Ghosts

The past handful of years, it’s been about zombies. Zombie this, zombie that. Books turned into movies turned into tv shows.

And it seems fitting. The big bad monster being a vessel for many of the anxieties of our time. Zombies can represent the advent of global diseases. The bird flus and the zikas. They can also represent xenophobia. A relentless onslaught of foreigners that destroy the known culture.

Monsters in culture often act as symbols the experiences of a culture or time era.

So if I were to project outwards, I’ll put money on ghosts.

Ephemeral spirits that don’t overtake like zombies, but rather just linger. They steal our attention from the corners of our eyes, but not overtly.

Why? It’s when I look at the music scene, or our ability to live longer. There’ll be an angst there that younger generations will be feeling.

It’s crazy now how streaming services expose so much music that was ever recorded. But I can’t imagine becoming a budding musician in this world. Where not only are you vying for attention from current musicians like a Beyonce or Kendrick Lamar. But you’re also battling the Beatles, Mozart, and Ramones.

It used to be Beatles vs. Rolling Stones. Or Nirvana vs…New Kids on the Block? 

But now it’s Beatles vs Q-Tip vs Madonna vs Miley vs Solange vs the Grease soundtrack vs Hamilton Mixtape vs…well, you.

In another lane, the Baby Boomers will be the first generation of old people to get any anti-aging science and tech for the next few decades. And most likely, we’ll stretch out the years, but not necessarily improve the median healthiness and ableness. (Just a guess, but I’ve seen what we call “beta” software these days…) 

So my generation and younger will be greeted by a previous generation that lives longer but not necessarily better. There’s already pessimism about the structures set up last century to survive this population boom (social security, Medicare, etc.) Add to that a group of people that may consistently hit 90+ years of life…of which we’ll be taking care of…

Ghosts. There’s gonna be a lot of movies about ghosts.