051 - weird celebrity culture & brainrot is a defence
the big social media experiment
I went away for 7 days and it felt really really long. I read so many books that I fully fulfilled my short term dream of being a thought daughter. But coming back I’ve realised the somewhat bittersweet effect of turning your brain off - especially if it’s usual mode of input included many many screens and phones - its very hard to turn it back on.
is celebrity culture really changing?
It’s so wild to me to watch former-con-artist-it-girl Anna-you-look-poor-Delvey hold onto her fame that was once based on false premises. Ziwe just interviewed her. She’s just been dancing with the stars to Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso with a bedazzled ankle monitor. And all this to show that her capitalising on her brand of being unfazed by her fame - like she deserved it all along.
Boys club says,
“Here’s my take: there is a new archetype of antihero that can only be created and celebrated in the context of our little phones. The permission to like and champion problematic figures is nothing new (remember Donald Trump?), but the creation of camp icons whom we love somewhat ironically happens when their character is formed and molded in the quick moments of looking down at our feeds while waiting for the train. It’s an immune response to virtue signaling overload.”
Maybe the reason she can get away with all this is that, while she conned and defrauded people, she was never apologetic for the things she wanted in life.
Or are fans becoming more tolerant? In her article, “has fashion become uncancellable?”, Rhianna Cohen says,
“Galliano's case represents a fundamental shift in celebrity culture, particularly in our hyper-connected digital age. Today, celebrity is no longer just a sum of personality and achievements, but a 'multiverse of personality'—a complex web of sometimes contradictory identities existing simultaneously in public consciousness.”
But this perspective changes depending on which celebrity we’re talking about. Or does it? Chappell Roan has been in the news this summer, not just for being a 7 year overnight success, but for failing to meet some of her fans ideas of who she actually is as a person. After calling out fans (and a stalker) for their inappropriate behaviour towards her, she was met by some of her fans turning on her, calling her stuck and annoying. “Don’t get mad at me. I’m just a random girl. I think people forget I’m just a random girl. I’m literally just a rando”.
The truth is, apathy and tolerance are present as much as extreme fandom is too. There are fans that will always “feel a sense of ownership over the person they’re stanning”. While I applaud Chappell for encouraging people to use critical thinking when it comes to her (and really other celebrities) when it comes to politics, nuance does not exist the same in parasocial relationships.
I’ll leave this conversation with a quote from Garbage Day:
“When really what’s actually happening is that accounts like Pop Crave are chopping up a larger interview or feature written by a publication that Google has made it impossible to ever track down. So you probably aren’t sick of Chappell Roan! You’re sick of the internet.”
the sea of same-ness
Emily Sundberg went deep into the substack walled garden in her [paywalled] article and discussed how all of the articles we’re seeing (or being shown to us by the algorithm) are the same:
“I’m noticing this platform has become a really good way for women to monetize their diary entries — lists, random thoughts, and (easy to write) roundups of “what I’ve been doing” do really well on this site. Substack is making everyone into writers the same way Instagram made everyone into photographers, but there’s one big difference: the entrepreneur thing wasn’t built into Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger’s original vision.
Meanwhile, Substack’s mission statement is “Building a new economic engine for culture”? Which means the point of Substack — unlike Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok — is to get you to monetize your content, and/or get you to spend money on other people’s content. Creating content with the goal of making money off of it is different than creating content with the goal of getting likes, is different than creating content with the goal of being creative and connecting with other people. Seems to me, the obvious attraction of being able to monetize your taste—over putting out a probably-more-interesting letter about your actual life—is leading to a lot of very, very similar Substacks.”
I think about this a lot. One, because enshittification is coming for everything. But secondly, because (while I currently do not monetise my Substack) I am obviously a participant in this game whenever I publish issues. And I wonder if I am contributing to the noise. Especially with how much content there is currently out there.
Beyond substack, enshittification has been trending on Instagram and TikTok too. Is it any wonder that the more viral type of content are either content that makes no sense at all, or my personal favourite hard to watch:
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We’ve reached peak brain rot era. As brand strategist Eugene says in his video, “young people’s humor is designed to be indecipherable to the generations that came before them - you cannot force yourself to get something that has been designed for you not to get”. When I think about times when I’m asked what demure or brat means - it seems redundant. Let’s be honest, if we get too hung up about what it all means in the hyper speed culture we live in, we’re going to be burned out really quickly. We’re making deep fun of ourselves, because how can serious brands like Singapore’s Changi Airport, and this Malaysian Insurance company be doing the most absurd content and get away with it?
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But maybe this is all in defence of the sea of sameness - or the only sane reaction to it?
field notes
BOOKS: I read some weird books this summer. One was Bunny by Mona Awad (Rouge), and it was weird mix of the Secret History and Alice in wonderland. I also read The Coin by Yasmin Zaher which was definitely not what I expected. My top favourite, was But The Girl. A semi-biographical novel by an Australian-Malaysian author, her writing is full of naive observations that I first felt when I went to university abroad for the first time, which she consolidates with poignant realisations of the world around her. I would read this book over and over and over again. Also I really want to get in to annotating my books.
REPORTS: a report on the semiotics on celebrity branding; YT culture & trends report, and google trends just told me that over the course of the year, dating has been a top search - so here is a report. Also the Zoe Scaman’s three new codes of culture (1) Cultural Frequencies - What pace can we set? (2) Cultural Spheres - Where can we play? (3) Cultural Conduits - How do we tap into tastemakers?
TRENDS & RANDOM: i find this trends of girls asking audiences to describe their relationship in skincare terms soooo funny. another hard to watch? This woman has decided to read her diaries of her past, and I can’t not watch it. and people asking their partners to pretend as if they are picking them up at a bar. Sticktok. THIS IS FUNNY. Also this was cute but also made me laugh so much.
SIGNALS: nostalgia is evergreen: deez links on nostalgia; sean monahan on nostalgia; Protein on nostalgia; Eugene on nostalgia. Also I saw something somewhere about how social media is tv now with creators. Can’t find where I found it but agreed because here is jake shane “acting like the astronauts that landed on the moon finding out people think they liked about it”. And also nicholas flanner posting 40 minute episode (how does he get his waist so snatched) and getting 2.6M views.
ARTICLES: no original thoughts club; On writing through trauma by Mosab Abu Toha; I am loving the hoardiculture series by elodie marteau. Palestinian artist, Nemahsis on her album Verbathim.
NEWS: Where are tiktok in the US, BOF suggests the US should look at india as a model; How our approach to privacy is changing; IG has made accounts specifically for teens to restrict social media use for the youth.
PALESTINE: recommend following Uncivilized Media for their content that aims to educate and entertain. This one is about how Israel’s recent invasion of Lebanon is not their first. This is a growing list of places to donate to support the victims in Lebanon.
WATCH: blink twice was fantastic. Nicole Kidman typecasting herself as a rich mum who is going through a very hard time is funny. I watched perfect couple and it was fine. If not for a little confusing sub plot but other than that, perfect for ambient watching.
Also! I am working on something exciting with my friend and founder of Bilda, Meltem so make sure to subscribe and follow her. If you’ll remember she guest wrote a post on the field test.
(also if you saw any mistakes - you didn’t and they were on purpose!)
omg I loved this substack because as you say it was really different from what I actually am here for. I also want to ask too, how was Bunny, the book? love this though <3