It’s kinda chic to let people do the trend

I like the Kinda Chic trend It is a carousel format where people present a quirky or intentionally unconventional choice as if itrsquos quietly stylish or sophisticated Theyrsquore redefining what counts as ldquochicrdquo For example mine said ldquoKinda chic to be 44 and have no kidsrdquo and ldquoKinda chic to be one of Indiarsquos OG podcastersrdquoI thought I was chic I was amazing I was so accomplished But then I saw Padmakshi Sharmarsquos post Padmakshirsquos bio says ldquodigital marginaliardquo When I Googled what marginalia truly means it said ldquoNotes comments drawings or decorations written in the blank spaces at the edge of a page in a book manuscript or documentrdquo OkaySo Padmakshi who has 93k followers and gives her view on all things pop and Internet culture says the Kinda Chic no hate to people who did it she warns trend is ldquowhat happens when we apply the logic of industrial capitalism to culturerdquo WHAT For the ones in the back she explains ldquoIn 1940 Adorno and Horkheimer developed the idea of culture industryGerman philosophers and sociologists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer PicWikimedia CommonsBasically they said that mass media and popular culture function like an industry because they turn art and entertainment into standardised commodities Like a factory would produce 10000 identical chairs instead of 10000 unique ones because the former was cheaper Adorno believed that similar economic pressures applied to culture resulted in pseudo individualisationrdquo She feels that while it feels like you are making an individual choice itrsquos in a structure thatrsquos consumable She also says that ldquoright now the cultural product to be sold and standardised is the lsquoselfrsquordquo and that basically itrsquos impossible to monetise and still be authenticI did some research into these Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer characters They were German philosophers who said that ldquomassproduced culture gives standardised products small differences so consumers experience them as personal choices You feel yoursquore choosing your thing but the structure within which yoursquore choosing has already been decided for yourdquo They are basically saying mass culture pretends to reward individuality while producing the same stuffThat argument goes on to make the Kinda Chic trend mdash where we thought we were all sharing inspiring and aspirational things about ourselves mdash as just a trend that the Internet duped us into creating Itrsquos like Miranda Priestly telling Andrea that she may think she is exempt from the fashion industry but her cerulean sweater bought from some tacky departmental store was actually chosen by the people in the fashion industry So there you goPadmakshi is right of course But thatrsquos how social media works Like her there are many more pop culture intellectuals who inform educate and dissect all the things we consume and make viral on social media All use big words all cite longgone German intellectuals and some have degrees in philosophy some in sociology and some have even written books They all feel they are individual and unique but they all have certain sameness See what I did thereBut itrsquos okay Like a row of furniture shops at Panchkuian Road in New Delhi or the electronic shops at Lamington Road in Mumbai social media will also have a lot of different people doing the same thing Sometimes like a dance trend it may feel repetitive Sometimes like the Kinda Chic trend itrsquos hopefulWhy I liked the Kinda Chic trend was because in a world where we often forget all the things we have achieved and all the times we have transmuted pain into art itrsquos a nice way to celebrate ourselves Itrsquos a nice way to remind ourselves of our own life that we are living with such grace And though the structure may be same the lives being shared were so different The Kinda Chic ladies showed us how they have broken rules and got over odds powered by grit alone And some just had fun with it and that was great to see We need more fun in our livesSome trends especially the positive ones are ones that donrsquot need dissecting They need to be celebrated But who am I to say anything After all I am also a social media commentator and you can ignore me as wellSee you next weekRanting and raving about all thatrsquos trending on social media Aastha Atray Banan is an author creator podcaster and the Editor of your favourite weekend read Sunday midday She posts at aasthaatray on InstagramSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper