TikTok speeds up the rehashing old movies, books
Many things run in cyclical cycles, from the circle of life to the fashion cycle. So it should come as no surprise that popular media from the 2010s have become popular once more.
March 27, 2023
Many things run in cyclical cycles, from the circle of life to the fashion cycle. So it should come as no surprise that popular media from the 2010s have become popular once more.
In the past, the ’70s show Happy Days, set in the 1950s, the ’90s series That ’70s Show, and most recently That ’90s Show all show how television has rehashed culture from 20 years earlier into a new show.
Recently, the speed at which rehashed media comes back to popularity has almost halved. The dystopian YA novels and films of the early 2010s are having a resurgence of popularity on social media platforms like TikTok.
One key example is the rise in popularity of The Hunger Games trilogy. The films, spanning from 2012 to 2015, were extremely popular during the time. Now, many people are sharing media focusing on the films.
From analyzing the movies to editing movie clips, The Hunger Games hashtag has amassed 2.5 billion views on TikTok. From analyzing the movies to editing movie clips, The Hunger Games hashtag has amassed 2.5 billion views on TikTok. — Leila Usanovic
What’s interesting to note is that the seemingly sudden resurgence of the series comes a few months before the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes film, which is a prequal novel Susan Collins wrote detailing the 10th annual Hunger Games and the origin story for the original trilogies’ antagonist, President Snow.
The popularity seems to perfectly coincide with the movie’s release, which also happened with the popular series Twilight.
Twilight films were being romanticized by the masses, with many people expressing their love for the film and sharing ways to emulate it. Interestingly, the popularity it received coincided with the films coming to Netflix and the release of Robert Pattinson’s film, The Batman.
Instead of media coming back in its natural 20-year cycle, it has accelerated due to social media. People are able to amass huge numbers of views quickly, allowing these previously popular movies to gain popularity once more.
Whether it stems from nostalgia or other factors, the shortening cycle of trends has become prevalent, and only time will tell if these cycles will get shorter.
