Trends

Something about trends fascinates me. Sure, I get caught up in them (I am dating an upper middle class white woman, and until I started dating her I thought that J. Crew was a rowing team), but the social scientist side of me wonders why some and not others?

Why, in the late 1990s, did "Digipets" become the crazy? What was the appeal? It may have been good marketing, but more than likely I think it tapped into some inner part of who we desire to be. At 12 I had a responsibility. Sure, if I failed at said task I could push a pencil into the reset button and retry, but the simulated "caring" my Digipet (it was a pikachu, don't judge) made me actually want to work harder at it.

Why, for the last two decades, or so, has Magic the Gathering garnered such a, pardon the pun, gathering of individuals. My brother was, at one point, the 8th highest ranked MTG (as they so cooly call it) player in the state. Doesn't sound like much until you consider that there are hundreds of thousands of ranked players in the state. What was special about Magic? It created an escape. Middle aged men find repreive from the real world in Corvettes and twenty-something blonde women named "Candy" (for my cousin's wife, named Candy, I am sorry, but it just fit); middle aged women find their fantasies fulfilled in... um... I don't really know. The Notebook or something like that, maybe? The point is, Magic has developed a fantastical world where socially misfit people (not all, but yes, many or even most MTG players are exactly who you think they are) find others who are interested in escaping. This wasn't the case for my brother. He (and I swear this is essentially a direct quote) enjoyng, "being the person everyone underestimates because I have a hot girlfriend. Then, I make them cry over their elves and dwarves."

And then, there is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF33tAbd-IE It is known as "Tecktonik" and comes from the slums of Paris. The French response to breakdancing, I suppose, though will not as much skill, strength, impressiveness, guns or straight men. I had a friend just yesterday tell me that Tecktonik was done by "French gangsters". As soon as I recovered from the fit of laughter (seriously, french gangsters? What color are their gang flags? White?) I considered this: Tecktonik serves as a focal point or way out. Just as hip-hop, here, serves as an exit from the slums, maybe Tecktonik serves this same purpose, but for the French "hoods". (I am sorry, the idea of a French Gangster may be the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. I can just imagine this conversation: "When I am done with my croissont, I will slice you with my cheese knife." "Yes, well, you shall have to beat me to it, for I shall chug this wine, and sleep with women who I will coerce into killing you..." Damn French.)

That said, I still think there is no reason anyone, ever, should wear a mullet. Dance however you choose you French-wannabe-gangster-emo kids, but leave the mullets to the trailer trash of America. It is how we know who owns Camaros.