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I hate what they’ve done with The Joker. There, I wrote it. In the next paragraphs I’ll basically be telling why, bear in mind I do have a reason for it.
As I go around checking the end of the year’s news on trends through some of my favorite fonts, I find myself feeling like that the trend business is doing to trends what 2019 Joker’s version did to the Joker. You know, a thing of interest, with beautifully prepared sceneries and sets, amazing, extraordinary representation, great music, and totally missing the point on what the Joker is and represents in essence.
“once the Mr. Hide to so many Dr. Jekyll’s”
I admit, I will never get over the fact that this greater-than-comics character, once the Mr. Hide to so many Dr. Jekyll’s, was shrunk into a “mental illness” category with no appeal. And I can’t stress enough how much of a bad choice I think this was. Not only because it perpetuates a horrible perception onto mental illness in itself, strengthening the misunderstanding and the surrounding stigma, but also because it robs us of this exquisite representation of our Joker within. A.k.a., the very same reason it has grown into an iconic character, and once considered one of the greatest villains of all time, the perfect match to Batman.
“He doesn’t have superpowers, an exquisite amour, or any allies. He just has nothing to lose. Likewise, he operates in a different realm, one where there are no limits or any type of code of conduct, and he cannot be reasoned with.”
If you’re familiar with the mainstream comics from the late 1980s, like “The Dark Knight Returns” or “Watchmen”, you’ve probably also known “Batman: The Killing Joke”. This comic by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland gave the world a glimpse of the events that made the Joker who he is, and it depicted (in my modest opinion), his truest essence: An ordinary guy who events pushed to its limits and just… “flipped”. Which is also what makes him so dangerous if you think about it. He doesn’t have superpowers, an exquisite amour, or any allies. He just has nothing to lose. Likewise, he operates in a different realm, one where there are no limits or any type of code of conduct, and he cannot be reasoned with. This is why even other villains are depicted to fear him.
From a philosophical perspective, one could say the character embedded Nietzsche’s abyss; looking back at us across the screen, crossing the fourth wall with its grin. In a stretch, it depicted a part of us. That choice we didn’t make but felt a possibility lingering around in a bad moment of our lives. A sense of darkness and despair many of us have felt at least once. That’s the Joker. And reading about the horrible things he did, in a sense, would be comforting, making the reader feel somewhat “heroic” for not taking that path. The emotional proximity now estranged by the “justification” of a mental illness.
“Mental health is becoming increasingly mainstream”
Don’t get me wrong, maybe it was necessary. Mental health is becoming increasingly mainstream, and I agree that, for the most part, it is a good thing. We’ve been, socially speaking, stuck in a herd mentality biased view of the world for a long time. From toxic homes and toxic workplaces, to toxic masculinity, toxic feminism and praise of narcissistic behavior, just to tackle the surface of these socially embedded issues. And I admit I find it absolutely scrumptious, that the official word in 2022 was “Gaslighting”, with 1740% increase in online search just this last year.
“YouTube forcing shorts onto everyone’s throats and ditching 17 year of the building a great – and accessible – quality video content platform”
But as I go around revising my notes, and checking my favorite trends research fonts, it is clear the tendency to go inwards, to close up. From physical frontiers, to social media, from once open platforms that thrived on “free” to big companies aggressively boycotting open ventures to force closing competition out. Examples like Amazon ending their Kindle Subscription program to a bunch of small magazine publishers, that might cost them a lot of subscriptions, or YouTube forcing shorts onto everyone’s throats and ditching 17 year of the building a great – and accessible – quality video content platform multiply, in what is the continuum of a big shift we’ve been observing for some time.
This getting out of big media, big platforms, is creating a kind of clustering in smaller spaces. Creators that have grown within this “free” market are now turning to membership accounts, private sites, and pay-per-access groups, where they hope to regain the control big businesses are pulling away. There, they feel more comfortable talking to their followers, they can control their message, and are interrupted less often. People in social media, including big influencers, are making their accounts private and selecting their followers, ditching contrarian voices, blocking out arguments and perspectives, but mainly ditching Bots and trying to avoid algorithms.
“some people explain algorithm recommendations as a kind of “mediated cosmic intervention” that guides them”
It doesn’t matter whether this is a direct response to the series of events society has been dealing with, from the pandemic, to the war, to far-right extremism growing daily in social media platforms or to the algorithmic amplification and its distorting effects (I just read a research paper on how some people explain algorithm recommendations as a kind of “mediated cosmic intervention” that guides them), a consequence of the new European laws preventing the use of cookies, a “divide to conquer” strategy from big players, a dishonest, cheap strategy to strangle competition, or simply a consequence of all the previous. The important aspect of it is that it is happening, and it is transversal, global, digital, and physical.
So, why are trend observatories not talking about it? Well, they actually are. In a way. Trend search businesses work with the results of their research. Most business-types in this area specialize in finding reference material of interest, cataloging it, aggregating exceptions and correlations, and make easy-to-eat fast-food style innovation and opportunity assessments sandwiches. Some focus online, aggregating viewed content, likes, shares, clicks, etc., while others also use field work, like on-location teams, mystery clients, etc. And they bring a lot of added value to the table.
