POP CULTURE & TRENDS

Once upon a time, fandoms lived on the fringes — comic book shops, niche forums, and weekend conventions were the sacred spaces of the passionate few. Fast forward to today, and “geek culture” has taken the global stage, reshaping what’s cool, wearable, and worthy of the spotlight. From the runway to the radio, Marvel heroes, anime icons, and video game aesthetics now drive some of the biggest trends in fashion, music, and entertainment. The shift began with storytelling. Marvel’s cinematic universe didn’t just dominate box offices — it redefined the cultural narrative. Characters like Iron Man, Black Panther, and Spider-Man became style muses, inspiring entire clothing lines and collaborations with major fashion houses. Streetwear brands dropped capsule collections emblazoned with com...

From anime to activism: How the ‘One Piece’ pirate flag became the global emblem of Gen Z resistance. From Paris and Rome to Jakarta, Indonesia, and New York, a curious banner has appeared in protest squares. With hollow cheeks, a broad grin and a straw hat with a red band, the figure is instantly recognizable and has been hoisted by young demonstrators calling for change. In Kathmandu, Nepal, where anger at the government boiled over in September 2025, the flag became the defining image as flames spread through the gates of Singha Durbar, Nepal’s ornate palace complex and seat of power. The image, usually adorning a flag with a black background, comes from “One Piece,” a much-beloved Japanese manga. And what began as a fictional pirate crew’s emblem almost three decades ago has becom...

Four lifestyle habits that might just help you live to 100 A 115-year-old Surrey woman named Ethel Caterham has officially been handed the title of the oldest living human alive. Many people reading this news may wonder what Caterham’s secret is. While it isn’t usually a good idea to take health and longevity advice from supercentenarians (as they’re often the exception rather than the rule), there are some lifestyle pointers that we can take from research on groups of long-lived people that might help us increase our chances of living a longer life. 1. Physical activity Physical activity is good for you – who knew? Research shows that people who are more physically active each day tend to live longer, healthier lives. One study found that going from no physical activity to ab...

Is China the new cool? How Beijing is using pop culture to win the soft power war. IShowSpeed, a 20-year-old American YouTuber and internet star, recently livestreamed hourslong tours of Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, showcasing the locations to some of his nearly 40 million viewers. During the March events, IShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr., marveled at friendly locals, spotless streets and the high-speed Wi-Fi available on the subway; Chinese fans mobbed him for selfies on the Great Wall. Beijing’s state media lapped up the attention, with one Chinese blogger proclaiming that the American influencer had “eliminated all Western propaganda about China” in the eyes of a new generation. IShowSpeed’s YouTube page attests to this assessment. “China ...

For superfans, comic-con culture is more than fun – it’s sacred, a sociologist explains. Picture a packed stadium of fans in extreme weather, all clad in their favorite jerseys, cheering and cursing at their favorite American football team or European soccer club. Or a crush of screaming fans, singing and dancing in unison at a Taylor Swift or K-pop concert. Or a sea of costumed “Star Wars” fans, lightsabers aloft, filling up movie theaters on opening night of a new movie. Plenty of people like to watch sports, attend concerts and go to the movies. But what about those fans – the die-hard ones, if you will – whose dedication goes even further? The fans whose daily lives are deeply intertwined with their interests? Die-hard fans tend to have a detailed, intricate knowledge. They collec...

How The Color Of St. Patrick’s Day Went From Blue To Green. St. Patrick’s Day usually conjures images of partying, Catholicism, Irish nationalism and, perhaps most famously, the color green: green clothes, green shamrocks, green beer and green rivers. So my students are often surprised when I tell them that St. Patrick’s Day was once a solemn feast day when you’d be far more likely to see the color blue. In fact, there’s even a color known as St. Patrick’s blue. ‘True blue’ Historians don’t know much about St. Patrick. But they believe he was born in the fifth century as Maewyn Succat. He wasn’t Irish; rather he was born in Wales, the son of a Roman-British official. He was, however, captured by Irish pirates and enslaved in Ireland. After six years he went back to Britain but r...

Don’t feel bad about bingeing TV. Humans have binged stories for thousands of years. Last night, millions of people will have tuned into Netflix and other streaming services to binge their favourite shows, including the (much anticipated) second part of Bridgerton season three. Streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, Stan and Prime Video have habituated us to the “all at once” series drop. And even as some services try to find ways to break the binge model, many commentators have bid farewell to the “the good old days” of appointment viewing. Meanwhile, experts have highlighted the health concerns associated with “problematic bingeing”, including increased anxiety and depression. But there’s an important detail missing in these conversations. And that is the fact that bingeing –...

Am I The Asshole? How judging other people’s dirty laundry became the internet’s favourite pastime. You don’t have to be an avid Reddit user to know about r/AITA, or Am I the Asshole? This subreddit’s digital afterlife reaches endlessly across the vast plains of social media – particularly on Facebook, where spin-off pages abound. There are dedicated AITA podcasts, X accounts and copycat columns – even a YouTube series. The original forum serves up neatly packaged snippets of other people’s personal dramas. Narcissistic exploits and gobsmacking tales of entitlement dominate the space, alongside run-of-the-mill social quandaries. While other subreddits have accumulated larger followings than AITA’s 20 million or so members, it remains one of the most popular and prolific. What makes it...