There was a recent movie, a lighthearted comedy, called "21 Jump Street." This jocular little parody, I remember, had left me more startled than it ever should have. It was its humor, most of which required an understanding of Facebook, Twitter, environmentalism, and other things 21st century. It was actively making fun of 21st century, to make the audience of 21st century.
This itself is nothing groundbreaking. We make something that we think others will like. We make things that are more contemporary, even futuristic. And we think its funny when they are things we identify with, things that, consequently, are contemporary. We are happily bound in the time frame we reside in.
What startled me was that I exactly knew what it was. Everything before this, the only thing before this, I understood what they are, but have not lived it through myself. I know what the 90's was for Koreans and Americans. I know what 80's, 70's, 60's was, culturally, politically, economically, through low-quality photos, through my mom's old clothes, through the history books. But I never lived it in the middle of it.
The movie had two protagonists who went to high school in late 90's and early 2000's, presumably, who is going back to high school. I understood the niceties of the 90's, as well as the references to the 2010's. The late 90's, I knew what it was like to be there and then, I knew having been that. The Facebook and the Twitter, I knew what it is. I was living it. I am living it.
The movie just sort of took me out of my life and let me seat at the audience seat to look at myself. The culture, the vibe, the ethos, the zeitgeist of the age was forming, and that, I assume, means that it is maturing, ending. It has become a thing, and the middle school and high school kids that I scarcely know now will form whatever they wish to from whatever I used to partake in. Then I will move on to my late 20's, 30's, on with a changed lifestyle, in a different world, in a different mainstream, but with a residue of my own 20's, my own 2010's. A little bit of Skrillex, a little bit of the word 'hipster,' a little bit of the financial crisis, a little bit of Obama, homosexuality, Middle Eastern crisis, Call Me Maybe.
It was a peak into the end. Not a sad one, just an end. Thankfully I will grow as the time flows, and I will always live in where I belong-- but it is startling to think that now what I took part in is becoming a history for the world. I led it, and it is ending.
So did everyone else who came before me. Everyone. And the world chopped it down to a chapter in history, a clip on YouTube, a frame in a Museum, a word from their grandparents. So many things were lost, so unbearably many things that I can understand have come before me.
It really threw me off. Threw me out of me for a second. Look at me, I'm blogging this. Look.
Mothagesso.
This itself is nothing groundbreaking. We make something that we think others will like. We make things that are more contemporary, even futuristic. And we think its funny when they are things we identify with, things that, consequently, are contemporary. We are happily bound in the time frame we reside in.
What startled me was that I exactly knew what it was. Everything before this, the only thing before this, I understood what they are, but have not lived it through myself. I know what the 90's was for Koreans and Americans. I know what 80's, 70's, 60's was, culturally, politically, economically, through low-quality photos, through my mom's old clothes, through the history books. But I never lived it in the middle of it.
The movie had two protagonists who went to high school in late 90's and early 2000's, presumably, who is going back to high school. I understood the niceties of the 90's, as well as the references to the 2010's. The late 90's, I knew what it was like to be there and then, I knew having been that. The Facebook and the Twitter, I knew what it is. I was living it. I am living it.
The movie just sort of took me out of my life and let me seat at the audience seat to look at myself. The culture, the vibe, the ethos, the zeitgeist of the age was forming, and that, I assume, means that it is maturing, ending. It has become a thing, and the middle school and high school kids that I scarcely know now will form whatever they wish to from whatever I used to partake in. Then I will move on to my late 20's, 30's, on with a changed lifestyle, in a different world, in a different mainstream, but with a residue of my own 20's, my own 2010's. A little bit of Skrillex, a little bit of the word 'hipster,' a little bit of the financial crisis, a little bit of Obama, homosexuality, Middle Eastern crisis, Call Me Maybe.
It was a peak into the end. Not a sad one, just an end. Thankfully I will grow as the time flows, and I will always live in where I belong-- but it is startling to think that now what I took part in is becoming a history for the world. I led it, and it is ending.
So did everyone else who came before me. Everyone. And the world chopped it down to a chapter in history, a clip on YouTube, a frame in a Museum, a word from their grandparents. So many things were lost, so unbearably many things that I can understand have come before me.
It really threw me off. Threw me out of me for a second. Look at me, I'm blogging this. Look.
Mothagesso.
