Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
The second installment of a three-part recap of the 2010s.
Readpart one, Keep On Dancin Till the World Ends, here.
Read more about this serieshere.
This was the story of Obamas second term, in which optimism gradually gave way to doubt and recrimination.
But the energies and expectations aroused by Obamas presidency had to go somewhere.
So they entered the realm of pop culture, where politics became inseparable from cultural discourse.
Social media also sped up the process ofcultural borrowingthat had been going on for centuries.
Evenanilingus got a moment in the sun, with dire results for thenations plumbing systems.
Trans acceptance went hand in hand with increased recognition of other identities, fromasexualitytononbinary.
These were called gender-reveal parties.
All of these concepts got messier and less specific once they entered general use.
The shameless way Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus treated blackness as a costume was textbookcultural appropriation.
Throughthe telephone-game nature of the internet, progressives convinced themselves thatRobin Thickes Blurred Lineswas promotingrape culture.
Despite how it felt tosome, not everything was problematic.
The eras push for greater pop-cultural representation did bear real fruit.Fresh Off the Boat,Dr.
The#OscarsSoWhitecontroversy sparked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to dramatically reshape its membership.
The trend of auteur comedy kicked off byLouiepaved the way for diverse, idiosyncratic visions likeAtlantaandMaster of None.
The spirit of the times made personal virtue an ever-more-important quality.
Other popular culture from this time was darker still and not just visually.
(Both wereoftencontrastedtoGame of Thrones, which around this period was gaining a reputation formishandling rape scenes.)
For conservative viewers confronted with a culture increasingly skeptical of state violence, this was vital consolation.
Some souls attempted to stand outside thered-blue divide.
(Though beige cultures spiritual home was California, many of its hallmarksoriginated in Australia.)
Americas Four Cultures:
Put broadly, gray was about efficiency; beige was about comfort.
The world was changing color, too.
Harsh metallics were out; a new, softer palette was in.
A variety of factors contributed to the shift.
But the periods defining shade would originate in the world of luxury fashion.
In 2012,Piagetunveiled a rose ring made out of 18-karat pink gold.
A similar shade of pink showed up inmakeup packaging,interior design,book covers, andiPhonessoon after.
It signified femininity, but, you know, anewkind a semiotics nebulous enough to be employed byperiod-panty manufacturersandDrakealike.
When did this era end?
It turned out to be their swan song.
(In a culture built around public shaming,shamelessness was a superpower.)
History is rarely kind enough to give us clear markers.
Stray Observations
The realm of independent cinema was one aspect of culture to resist the desaturation trend.
Not all forms of cultural borrowing in this era were met with opprobrium.
