Bob The Blob from Monsters vs Aliens
Anyone can star in a single gif, lacking context, and become the girl of the moment. Bob the Blob puts in the work. What was once a forgotten film is now a factory for gifs expressing never-before-understood emotions. It is also yet another cultural victory for those of us born in 1997. I was in 6th grade when this movie came out, and I may have been too old, but if you were there at the time, it was advertised as so funny you needed to see it even if you were in middle school now. The way people used to talk about Pixar movies, except Monsters vs. Aliens, promised to be really funny, instead of profound. The film was immediately forgotten until now. Bob remains, and like any true diva, outlasts and overpowers her source material.
Lena Dunham is Back
It should surprise no one that I am a Lena Dunham defender until I die. I can even whip out the shibboleth for real fans: I’ve seen Sharp Stick. For those of you who want to pretend Girls was bad, that’s fine, but you’re on the wrong side of history. Lena Dunham is a trick of the media. If you fall for all the stupid shit and fail to see her genius, you’re missing the point. In 2025, there is a Girls renaissance happening, but not for me. I already knew Girls was good when it premiered in 2012. I’ve been riding the train for a very long time, and I’m always happy to sing the praises of Len Dunham. It feels so good to have been right all along and never wavered in my convictions.
TikTok
The Gen Z stare
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Every single person I have ever met has bad manners. It is clear that none of us went to a reputable finishing school of any kind. All of us are lacking in tact. No one even thinks of sending flowers anymore! The Gen Z stare is the absentminded look young people give when employees of an establishment try to engage them in conversation. They are scared and desensitized to interaction and forget that the cardinal rule of socialization is not the one should not speak unless spoken to, but if you’re not sure who should be talking, it’s probably you. I could wax poetic on Gen Z’s lack of social graces, but I think this is a time to look inward and refresh your own Emily Post education. Maybe browse the website and learn how to behave in almost any situation.
Sorry, but I think we’ve lost something here. This is one of those things that Americans think we have a cultural context for, and then it’s clear when we try to employ it our end, that we have gleaned nothing and just like the way it sounds. Often, when memes get this popular, people can’t balance more than one level of understanding. Irony and specific cultural context are lost on most TikTok users. Ask a random TikTok user off the street to explain this meme, and 9 out of 10 of them will say, “It’s an internet thing.” The longer these things go on, that gets closer to the best explanation we have. To most people, TikTok is just America’s Funniest Home Videos with a recognizable soundtrack. To my understanding, the original trend was putting the sound under videos of less-than-ideal plane experiences. It’s the British equivalent of our Spirit Airlines jokes. It became a joke about a “cheap flight,” aka any time someone is lifted off the ground in any kind of boating accident or other activity. From there, people assumed they understood, and it became a free-for-all of falling down or off things. I blame my fellow Americans, but I also believe everyone is capable of not understanding the internet.