Trends of the week

MANILA, Philippines - After days of solemnity, pop culture makes its loud comeback this week, dominating Twitter once again and reclaiming its long-held throne. With the nation rapt in a state of rebuilding (albeit dysfunctional), Twitter did its part with its slow return to normalcy. Okay, it wasn’t really slow. And it wasn’t really doing “its part.” Is that a bad thing? Let’s look at this week’s most notable trends to find out.

#mtvstars

If Twitter really is an accurate gauge of the zeitgeist, then the most burning question of the week has to be: Who is the biggest pop star of 2013? MTV UK is asking the question and the answers so far have been nothing short of predictable, with the usual suspects — Nicky Minaj, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift — falling in the top 10. More tellingly, the voting has been completely dominated by Justin Bieber and One Direction, pitting the two acts in a see-saw battle for the top spot, and for the largest fanbase of teenaged girls who apparently do nothing but look down on their smart phones all day.

In the last two weeks since super typhoon Yolanda wreaked havoc on our islands, it was easy to neglect how young Twitter actually is. Well, not anymore.

‘Midnight Memories’

Speaking of manic teenagers, One Direction’s upcoming release “Midnight Memories” trended this week amid leaks of the album spreading all over the Internet. Much of modern pop culture boggles the mind, yet only a few manage to be as objectively perplexing as the Internet album leak. We already get to consume music at a historically unprecedented rate, a mere minutes after an album drops, without having to leave one’s house, room, or bed. We get to hear it everywhere we want, anytime we want. The Internet leak is the next logical step — taking something before it even officially exists. Teenagers of any generation have never been known for their patience, but this is ridiculous. This is the modern equivalent of kids storming hula-hoop factories in the ‘50s.

Speaking of toy fads: it’s One freaking Direction, kids. Keep your pants on.

Taylor Swift

She trended despite being nowhere near the Top 2 of MTV’s Stars of 2013 poll. But that didn’t stop New York magazine from hyping her — all polls be damned — as the biggest pop star in the world. “Not Katy. Not Miley. Not Gaga. Why Taylor Swift is the biggest pop star in the world,” read the New York magazine cover that showed the young singer-songwriter at her subtle sexpot best, all face and no body, her eyes still the picture of innocence, her smile as coy as Mona Lisa’s but at least a hundred times as seductive, the parted lips conveying not an invitation so much as a wink, a taunt, a not-so-subtle dig at the sexual trinity the magazine gleefully invokes.

Taylor Swift isn’t the biggest pop star in the world — she’s just the most deconstructable. She’s the feminist nightmare, the role model, the contrarian’s rallying cry, the earnest person’s muse — she’s a magazine profile waiting to be regurgitated. While the critical world has already exhausted everything there is to explore about Miley Cyrus, Swift still infuriates, endears, and amazes after all these years. In the New York interview, she hints at finally being able to make amends with Jake Gyllenhaal — her celebrity ex-boyfriend to whom much of her album “Red” was about. There she is again, talking about exes, as if singing about them was not already beyond enough. Taylor Swift, the queen of kiss-and-tell, will always be relevant in Twitter, where private lives act as fodder for performance art.

@dougbaldwin, @seahawks

Doug Baldwin, wide receiver for the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks, made noise in our largely American-football-apathetic country this week when he ran out onto the field carrying the Philippine flag. The gesture was touching at first, until one realizes that the flag is actually upside down. When someone at Twitter pointed out that an upside-down flag signifies war, The Seattle Seahawks Twitter account responded: “We are fighting the devastation of #Haiyan which has been worse than many war-torn regions in the world.”

Baldwin, who has relatives in Tacloban, was obviously sincere in his attempt to express his support while raising awareness for typhoon Haiyan relief. Within an American context, an upside-down flag is meant to be a signal of distress and danger, both of which currently apply to the Philippines. We don’t know if Baldwin consciously knew this or if he just picked up the flag and ran with it willy-nilly. What we do know is that the aftermath of the typhoon has indeed left our country in a state of distress, or perhaps a stronger word to describe the current mess: citizens blaming the national government, the national government blaming local government, and the Vice President allegedly prostituting relief goods for his own campaign mileage. We don’t know if Doug Baldwin made a mistake. But everyone seems to know who did.

Titanic

Titanic? Yes, Titanic. Was there yet another remastered theatrical release this week? No. Was there a random non-sequitur “why-is-this-trending?” hashtag called #OneOfMyFavortieMoviesIs? Absolutely.

Of all the possible films in cinema history to be mentioned along with this hashtag, only Titanic trended, demonstrating the lasting power of this movie. Think about it: in an impromptu survey of people’s favorite movies, only one stood out — one that was about a real life tragedy, fictionalized by romantic mythology, and further layered with another fictional romance, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio at the top of his heartthrob game and Kate Winslet at the top her, uh, necklace game.

Why is Titanic so timeless and universal? Because romanticism is still the main currency of pop culture, no matter how many times it flirts with cynicism and irony. And when tragedy is diffused by the translucence of romance — whether via love stories, tribute songs, statement shirts, celebrity fund-raisers, or the self-satisfying glow of charity — it not only becomes more bearable, it also becomes less about itself and more about the unscathed living. They need these narratives of hope, of righteousness, and of healing for their own spiritual survival. Pop culture allows us to romanticize life, while numbing us from its unromantic realities. It’s the new religion of our post-modern world. And Twitter is its church.

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Tweet the author @colonialmental.