The 20th century witnessed a lot of distinctive hairstyles, many of which are associated with a particular decade:
Now you’re probably wondering, “why is he showing us pics of a bunch of women and a man that looks like a woman?” I’m trying to make the point that the reason we are able to connect a hairstyle to a period of time is the fact that something was determining the rise in popularity of a specific style within that respective time. So what was this determining factor?
The entertainment industry.
From the 1920’s up until the late 1990’s, people adopted hairstyles from movie actresses, TV stars, and musicians, leading into a “mass-adoption” of culture. But if you look carefully, I didn’t include a style from the 2000’s or after. This is because the post-2000 period actually saw a more eclectic adoption of culture, and therefore a wider range of hairstyles. Just to make this argument clear, Ensemble Magazine actually created a list of hairstyles through the ages (the source of the above photos), and they had this to say about the 2000’s:
“Anything is possible: Well, what can we say about the 2000′s… We’re a bit lost because the 2000′s don’t really have a distinct style. It’s more of a mixture of everything we’ve seen throughout the years.”
And now you’re wondering “well why did this happen Arman? Please shed some of your incredible wisdom upon us.” You wanna know what happened? The Internet happened.
Since the Internet allows us to freely choose what movies to watch and what music to listen to, our own preferences are enhanced. We have a more personal popular culture where we can indulge in our own cultural inclinations and communicate with people that enjoy what we enjoy. And with the online age, the confirmation bias (which I mentioned in my previous post) still plays a heavy role, but in this case it’s solidifying our own tastes and preventing us from adopting a much larger mass-culture.
But wait – doesn’t the entertainment industry still influence people, especially when talking about whats “in” or “hip” or “groovy?” Yes, of course it does. But guess what else is happening that didn’t happen before? The entertainment industry is now adopting the culture of everyday people.
This is easily seen in the music industry. For instance, where the 1980’s had a distinct synth-meets-rock vibe that was rigorously promoted by record producers, the post-2000 era saw a rapid decline in the ability of recording companies to control what music styles became popular. Instead, they’ve had to use two methods to make profitable music:
1) Reuse and recycle previously popular backing tracks, song structures, vocal tracks, or even lyrics. They may even mold them into a single musical style – this is actually how the current “pop” genre came into being.
2) Adopt musical styles that are becoming popular outside of the industry. The rise of dubstep is proof of this.
Since the entertainment industry has been deeply affected by the Internet, people working in the business have realized that they can no longer determine what’s popular, especially when places like Reddit or Twitter can change the world within seconds. Popular culture today has a more personal feel to it, and everyone has the ability to contribute to its development.
Arman is Awesome 