The pop culture trap
How has such an easy thing as picking a costume become so difficult?
Compare something for me: what was your most loved costume at ten years old and what are you wearing this upcoming Halloween? Same or different?
When I was younger, I felt like I was limited to costumes like being a princess, witch, or animal. My twin brother often picked his beloved superhero, Batman. As kids, our idea of dressing up was rooted in play and living our believed fantasies of the world. Being a princess or superhero for a day fulfilled our lifelong dreams (at least the dreams we had as children). In contrast, dressing up as teenagers and young adults has become rooted in appeal and standing out. The game has changed.
Over the years, media and consumption have encouraged us to continuously change our Halloween costumes, possibly having multiple each year for different occasions. Media provides us with new and old characters that spark our interest. At the same time, consumption creates a desirable way to be fans of the characters we love, only adding more options to our costume possibilities. Further, pop culture tends to frame what is deemed as “cool”. This tends to change from year to year. Media reuses and reintroduces iconic characters by making new movies, new plot lines, and expanded versions of earlier renditions. Marvel and DC Comics superheroes, Wicked, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are just some examples.
Last year, Barbie, a real-life action film that imitates our favourite dolls, skyrocketed at the box office. As young adults, the movie helped us live out our adoration without being childish. There were hundreds of people dressed up as Barbie last year, from the hot pink western cowgirl Barbie to the OG Barbie, girls and guys (can’t forget about Ken or Allen) found a way to relive their childhood play through Halloween.
Pop culture does not just stop at our old favourites but creates new favourites that are often indulged in. Modern TV and films such as Saltburn, Peaky Blinders, Euphoria, IT, and The Boys have influenced costume choices in years past. Among everything pop culture offers us, we may look for inspiration from others online. However, the overlap of social media and pop culture forms trends that are constantly being reiterated in peoples’ posts and content. Quickly finding what is considered a “good” costume often revolves around what has been released from recent media. Using a character from previous years can be “so last year” and even if it is a classic (and genuinely a good costume), it is, perhaps, overdone.
We search and search for a costume that meets all the criteria: appealing, unique, and on-trend, but we get stuck with few options. Pop culture, despite widening the range of costume options has, in a weird way, also shrunk it. Maybe… we should change the game.
