If culture is the mirror that reflects the state of society, right now we’re all looking a little dishevelled – and struggling to find the energy to care. The signs have been there for a while, with rumblings initially picked up by trend forecasters’ finely tuned cultural seismometers. In 2021, Sean Monahan coined the term “the vibe shift” in his Substack to explain the transition from the self-controlled, self-improvement-obsessed worthiness of the 2010s to the messy decadence of the 2020s. Three years later, it feels like that earthquake has finally hit.

…The issue with foregoing all meaning and leaning into nihilism is that you can end up in some ethically dubious situations. When Nietzsche wrote his dire prediction for humanity’s future, “there can be no doubt that morality will perish”, he was surely thinking of the spectacle of convicted con artist Anna Sorokin and her ankle tag appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Our collective obsession with stories about scamming has morphed into an ironic open-armed embrace of the scammer.

The question is, are we really having a good time? In the third season of HBO’s Industry (the New Yorker’s pick for TV show of the year), copious amounts of drugs, alcohol and sex fuel the endless accumulation of money and power, but none of it basked in the glow of the 80s’ “greed is good” film and TV. Instead, each scene plays out as if lit by the most unsparing strip lighting. Characters don’t lounge opulently puffing on cigars inside high-end New York restaurants, instead huddling outside London office blocks chugging on cigarettes as if to stave off the next panic attack.

If the 2010s were a battle cry against the excesses of capitalism, social injustice and climate breakdown, popular culture in 2024 seemed to have given up the fight. Of course, the cultural pendulum will no doubt swing back again. In his missive on the next “vibe shift”, written after Donald Trump’s re-election, Monahan writes: “The vibe shift this time is a story about progressive millennials realising that when they declared total victory for their politics in 2020 – it was a pyrrhic victory … They have to get into the trenches and convince people that their interpretations of reality are correct.” It sounds like a slog, but for now, grab a sweet treat or a glass of wine. There is always next year.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/30/culture-2024-year-we-gave-up-charli-xcx?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other