Now, we’ve sailed beyond 2024’s halfway mark. You’ve probably digested the year’s top films, favourite books, and chart-topping albums thus far. We’re rapidly advancing towards 2025. It’s unusual to perform assessments at the quarter-point, but it’s only fitting when reflecting on periods spanning 100 years. We’re edging closer to being a quarter through this century – so there’s no cause for bafflement thinking journalists are unclear about the inception of the 21st century. Just think of it as the era of the 20-somethings, alright?
Reflecting back on 1924, it was a period rich in history. The esteemed Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm contended that the First World War, also drawing a line around the Russian Revolution, commenced the relatively shorter 20th century, culminating with the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The ensuing years of the 1990s can be tentatively seen as a buffer period. This era, largely earmarked with moderate complacency across North America and most of Europe witnessed significant events like Clinton coming into power, Blair’s ascent, and the ludicrous debate suggesting we had reached the “end of history”.
This transitory phase closed with the September 11th 2001 attacks, and from thereon in, a heightened state of uncertainty has lingered. The conceptual start of the century (or decade) seldom mirrors the actual calendar start. Yet, in multiple ways, this rang true for the era of the 20-somethings.
Over the weekend, an excellent film, “Housewife of the Year”, debuted at the Galway Film Fleadh. Directed by Ciaran Cassidy, this documentary examines Ireland’s evolving societal norms, using the aforementioned competition as its central thesis. Incredulously, the already outdated event met its end in the pivotal year of 1995, making way for the more progressive Centra Homemakers of the Year. The past includes a frightful memory of returning from London after ten years, only to witness voters barely consenting to the divorce introduction referendum that autumn.
Oz Perkins, a film actor, poignantly articulates that it remains a risky proposition to identify as gay in the film industry.
The Korean film ‘Sleep’ has been likened to Rosemary’s Baby, despite being not quite that, it is undeniably a minor masterpiece of mood. In contrast, the moon-themed romantic comedy starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, unfortunately failed to take off. The intriguing story behind ‘The Zone of Interest’ is depicted in the documentary ‘The Commandant’s Shadow’.
Contrary to expectations, the internet didn’t become the new cinema or the new television platform; instead, it became the equivalent of fundamental technological revolutions – the latest version of electricity or the wheel.
In retrospect, suggesting that I was ready to reverse my emigration decision if the political situation had shifted is untruthful. However, one could be deluded into thinking that the country was on the brink of drastic transformation. Signs of wealth were evident, and new communities of immigrants were sprouting. Individuals like me were deciding whether to stay or leave. At the same time, the early stages of the talks that resulted in the 1998 Belfast Agreement were taking shape.
The point at which the transformational wave among young Irish people started might be debatable. However, it was unmistakable that the country was navigating through uncertain waters as the new millennium dawned. A number of insightful discussions highlighted the fact that Ireland had experienced more change in a decade than over the half-century before. This wasn’t entirely nonsense.
Of course, this column focused predominantly on culture is slightly early in its delivery. Constraints on space forbid an extensive analysis of the effective way Irish films, television shows, plays, novels, music and more grappled with the societal shifts during the first quarter. Nonetheless, the global visibility our culture has received during this period is unparalleled. Hence, the nation’s nonchalant response to Paul Mescal’s debut in the teaser for Ridley Scott’s extravagantly budgeted ‘Gladiator II’ on Tuesday didn’t come as a surprise. Complacency seems inevitable under such circumstances.
Several noteworthy British actors such as Ruth Negga, Saoirse Ronan, Michael Fassbender, Colin Farrell, Ciaran Hinds, Kenneth Branagh, Barry Keoghan, Jessie Buckley, Kerry Condon, and Paul Mescal have been acknowledged with Oscar nominations in the 21st century. Equally, Cillian Murphy and Daniel Day-Lewis have obtained victory post-2000. The waves of joy that the nation felt when Dana clinched the Eurovision contest seems like ancient history. You are free to recollect the winners of the Booker Prize yourself and muse over the evolution of folk nuances and personal spins on post-punk that emerged. Indeed, this period was marked by much symbolic fanfare.
In sync with the dawn of the 21st century, another phenomenon reached its zenith: the advent of reality media. Quite fittingly, the UK’s first Big Brother premiered in 2000. The cultural discourse over the previous quarter-century, however, has been undeniably entwined with a larger tech breakthrough. As the aftermath of television consumption dominated the latter half of the previous century, the early segment of the 2000s was marked by cohabitation with the internet. Although it existed in 2000, one could still evade it. Now, its ubiquity is so expansive that highlighting it feels awkward. Contrary to expectations, it neither assumed the position of the new cinema nor the new television. Instead, it became the new electric power or wheel.
This is not going to be the century of the internet. Given its pervasive presence, it might as well be likened to the ubiquity of oxygen in today’s times.