“But the business-core is the intelligence.”
But the business-core is the intelligence. Where that info leads and what is done with it. And each observatory will aggregate it differently to bring their branded value to the table, as the product is the “tailored solutions” (sandwiches) they sell. Dedicated advisories, custom reports, trends presentations, innovation workshops, open libraries, etc., are mainly ways to show their worth and work.
So, they use the data and talk about it by walking around it. Stressing the importance of Brand positioning in specific areas, using specific terms as “local communities” or “post pandemic context”, and pointing to new preferences and how people now choose to stay home more often, or within the boundaries of their communities. To give examples; TrendHunter refers to “Generational Theory” and a “Changing World Order” in its 2023 Trend Report (PDF) intro, and TrendWatching actually came up with the definition “Joyning”, which they describe as “finding meaningful connections in a lonely world.”
One of the more artistic descriptions I’ve found is by 99Designs (an online business platform that connects freelance designers and businesses), on referring to color use: “Trends in color are heavily influenced by the current state of the world. So in a time of rising inflation, global wars and climate crisis, it’s no surprise we’re seeing a collective yearning for escapism and angst expressed through color.”
We know Big brands and Corporations have historically been involved in social issues, but recently these roles have been demanded and expected by people like in no other time in our social-economic world (Font: Google Consumer Insights). They are being pressed to take active roles in addressing social, cultural and environmental issues, as consumers know that Governments can only go so far when it comes to private businesses and legislation.
“the same Big Brands that (..) fought to relate themselves with superheroes, now find themselves in a forced “Batman position” “
So, the same Big Brands that, in the early years of Advertising, fought to relate themselves with superheroes, now find themselves in a forced “Batman position”.
As Margaret Wheatley wrote in “Leadership in the Age of Complexity” (2011): “For too long, too many of us have been entranced by heroes. Perhaps it’s our desire to be saved, to not do the hard work, to rely on someone else to figure things out… it’s a seductive image, an enticing promise. And we keep believing it. Somewhere there’s someone who will make it all better. Somewhere, there’s someone who is visionary, inspiring, brilliant, trustworthy, and we’ll all happily follow him or her. Somewhere…”
If the description just brought a Steve Jobs, a Richard Branson, or a similar persona or brand, to your mind, then you just had a glimpse of a nicely done job.
But she concludes, and I agree, with: “Well, it is time for all the heroes to go home, as the poet William Stafford wrote. It is time for us to give up these hopes and expectations that only breed dependency and passivity, and that do not give us solutions to the challenges we face.”
“this rhetoric sounds… really outdated”
You see, as I close my end of the year research on insights, trends, waves and fads, I come to believe the real challenge in the times to come, will not be (as important as it might be) the mental wellness struggle, or the awareness of social biased views. And despite all the creative reasoning I’ve read from different fonts justifying it, neither did I come to see it as an opportunity for the “redirection” of “allegiance groups” into private “more authentic” or “personalized” experiences.
If I’m being 100% honest, this rhetoric sounds… really outdated.
“to “Joker up” minus the killing and the going insane parts”
What I see is a much-needed courage to not go with the flow. The capacity to, in a fearful world that is turning inside, hiding, building barriers and sticking its head in the sand; be crazy enough to be on the outside, to not wall up, to not hide. To not play by the – newly invented-on-the-go – rules. You know, to “Joker up” minus the killing and the going insane parts.
Maybe this is the courage to say “thank you, but no, thank you”, to not let the media be the message, or the ability to skip the urge to create “Joyning opportunities” behind closed doors and actually keep an open, actually *open*, business model.
Or maybe it’s just the willingness to keep believing in open frontiers, help boost ideas and online spaces like Mastodon, block extremist rhetoric, and see what gives.
“the exact same sauce that made monster influencers”
It’s hard to say. I do know is that big businesses, especially in the social realm, were not built by being either closed or exclusive. What made Facebook, Twitter or Google giants was the exact same sauce that made monster influencers like MrBeast or PewDiePie, and that most companies look for when they contact a big Media AD agency, and that is the transversal reach to, and accessibility for, the larger quantity of people possible, from all backgrounds, with different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, etc. Closing businesses up will not preserve business. Best case scenario, it will make them something entirely different as they become dependent on subscriptions. Worst case scenario, it will eat them up and make them irrelevant.
Also, in an increasing polarized world, where the cost of living is already taking so much, trying to capitalize on a few and denying access to others seems not only wrong, but actually dangerous.
I’ll end in an aspirational note, by borrowing the words of Akira Kurosawa’s in the 1985 movie “Ran”: “In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”
“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”
Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 movie “Ran”
Bets placed, let us see what 2023 brings and will have to say about all this. Wishing a Grinchy Christmas and a Joker New Year to all you crazy ones out there.
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