Halloween Has Become a Celebration of Pop Culture
Wonder Woman leads 2017’s most Googled Halloween outfits, which leaves us wondering where the ghoulish costumes of old have gone.
The creepy costumes straight from Stephen King's nightmares have been overshadowed by a drab selection of Mad Max face masks (2015), Harley Quinn pants (2016) and, inevitably, Wonder Woman headbands (2017).
If you didn’t spend Halloweekend in one –– or all –– of those, you've probably opted for your traditional cat ears, nurse outfit or for something straight out of your favorite TV show (line up the Rick and Morty masks). The point being, long gone are the nostalgically terrifying days when people literally dressed to kill. Back then, Goosebumps fans would have wet dreams over the monumental holiday, anticipating the chaos they reserved all year for one, special Halloween night. On its eve, they probably dosed off listening to the Slim Shady LP in glorious anticipation of a day full of all things horror.
Today, we've subtly shifted the focus away from the terrific terror and geared the excitement up a notch with a new focus: popular culture. Eccentric individuals (and couples) in the media are celebrated just as much as fictional TV characters, but the theme of horror seems to have taken a backseat to the screen jesters. Collectively, we’ve reached a point where we no longer draw inspiration from that one Slasher film we saw as kids, but now take to the entertainment industry to recreate out-of-the-box characters that most people know.
Simply put, Halloween become a day of pop references and meme culture. We love living out fantasies after all, so why not take cues from pop culture? Drake from “Hotline Bling” is equally as popular a costume choice as Michael Myers from Halloween. Lil Uzi Vert is every bit as good a costume as Freddy Kruger. Donning Rihanna’s Fenty from head to toe gets as much love as rocking the wild-haired Chucky wig. You get the point. In a world guided by iconoclasm, no principle stands too high from getting chopped down and remastered, as exemplified by this holiday here.
The change in spirit hasn’t been met with much –– if any –– resistance. The lackadaisical nature of us millennials leaves us generally unaware of the cultural shift in celebration. It’s every bit as subtle as a bathroom blowjob, especially as the overwhelming celebration of pop culture has only materialized in the last couple of years. Nevertheless, the change is plausible, and invisible hand stirring the culture would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for us meddling Jerks.