Trends of the week

MANILA, Philippines - Being among the most active countries in social media, the Philippines is responsible for a significant amount of worldwide trends. To see hashtags that reference Pinoy Big Brother or the Kathryn Bernardo-Daniel Padilla love team alongside globally relevant trends isn’t even shocking anymore.

This week, however, worldwide trends invaded our local trends list as if on a vengeful mission. And by “worldwide,” I really mean “American.” Twitter is the perfect place to pretend that we’re American, where we can comment and participate in White People Problems, and live vicarious American lives. Over the last few days, Pinoy Twitter paid tribute to a dead Hollywood celebrity, observed a make-believe holiday for a make-believe universe, attended a New York gala, and relived a White House scandal.

Audrey Hepburn apparently born on Star Wars Day

The start of the week fell on May 4, a day that was marked by a couple of retro-inspired trends: Star Wars Day, along with its originating phrase “May the 4th be with you,” and Audrey Hepburn who was born 85 years ago to the date.

Twitter may be the voice of the now, but it also resides in the timeless chamber of the Internet, which appears to be all about the “now,” but is really obsessing about the past. Star Wars Day, which commemorates a movie franchise that began in 1977, only became a thing three years ago, thanks to the Internet and its suddenly infinite viral capabilities. Star Wars has now become a permanent part of the Internet’s collective memory as well as its static “now” — for those born before the ‘70s and ‘80s, it’s not so much a cultural relic as it is a default reference that pre-dates the Internet, which therefore makes it forever contemporary.

Audrey Hepburn is part of this appropriated past, just like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, fedoras, and old music. This is why an actress’ birthday can still trend 21 years after her demise. As far as the Internet is concerned, she’s still alive, gracing our timelines in photographs and videos that used to merely freeze time before being played in its current, ongoing loop. Just as iTunes can make Lorde occupy the same space as Thelonious Monk, social media can make Audrey Hepburn as equally relevant as Emma Stone.

Twitter fawns over #MetGala

I had no idea what the Met Gala was until Twitter pointed it out to me this week via pictures of famous people in fancy clothes. Apparently it’s an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which I had no idea was in desperate need of funds year after year. But all one really needs to know is that it’s basically The Oscars on speed — famous people in designer clothes prancing around a red carpet, without the distracting conceit of an awards show and the need to humor a bunch of no-name nominees. This is actually the Oscars, the Grammys, the ESPYs, and Fashion Week smushed together in one huge fluffy ball of inconsequence, where one can ogle the likes of Beyoncé, Johnny Depp, Tom Brady and Adriana Lima on the same red carpet.

You know who I feel bad for, though? US Weekly, which used to monopolize these things like Cornelius Vanderbilt did with railways. But now, the red carpet has become the communal property of social media, able to feed people the pictures in real time and render them unfashionable after about a week. Print media could probably use an annual fundraiser.

‘90s Internet nostalgia gets too real

Monica Lewinsky trended this week like it’s 1998. After news of her Vanity Fair essay on the Bill Clinton affair came out, social media was instantly abuzz, providing a glimpse of what it would’ve been like had Twitter existed in the late ‘90s. To no one’s surprise, snark and cynicism was very much involved.

The irony isn’t lost on Lewinsky who noted, fairly accurately, that she’s “possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet.” In other words, she inspired Twitter snark, not only before it was cool, but before it was actually a thing. Much of the present-day social media eye-rolling, however, is aimed at the timing of her belated account. After all, Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary, is gearing up for a presidential run. She also called Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon” a few months ago, which may not have been smart in retrospect.

So is Lewinsky a mole planted by Republicans to nip Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in the bud? Is she out for personal revenge? Or has she just been dying to tell Beyoncé “I think you meant ‘Bill Clinton’d all on my gown,’ not ‘Monica Lewinsky’d.’” in response to her song Partition?

No. Lewinsky has come out after 16 years because an 18-year-old male college freshman committed suicide after being bullied online over a leaked video of him kissing another man. She knows the pain caused by public humiliation, claiming that she, too, had been “suicidal” after the Clinton scandal broke. It was time for her to finally speak up. “I’ve found myself gun-shy yet again, fearful of ‘becoming an issue’ should (Hillary Clinton) decide to ramp up her campaign,” she wrote. “But should I put my life on hold for another eight to 10 years?”

Absolutely not, Monica. And no one was stopping you four years ago, when the college student died.