just saying anything they want at any time. Although it would create incredible opportunities for humor, society yearns for some semblance of order and a complete lack of PC result in chaos. Take for example this recent “Ice Bucket Challenge” for ALS. This is a silly stunt people do to raise awareness and money about a terrible disease, but of course this can’t be left alone. Instead of supporting this for what it is, people are upset that those participating in the challenge are wasting water while kids in Africa die of thirst. Being in public relations these days must be a nightmare. They probably spend half their day thinking of every possible way that their product or client could be placed in a negative light and trying to combat it. Trying to make everything perfect sounds exhausting, enough is enough.
I’m so tired of this trend. There is a certain amount of this that needs to happen. Obviously we can’t have everyone just saying anything they want at any time. Although it would create incredible opportunities for humor, society yearns for some semblance of order and a complete lack of PC result in chaos. Take for example this recent “Ice Bucket Challenge” for ALS. This is a silly stunt people do to raise awareness and money about a terrible disease, but of course this can’t be left alone. Instead of supporting this for what it is, people are upset that those participating in the challenge are wasting water while kids in Africa die of thirst. Being in public relations these days must be a nightmare. They probably spend half their day thinking of every possible way that their product or client could be placed in a negative light and trying to combat it. Trying to make everything perfect sounds exhausting, enough is enough.
Combo:
Super hero media and clothes
This is a special category combining both media and clothes. I can’t be the only person that finds the majority of super heroes boring, right? In my mind there are two types of super heroes:
1st are those that possess some “super human” physical ability, naturally inherited or otherwise given to them by any type of scientific experiment. Example: Flash’s ability to run fast. 2nd is when some person with normal physical ability takes a personal tragedy and with the help of his rather large inheritance starts regulating Gotham.
By now the hierarchy should be clear. Batman is a super hero everyone else is garbage. I’m sorry; I don’t feel bad for Superman because he’s an outcast due to his super human strength. The dude basically won the genetic lottery and I’m supposed to pity him because some elementary kids are teasing him for being strong? Give me a break, if Superman came to earth today here’s what would happen. He’s arrives, people find out he’s incredibly strong, fast, agile etc… and he would immediately receive athletic scholarship offers from every college in the country. He would grace the cover of Sports Illustrated
and eventually sign an athletic deal with Under Armour (they already got the shirts made).
Finally he would probably get any girl he wanted, be insanely rich and save lives as a hobby….sounds awful. You know who the real super heroes are? Hold on and let me be politically correct real quick… The real heroes are Fireman, police, soldiers, teachers, doctors, nurses and everyone else who might in some way, shape, or form assist another human, or animal through their employment or volunteer efforts.
Unfortunately, when it comes to DC and Marvel, Hollywood and our appetite for their offerings cannot be satiated. We are constantly bombarded with the newest super hero show or movie. Some are surprisingly good (Guardians of the Galaxy most recently) but most are garbage (everything besides the Avengers). Unfortunately this phenomenon seemingly has no end. IMDB is filled with message boards about the most obscure DC comic possibly slated for a movie release in 2020…sigh….
I too love feeling nostalgia from childhood, but that doesn’t mean I want to wear socks with bunch of “S’s” on them or a T-shirt with the bat signal printed across the chest. Jerry Seinfeld and Dane Cook most eloquently touched on this phenomenon, but let me add my piece.
Finally he would probably get any girl he wanted, be insanely rich and save lives as a hobby….sounds awful. You know who the real super heroes are? Hold on and let me be politically correct real quick… The real heroes are Fireman, police, soldiers, teachers, doctors, nurses and everyone else who might in some way, shape, or form assist another human, or animal through their employment or volunteer efforts.
Unfortunately, when it comes to DC and Marvel, Hollywood and our appetite for their offerings cannot be satiated. We are constantly bombarded with the newest super hero show or movie. Some are surprisingly good (Guardians of the Galaxy most recently) but most are garbage (everything besides the Avengers). Unfortunately this phenomenon seemingly has no end. IMDB is filled with message boards about the most obscure DC comic possibly slated for a movie release in 2020…sigh….
I too love feeling nostalgia from childhood, but that doesn’t mean I want to wear socks with bunch of “S’s” on them or a T-shirt with the bat signal printed across the chest. Jerry Seinfeld and Dane Cook most eloquently touched on this phenomenon, but let me add my piece.
The following are rules for wearing Super Hero clothing.
1. Is it Halloween? If the answer is yes then wear all the super hero stuff you want. If the answer is no, then calmly proceed to #2.
2. Are you in elementary school? If yes, then you’re good to go. If the answer is no, then hopefully you kept the receipt for your inane purchase and should return it promptly.
No comments:
Post a Comment