The ‘Chaotic Good’ combo has always been especially appealing to me (lest anyone condemn me as True Neutral’). And it seems in some ways this joyful brand of chaos is more relevant today than ever
chaos is often used as a means of pushing back. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, trust in global institutions has declined, economic volatility has heightened and populist politicians have seen rampant success. Chaos is the status quo in a volatile cultural climate.
Chaos can be used as a way to stick a middle finger up to the establishment, one-upping one brand of absurdity with another. It doesn’t have to be that deep – a cultural climate of nihilism means that we’re not necessarily out here to change things – but it does need to be fun.
Recently, chaos – or more specifically, ‘chaotic energy’ – has become increasingly prominent in memes and media coverage alike. The origins of chaotic energy could potentially be tracked back to one of my own first run-ins with it: Character Alignment Charts.
“Gentleminions is obviously both nostalgic and ironic, but it’s less focused on expressing irony than it is about using a piece of internet content to actively mobilise people. It’s about bringing a bunch of people together, doing something objectively weird, and then sharing videos and posts about it back on internet platforms with the expressed d... See more
it’s about connecting people through a shared experience of chaos (whether you participated or just scrolled the hashtag), that’s not only fun, but has nothing to do with any of the realities of the world that get us down.