How Cringe Culture Killed Off Authenticity
When the movie Turning Red came out, it received a lot of backlash about the main character, Mei, for being too “cringy.” She listens to cringe boy band music, makes cringe fanart of her boy crushes, and does cringe antics with her cringe friend group. Basically, Mei was disliked by the audience for simply doing normal teenage things most people have done at some point in their lives. While it may seem innocuous to boo at a fictional teenage character, this reaction reflects the very reason why many young people are afraid to express their authentic selves. Authenticity is dead because we have shamed it to death.
An example of this trend is society having several unwritten rules—one being that there is a line when it comes to having hobbies and preferences. However, the truth is that nobody really knows where to draw that line, if there even is one at all. Therefore, people have decided to create their own subjective definition of “cringeness,” where anyone who has the audacity to like something that crosses their cringe line will be bullied relentlessly. Oftentimes, the same people who chant the good old phrase “Be yourself!” are the very ones who bully others for being themselves. This is evident in the online community because it is easier to bash people when you’re hiding behind a screen and a keyboard. Scroll down any social media site and you’ll probably see videos of people mocking others with niche interests—exaggerating facial expressions and certain mannerisms in order to make the person or group they're pertaining to as “cringe” or “weird”.
This causes many young people to become ashamed of the things that bring them joy and, to an extent, the things that make up part of who they are. They try to suppress that “cringeworthy” part of themselves to fit in with the more “cool,” “chill,” and “nonchalant” masses. They try to comply with this perceived “cool” standard, abandoning their true selves to die in the dust. As a member of Generation Z who grew up surrounded by cringe culture, I have subconsciously done this myself by mocking my own interests and creating a low perception of my likes and preferences in front of my friends to elevate a sense of “chillness” and “nonchalance.” I have also admittedly found myself laughing and making fun of people who fit into society’s “cringiness” category. Due to this, our authenticity to ourselves and around other people has suffered as a result.
Unfortunately, even expressing interest in normal and acceptable things can become cringy. Society has essentially deemed it improper to be too happy about the things that bring you joy in favor of a culture of shame and mockery. Because of this, many people, even famous influencers, have been ridiculed both online and offline for showing enthusiasm about their favorite anime or talking about the comfortable plush collection they have in their bedroom. How sad is it that we have been conditioned to make fun of someone who finds joy in the interests they genuinely love? How depressing is it that their fleeting sense of euphoria was scorned out of them and filled their hearts with shame instead?
It’s funny how hypocritical the concept of cringe culture is. Everyone tells us that we should love ourselves and embrace our true selves, but only up to a socially acceptable point, or else we will be shunned from society. It’s high time that we end cringe culture once and for all. We shouldn’t be looking to other people around us to approve of our likes and dislikes. We should be building each other up, not tearing each other down by contempt. Authenticity might’ve been shamed to death, but we can resurrect it from the dead by ditching the copy-and-paste molds society has created for us and encouraging others to be their authentic selves instead of mocking them for it.