"Cringe," as it's used on modern Internet lingo, is a little hard to define. Maybe like the famous Supreme Court Justice's definition of pornography, you know it when you see it.
There's been a little talk about stuff from 15 or so years ago seeming "cringe" now. Today I saw the idea proposed on Bluesky that the tv show "Parks and Recreation" is now "cringe" - it's too earnest, too nice, not cynical enough. (I think things coming to seem "cringe" is very, very different from "aged badly." There are MANY movies and shows that aged badly because they played on stereotypes that are now realized to be hurtful, or humor that is crueler than it should have been)
That said, there are some programs out there - or at least I think there still are, I don't watch them - that do lean into that "mean" humor, where they think mocking everything is the way to be.
And that led to another opinion, expressed by one of my mutuals on there - that "edgelording" (that is: regarding nothing as sacred, using mean humor, and being cynical about everything) is what's got us in the current mess we're in. That by rejecting earnestness and kindness, we are now reaping the whirlwind of selfishness and cruelty. And that has the feel of accuracy to me.
I know I have often been out of step with my generation (X). I remember being mocked in fifth grade for liking The Muppet Movie ("that's for BABIES") and I knew I didn't fit in to the point where I tried to embark on a "make myself normal" campaign by doing things like listening to Top 40 radio rather than the classical music I liked* and watching shows my peers liked but that I didn't care much for.
It didn't help. Probably part of it was I couldn't fake it; I already had what they saw as "the stink of being a loser" on me, and also, I couldn't LOOK the part; I couldn't afford the right clothes and my parents wouldn't buy them for me, and my hair was unruly and the wrong color to be popular hair. \
(*I think I got that from my dad; I remember listening to Karl Haas' "Adventures in Good Music" on WCLV with him, and my parents had a LOT of classical-music records - mostly Mozart and Brahms and Beethoven, and they also had a lot of cast-recordings of musicals and operettas)
Anyway, once I hit prep school, it mattered a little less. Most of the people there were weird eggheads like I was, and the ones who were from wealthier/more powerful families mattered less, because I had a core group of friends by that point.
And the funny thing? I remember when I was in grad school, someone brought up the "John Denver and the Muppets" Christmas special, which I remember in earlier times my peers mocked, and almost to a person, everyone was like "Oh I LOVED that show! It was so good!"
So I don't know if people grow out of that kind of cynicism where things that are just fun and innocent are mocked, or if, as you get older, you look back on stuff from when you were a kid, and go "you know? that really was kind of nice and good."
And I unapologetically like things that some more edgy types might deride as cringe - I still love the Muppets. And I watched My Little Pony when it was on and enjoyed it greatly. And I love Bluey (I would argue it's one of THE most "emotionally intelligent" shows on tv right now). And yes, I still like Parks and Recreation and similar shows, where the humor is....it's hard to describe but it's more laughing WITH the quirks people have than laughing AT them.
Anyway. I like earnestness and kindness and humor where it's "Oh yeah, she always does that, it's cute" rather than "get a load of her, what a fool." I like where groups of characters are a literal family (as on Bluey) or they come to be like a family (like the co-workers on Parks and Rec). Maybe it's because I am a fundamentally lonesome person, I don't know. But it's nice to see people who, on some level, care for each other (and who, bear each other's quirks, believe in each other's dreams, hopes for good things for each other, and endure the bad times others have). Perhaps it is that the outside world seems too mean to me right now, and I want to see characters being supportive to each other - maybe to keep the fiction alive to myself that more people could be like that.
But maybe if we were less about being the top goat on the dungheap by pushing the others down, or that we have to get in that "sick burn" against someone else who doesn't deserve it, maybe we'd have a better world? Maybe we do need to be kinder, more earnest - yes, more "cringe." I suspect the problem though is that to be "cringe" is to be vulnerable - to risk the mocking of others who DO still want to be the top goat on the dungheap (which I really think is why the kids in my fifth grade class mocked me for liking The Muppet Movie and then proceeded to, to a person, list "The Jerk*" as their "favorite movie instead. That my perhaps-slightly-naive or perhaps-even-slightly-neurodivergent honesty made me a target, and they closed ranks to make a wall that closed me out.
(*Yes, it was R rated! Eleven year olds had NO BUSINESS seeing it! And I bet many of them had NOT, but just wanted to jump onto the bandwagon)
But that closing-of-ranks to leave someone outside, someone who was maybe a little too earnest or a little too....I don't know, "immature" isn't quite the right word, but perhaps willing to hang on to childlike things?
But also, yes, as I grow older I find a lot of things from my childhood (or even tweenhood) bring up happy enough memories that I look at them and smile. I still like the OG Smurfs (I'm not sure I care much for the updated versions of them). And Strawberry Shortcake and her many friends. And Garfield. And Snoopy and Woodstock. And I enjoy "kids' movies" (though some Disney and Pixar offerings are as much for adults, I think - I rewatched "Soul" when it was on the other night and I think I like it better, and was more moved by it, as an adult in her 50s than I would have been as a kid) And of course I have MANY stuffed animals, some of which I sleep with in my bed. (And yes: I do sleep better with one of the squishier ones hugged to my chest; a current favorite is a largish (like maybe 20" long) version of Mei in her red panda form from "Turning Red" (which I have not seen yet, but want to, but the plushie-Mei is very nice to either hug or pillow my head on)
At any rate: I'd rather be cringe than edgelord. In fact, somewhere I have one of those pinback badges, with a fan-drawn version of Garfield on it, and the legend "I am cringe, but I am free"
I just wish more people were willing to open their hearts to the joy of being "a little cringe" or at least not have to be so over-it-all.
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