No monoculture, no subculture? Part 1 of 3
Ask ten people what they’re playing, watching or listening to right now and you’ll probably get ten different answers. Even the biggest hits can pass huge numbers of people by entirely.
What this points to – as Nadia Khomami argued in the Guardian – is the dissolving of monoculture. Trends and behaviours are now dispersed across smaller and smaller aesthetics and online pockets of community, and the idea of a singular mainstream is harder to pin down.
That raises a question for subculture, too. With no mainstream to rally against, and endless ways to express identity, can subcultures still form – let alone last? The prevailing view says no: youth today can adopt any aesthetic they choose, without the years of ideological immersion, and move on just as quickly.
But lately, there are signs Gen Z is reaching back for more traditional subcultural codes: longevity, deeper knowledge, participatory commitment over temporary exhibition. Perhaps the next evolution of subculture sits in the space between – offline depth and authenticity, circulated and amplified online.
Over three posts, we’re looking at signals of that shift. First up: a background character from a galaxy far, far away.
Biddy Blas is an obscure character from the new game Star Wars: Galactic Racer, who became an immediate fan favourite, spawning memes, edits, reddit threads and more, commonly referencing the closing gambit of his trash talk “scrib doon.” As one Reddit user put it, the character has gained this rapid popularity “because this is what star wars is about, random mf in the background that make[s] the foreground even brighter.”
On one level, you can disregard Biddy Blas as any other viral sensation; a funny character with a catchphrase that people talk about for a minute and then move on. But, Biddy Blas resonated so strongly because of the decades of Star Wars fandom and lore that predates this one moment. Online communities circulate it far quicker and far wider than fandoms would have ever been able to historically, but without the background, it wouldn’t offer the same depth of connection and shared understanding.
It’s a great example of a franchise leaning into the codes of their fandom, while also generating a character that both niche and mainstream audiences are able to connect with on different levels. You don’t have to have played the game to join the conversation, and you don’t have to know the intricacies of Star Wars to find the character funny, but having deeper knowledge is still valuable and creates a slightly different experience.
