BITES // 06.03.21 // THE ROARING 2020’S
Every month we collect six of the best pieces of content published on the web and share them with you, because we believe that the most extraordinary thinking is inspired by looking to unexpected places. BITES is a reading list for those who want to bring a little of the outside, in.
1. THE MOST EXTRA COMEBACK
What does coming back from a year of quarantine look like? Look no further than Extra Gum’s latest spot, which depicts the reopening of society in the most exaggerated way imaginable. The ad depicts the official end of lockdown, where thousands of disheveled, ungroomed people emerge from their homes, stampeding across the city to mingle and frolic with one another. With Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” as the perfect sonic backdrop, the spot illuminates how when the time comes “we won’t just exit our homes quietly, we’re going to return with force and help the world get its ding back.” While realistically we won’t be roaring back into society at this exact level of intensity, the spot perfectly addresses our collective eagerness to reconnect- and in the process illuminates the mad dash (pun intended) from advertisers and brands to celebrate these moments of light-hearted release.
2. SUBWAY BACK IN ACTION
If there’s a symbol that embodies the electric energy of a city, the NYC subway is it, serving as a microcosm of the different types of people and cultures that come together in one place. With the subway opening up for 24/7 service again, the city is starting to come back to life. Whether it’s subway performers, young couples going on first dates, or workers making their morning commute again, witnessing these moments of resilient bounce back sends an optimistic signal for the months to come. The underground heartbeat of New York is back to its normal rhythm again, and there’s no better feeling.
3. THE INK RENAISSANCE
As society starts to open back up, people are finding therapeutic and creative release through the art of tattoo. Bookings and revenue within the tattoo industry are seeing a big uptick, with pent up emotions and needs for expression bursting at the seams. With predictions of an economic boom on the horizon as well as a renaissance in the arts, from poetry to music to design, the tattoo industry is already getting a taste of it. It will be interesting to see not only how attitudes towards tattoos further evolve, but how the subject matter of the tattoos evolve as people turn to them as signals of new beginnings or reminders of a year marked by isolation and loss. The pandemic may be temporary, but the modes of expression coming out of it will be lasting and quite literally, permanent.
4. FESTIVAL SEASON LIGHTS UP
Music has the power to bring people together- it’s a force like no other. As vaccinations continue to roll out, live music is coming back into the picture in even greater force. This year and next are already going to be packed with live music, with festival lineup announcements coming out of the woodworks. Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Life is Beautiful, Rolling Loud, Treefort, and more have already been announced, creating a rise in anticipation in getting back to festival grounds where fans and artists can finally connect with each other IRL again. After a year’s worth of live music deprivation, will music’s power become even more amplified as we look to roar back into the music scene as we’ve always known it?
5. INCOMING TRAVEL BOOM
With a domestic travel surge already in motion, Americans are waiting in anticipation to kickstart the summer travel season abroad. But Americans aren’t the only antsy ones- the European tourism sector is counting on an American-fueled travel boom to jumpstart its economy. With tourism making up 10% of Europe’s GDP, the return of tourists, even if in modest numbers, has the potential to play a critical role in its recovery. In fact, Europe is so eager that Italy is allowing residents of its island playgrounds (i.e. Capri) to get vaccinated first as they eagerly await for tourists to come back and bring the economy back to life again. The main concern? If tourists fail to adhere to protocols in the places they visit, they could do more harm than good. As travel season gets into full swing, it will be a test of how we carefully and responsibly jump back into wanderlust.
6. IS IT ALL ILLUSION?
Younger generations are looking forward to making up for a year they lost, with intense anticipation for #summer2021. For one Gen Z individual, she says “I want my friends and I to be as extravagant as we want to be and do costumes if we want or themed parties. I think we have a lot to mourn but also a lot to celebrate coming out of this. So yeah, I’m ready for the Roaring ‘20s.” As people turn to social media to play out skits of what their wild summer is going to look like, there’s also skepticism around whether these expectations will be met, and if this modern day version of the Roaring 20’s will only be experienced by certain groups of people. As vaccination rates slow down in some regions and the dream of herd immunity still feels far away, it may not be such a simple “off/on” flip of a switch toward fun and good times.
TAKEAWAY:
As American society starts to jump back into activities that defined pre-pandemic life, there’s a palpable sense that we’re entering a period of revival like that of the Roaring 20’s, where we’ll see a heightened sense of joy and exuberance as people return to social experiences and IRL interaction. People are engaging in activities that were once off-limits: hugging grandparents, booking dentist & haircut appointments, going to sporting events, catching up with coworkers at happy hours. While these moments are worth celebrating, we also can’t forget that on a global scale, many places are still struggling to get the pandemic under control. And on an individual level, “back to normal” will take on different meanings from person to person. So as we enter this stage of reopening with predictions of an economic & cultural boom approaching, it will be a true test of how we conscientiously roar back into life as we know it. Only time will tell if the 2020’s truly roar the way the 1920’s did.
