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stupid optimism?
Sep. 10th, 2011 12:31 pmA month plus early for a holiday post but...
Forget the religious connotation (it's basically the excuse), what's Christmas about? Prosperity, both physical and emotional. The world may be cold, gray and hostile but there's lots of food, lots of companionship, loving families, and good movies. I can see this really appealing to a generation that survived the Depression. I can see this being unusually appealing to a generation that survived the generation and then had record numbers of kids to keep entertained.
Forget the religious connotation (so tenuous that only the most religious Christians or Jews seem to fuss about it), what's Halloween about? Identity play. The weirdest, scariest things in the world are in their way beautiful and intense, and we're it. Baby's first transhumanism.
It's very clear that prosperity ain't here. Even if there's an economic recovery we have all been marked by frankly a worse depression than the one the Lost Generation went through. Ask the average person about their favorite holiday, and it's as likely to be Halloween as Christmas. Maybe more likely. There seems to be some pretty big identity/festival things rattling around the subconscious and the persistence of raves and furry fandom, then the rise of steampunk, really seem to plug into that.
And what that suggests in turn is that when the people who were kids in 2000 - [whenever this recession ends] grow up and start makin' babies, they might very well take Halloween ideals with 'em.
Forget the religious connotation (it's basically the excuse), what's Christmas about? Prosperity, both physical and emotional. The world may be cold, gray and hostile but there's lots of food, lots of companionship, loving families, and good movies. I can see this really appealing to a generation that survived the Depression. I can see this being unusually appealing to a generation that survived the generation and then had record numbers of kids to keep entertained.
Forget the religious connotation (so tenuous that only the most religious Christians or Jews seem to fuss about it), what's Halloween about? Identity play. The weirdest, scariest things in the world are in their way beautiful and intense, and we're it. Baby's first transhumanism.
It's very clear that prosperity ain't here. Even if there's an economic recovery we have all been marked by frankly a worse depression than the one the Lost Generation went through. Ask the average person about their favorite holiday, and it's as likely to be Halloween as Christmas. Maybe more likely. There seems to be some pretty big identity/festival things rattling around the subconscious and the persistence of raves and furry fandom, then the rise of steampunk, really seem to plug into that.
And what that suggests in turn is that when the people who were kids in 2000 - [whenever this recession ends] grow up and start makin' babies, they might very well take Halloween ideals with 'em.