There is a delicious, almost pathological irony currently playing out across our screens: Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram to mourn the existence of TikTok and Instagram. The catalyst? The FX series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, which has effectively weaponized nineties nostalgia, sending users spiraling into a romanticized longing for a world of analogue purity, void of AI slop and the manosphere.
- The Aesthetic Trap: A surge in “Mum, what were you like in the 1990s?” trends, driven by a desire for a pre-digital existence.
- The Tabloid Reality: The conflict between today’s “filtered” nostalgia and the actual chaos of the “Tabloid Decade.”
- Political Echoes: The resurgence of 90s-era populist rhetoric and political divisions, particularly in Australia.
From a cultural machinery perspective, this is classic nostalgia-baiting. We are seeing a curated version of the nineties—all minimalist slips and grainy film—that conveniently forgets the era was actually a fever dream of public meltdown. Before we had “main character energy” on social media, we had the “Tabloid Decade.” We’re talking about the era of Monica Lewinsky, the OJ Simpson trial, and the visceral spectacle of the first accusations against Michael Jackson. The industry has pivoted from reporting the gossip to selling the vibe of the gossip.
But this isn’t just about fashion or FX’s latest dramatization. The “back-to-the-future” energy has leaked into the halls of power, specifically in Australia. The current political climate is essentially a cover song of 1998. The resurgence of One Nation and Pauline Hanson—whose core themes of anti-globalisation and anti-political correctness (the original “anti-woke”) remain unchanged—shows that the discontent of thirty years ago never actually left the building; it just waited for the right cycle to return.
Even the leadership styles are mirroring the past. We see an attempt to revive the consensual leadership of the Bob Hawke era or the reformist spirit of Paul Keating. Yet, there is a glaring difference: the boldness of “Analogue Australia.” The 90s were defined by massive, risky policy manifestos and a certain brand of bipartisan grace following national tragedies. Today, that has been replaced by small-target campaigns and a timidity born from being captive to the hurtling, unforgiving news cycle of the online age.
As we continue to consume dramatizations of the past to escape the present, the long shadow of the nineties suggests that while the fashion returns, the stability does not. The industry will keep selling us the 1990s, but we are far more likely to inherit its polarizations than its peace.
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