The Nu-Normal #19: 2012 – A Clear-Eyed Retrospective
Dispatches from the future on a very normal and good year.
I’m going to level with you here, folks. I’ve been incredibly busy over the last week or so, and I’m feeling a little burnt out. Between catching up on work, rushing to meet already agreed-upon deadlines, and working on existing projects I had (reluctantly) put on the back burner, I’ve barely had any time to scour the Internet for a timely topic to discuss in this month’s column.
Nevertheless, it was during this moment of uncertainty and crippling anxiety that I had a sudden, jolting brainwave. What if, like the best editorial columns of yore, I simply looked to the past for guidance and assurance (and, of course, content) in these troubling times? Surely the remote and ephemeral temporality of 2012 could serve as an illustrative example of historical progress in which to contextualise the cultural firmament of our modern condition…
Well, dear reader, let us find out.
PSY – “Gangnam Style”
Yes, that’s right. I’m sure you forgot all about this one. Well, it’s my mission in life—nay, my calling—to make sure we, as a culture, never forget how much this song completely and utterly obliterated everything in its path for an entire year. (It’s currently sitting at 4.5 billion—yes, the one with a ‘b’—views on YouTube, if that’s a helpful metric for our continuing fascination.)
Who is PSY, exactly? What is the ‘Gangnam Style’? Why is it important, and, perhaps most crucially, what does it do? These are all interesting yet entirely irrelevant questions. The only thing you must ask yourself, the one transcendental truth you must seek out in favour of all others, to give your life meaning and purpose, is this: Are you a person “who plays when [they] play”?
KONY 2012
In early 2012, Invisible Children, Inc. uploaded a short 30-minute film titled KONY 2012 to YouTube. It was one of the first long-form videos to go truly ‘viral’ in our current conception of the phenomenon, netting over 100 million views in just six days, and, in the words of the creators, “continued on to become the most viral video of all time.” (A somewhat baffling and easy debunked claim.)
Suffice it to say, what resonates about the film ten years on isn’t so much its focus on bringing Joseph Kony, a “Ugandan cult leader, war criminal, and ICC fugitive,” to justice for engaging in acts of genocide, sex slavery, and child soldier indoctrination. (Kony is still very much alive and at large, and the film was widely criticized for a number of glaring factual inaccuracies.)
Instead, it’s become a progenitor of what I would call performative activism, where online spaces and platforms are weaponized to “raise awareness” for a specific cause, event, or collective response. In the case of KONY 2012, this meant celebrities, public figures, and regular people sharing, commenting and debating the efficacy of African geopolitics in a way that was often short-sighted and condescending. As Dipo Faloyin recently wrote for The Guardian:
“The question now, 10 years later, is has anything really changed since Kony 2012 to challenge the way the west sees Africa? ... As I tour my book, Africa Is Not a Country, I’m consistently asked how the west should approach how to fix Africa’s problems, and my response is always to first stop looking at Africa as a problem. If we fail to do so, we are in danger of another decade passing without having shifted the world’s perception of the second-largest continent on the planet.”
The Hunger Games
At this point in history, the Twilight franchise was ascendant, and Hollywood was ravenous for new YA properties to rush into feature-length productions. Enter Gary Ross’s adaptation of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a film that solidified the star power of Jennifer Lawrence and paved the way for three more entries that wrestled with conveying the idea of “revolutions are hard, actually” to horny teenagers. As I put it in my Letterboxd review of the film, upon a recent rewatch earlier this year:
“Clearly the best of the four, the first film does a spectacular job at making a dystopian world film real and lived-in without sinking to tried tropes and lazy writing. If you can look past the YA trappings of love triangles and teenage posturing, there are insightful examinations of power, wealth, decadence, performativity, authoritarianism, and class here that feel compelling and tangible. Plus, you know, violence, death, murder, and all that messy business.”
Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
Okay, so technically, this track came out towards the end of 2011. However, its eventual physical release—the 2012 Curiosity EP—qualifies for the year in question, and it was still very much in the zeitgeist of the time. Curious readers will also note that the track arrived roughly seven months after the viral success of Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” which certainly set the groundwork, I would argue, for a more polished and refined pop hit to achieve viral lift-off.
So, I’m putting it in here. And in case you’re wondering, yes, it’s still a certified banger. We did not deserve Ms Jepsen in 2012, but I’m pleased to note that time has vindicated the Canadian singer-songwriter with one of the most successful and effortlessly sugary pop songs ever created. Pretty much all of TikTok is people trying to write and produce something like this.
Sandy Hook
We’re still a few months out, but this year will see the ten-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 children and six staff members were shot and killed.
Since the shooting, the Gun Violence Archive has recorded 520 mass shootings in the U.S., and no meaningful gun reform legislation has been passed thanks to cowardly politicians, the lobbying efforts of the NRA, and an activated far-right movement that views the Second Amendment as something akin to divine right. There’s little else to say on the subject except that it’s all profoundly sad and miserable and unlikely to change any time soon. Time, flat circles, etc.
Here’s a great Channel 5 video that delves into the aftermath through the third eye of brain-melt provocateur and all-round piece of shit Alex Jones:
The Infamous “Stingray Photobomb”
No notes. It’s an exceptional photo and a truly superb meme. Here’s another one.
Honourable Mention: The Avengers
There was a time when I could watch a film like Joss Whedon’s Avengers and feel something approaching joy and passing interest. Look! It’s all the guys from those other movies, but now they’re all in this movie, and they’re all mates, and they’re punching gigantic Atreyu-having-ass aliens in the face and playfully quipping at each other with witty japes. Neat!
Fast forward ten years: Whedon is a (rightfully deserved) Hollywood pariah, and Disney has spewed out approximately 23478 comic-book films from their gaping Fantasia maw, completely subsuming all culture in the process. Very neat.