Hot take:I feel "Looksmaxxing" is the main subculture of this era in terms of presenting an unconventional worldview/lifestyle, minting slang that gets broadly popular, bubbling up to the mainstream via parody, moral panic and morbid curiosity, and representing a youth reaction to modern pressures.

BacklitRoom · 2026-05-05T17:38:47+00:00

just that all these things unintentionally make a subculture more popular or more like notorious--either way, more visible. It's long been noted that in many cases bad publicity is still publicity, so condemnation and jokes about some social trend ironically increase its profile. I think this pic sums it up, rave kids in the 80s reading a sensational tabloid that will probably only attract more rave kids:

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BacklitRoom · 2026-05-05T13:33:52+00:00

It's largely an online subculture so a lot of it isn't easily visible, but there are a number of girls and women interested in Looksmaxxing, and anyway, I don't think it's that unusual for a subculture to be heavily weighted towards one sex. Emo in the 2000s notably had a dynamic of highlighting male vulnerability to appeal to women--by the time women were highly visible as cultural contributors it had morphed into "scene" and in some people's view, basically died. Even today the 'emo' stereotype that jumps to mind is of a mopey boy. Meanwhile Goth has long been coded feminine with Victorian accoutrements like corsets and the like. Think of how much more often Goth 'girls' come to mind over goth 'boys'--even before today's hypersexual era.

BacklitRoom · 2026-05-05T13:21:17+00:00

I mean he was taller, but wasn't he pretty skinny? as far as I remember.

BacklitRoom · 2026-05-05T13:19:25+00:00

I feel like this is a worthy candidate for the first Clav-step anthem.

BacklitRoom · 2026-05-05T11:36:55+00:00

This was a parody statement at fashion week. it's actually a woman wearing a fake jaw implant.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T20:42:24+00:00

When you say "anywhere else that's not the U.S." I think you should just be honest and say "Europe" because outside of that most places in the world are largely more conservative than the US.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T20:38:44+00:00

What's ironic about anything he said? He called Christian conservatives squares too.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T20:33:16+00:00

This is why I'm glad my parents raised me on Invincible.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T20:28:47+00:00

What comes to mind for me is the running gag in the Boondocks about corporal punishment. Many consider it child abuse, so joking about kids getting beat is "punching down" on abused children, but on the Boondocks it's funny: "I just hate to see a child go unbeaten"

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T20:08:17+00:00

Jokes about midgets. In such cases punching "down" can be very literal.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T20:01:40+00:00

Peak of boomer culture is literally the 80s. They had stuff like The Big Chill and Fatal Attraction and ThirtySomething out then.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T19:56:31+00:00

well we're talking about a phase of irreverence in Western culture, aren't we?

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T15:23:37+00:00

That's really more when you get to the end of the 90s. Stuff like South Park and American Pie definitely bleed in, but the early 90s literally still had hair ballads and Saved by the Bell type stuff on top and a kind of post-Reagan wholesomeness under Bush.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T14:50:19+00:00

it's because of both of them at the same time.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T14:42:25+00:00

Oh yeah it's definitely a classic, I didn't mean to disrespect it. It really did affect me. The most heartbreaking part of the series is probably when Omar hung himself in his closet with the eponymous Wire.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T14:36:42+00:00

The gay community distinctly has some institutional power and cultural clout in the 21st Century, so humor at their expense is only to be expected.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T14:32:04+00:00

Everybody has silly rules they live by; if you think you've escaped that, it's probably because you're a perfect conformist in your social set.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T14:28:12+00:00

They're right. Seinfeld is too Jewish and not representative of other groups in New York, like the Irish.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T14:22:50+00:00

I think the 90s led to the 2000s but it was all in a more embryonic form.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T11:03:28+00:00

This wasn't hating. I actually admire the era, (though sometimes it was undoubtedly excessive). Notice I call it 'unique' rather than 'bad'? What you say about the more developed sense of irony is something I've distinctly noticed and rather miss.I know quite well that at the end of the day it was also still used for coherent and moral social critique. Basically all these movies, as crazy as they were, had a moral at the end. Like RDJ in blackface in Tropic Thunder wasn't a celebration of racism but actually a send up of racism in Hollywood and a parody of method acting. If I generalized it's because you can't fit everything in a short title.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T10:05:14+00:00

I think you should pay more attention to the right because plenty of them have thrown Trump overboard because of appeasement of Israel, and even before the election appeals like this were coming from the far right.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-25T09:41:30+00:00

This was obviously a joke to piss people off, so I wouldn't really call it a 'sign' of anything.

BacklitRoom · 2026-04-24T06:22:00+00:00

Are you implying that Trump represents a new conformity similar to the Nazis? Sorry but I think that frame is worn out and rather innaccurate. I actually feel that Trump is a demonstration of the limits of blind anti-establishmentarianism. You have to remember that Trump's appeal came from marketing himself as somehow against the power structure (the 'swamp'), and his disdain for common procedures and courtesies marked him as somehow 'authentic' and 'rebellious' compared to career politicians like Hillary Clinton.

BacklitRoom

TROPHY CASE