leo! lana! being this shit on!
June 28, 2018 8:55 AM Subscribe
I’m not a party guy but I’d be down if someone threw a real roaring 20’s party for 2020. Like real tuxedos and all. Not shirtless dudes with a bow tie. Like a real Gatsby party with everyone fully dressed like the era.-Feinberg previously
-Tangential Reductress: Gatsby-Themed Wedding Ideas That Say, 'I Didn’t Read The Book'
I think a couple of shirtless dudes with bowties would be great for this party. Don't want to overdo it, but don't want to under-do it either.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am very nearly to the point where I have been not-a-teenager for longer than I was a teenager, and I still find it mildly amusing just on its face. Because it's 2020. How... how do you need to think about this this much? This is overthinking even by Metafilter standards.
posted by Sequence at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's funny, when I look at pictures from the past, young people from the 1950s and 1940s still have an "old" look to them, even though they were young when the pictures were taken.
But the young people from the 1920s are different -- they actually look young. They don't look as old-fashioned or proper. You can imagine them having a good time a lot more easily.
I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
posted by dcipjr at 9:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
But the young people from the 1920s are different -- they actually look young. They don't look as old-fashioned or proper. You can imagine them having a good time a lot more easily.
I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
posted by dcipjr at 9:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Sequence: I am very nearly to the point where I have been not-a-teenager for longer than I was a teenager
Wouldn't that happen when you turn 21 or so, assuming that you become a teenager when you turn 10?
posted by clawsoon at 9:14 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wouldn't that happen when you turn 21 or so, assuming that you become a teenager when you turn 10?
posted by clawsoon at 9:14 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Have you seen the breathtakingly-stupid stuff your former high school classmates share on Facebook? This thoroughly anodyne tweet doesn't even crack the top hundred most-baffling shares.
(But I guess I would go with the "local Twitter" explanations, for what it's worth.)
posted by uncleozzy at 9:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
(But I guess I would go with the "local Twitter" explanations, for what it's worth.)
posted by uncleozzy at 9:15 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Haven't Gatsby-themed parties been a thing for... a while?
I mean, people hold full-on 20's themed parties, like, on the regular. I feel like I'm missing something.
posted by BungaDunga at 9:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
I mean, people hold full-on 20's themed parties, like, on the regular. I feel like I'm missing something.
posted by BungaDunga at 9:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Okay, longer than I was a-teenager-or-younger, shh, don't expect me to do math, it's not like I have an accounting degree. I mean that I'm in my late 30s and "oh hey the numbers match" is not something you need to be under 20 to understand.
posted by Sequence at 9:16 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by Sequence at 9:16 AM on June 28, 2018
My 20th high school reunion is in August, and it (of course) has a 1920s theme.
posted by minsies at 9:22 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by minsies at 9:22 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Gatsby-Themed Wedding Ideas That Say, 'I Didn’t Read The Book'
Well, that's OK. It was clear that the producers of the '74 movie didn't read the book, either, otherwise they would have switched Robert Redford and Sam Waterston.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well, that's OK. It was clear that the producers of the '74 movie didn't read the book, either, otherwise they would have switched Robert Redford and Sam Waterston.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
We're living in a new Gilded Age, so why not?
posted by Sangermaine at 9:26 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Sangermaine at 9:26 AM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
This is kid stuff. Get somebody to explain why I can't get enough of namaste.at.home.dad's meme work, even though I don't understand it half the time.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:29 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by tobascodagama at 9:29 AM on June 28, 2018
Also, the "shirtless dude with a bow tie" thing is obviously a reference to Chippendale dancers, like come on.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:31 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 9:31 AM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Haven't Gatsby-themed parties been a thing for... a while?
I think every generation (possibly just white/middle class?) falls in love with Gatsby aesthetic every 5 or 10 years. Right around the time they discover spirits.
posted by Think_Long at 9:32 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think every generation (possibly just white/middle class?) falls in love with Gatsby aesthetic every 5 or 10 years. Right around the time they discover spirits.
posted by Think_Long at 9:32 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Nah, my generation bafflingly fell in love with 1950s Rat Pack look, which is decidedly less cool than the Jazz Age aesthetic.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:40 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:40 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
“Never underestimate the viral power of ‘heh cool’ “
posted by midmarch snowman at 9:41 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by midmarch snowman at 9:41 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Is this the place where I can say that I lobbied HARD for our graduation song to be "I'm going to party like it's 1999", but everyone went with "Freebird" instead? It has started a lifetime feud between me and that song. If you can't have a real tuxedo "roaring '20's" party in 2020, then I don't want to live on this planet any more.
...
I too was not a "party guy".
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 9:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
...
I too was not a "party guy".
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 9:44 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
What's up, my fellow teens did you know that Jackson Browne and Scott Fitzgerald jammed together on Tender Is The Night? You gotta play that.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by octobersurprise at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2018
It was clear that the producers of the '74 movie didn't read the book, either, otherwise they would have switched Robert Redford and Sam Waterston.
I am not familiar with this movie, and initially misread Sam Waterston as Sam Donaldson, and was like, "Whoa, that movie sounds awesome."
posted by compartment at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I am not familiar with this movie, and initially misread Sam Waterston as Sam Donaldson, and was like, "Whoa, that movie sounds awesome."
posted by compartment at 9:50 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
1920s-themed things have definitely been big for a while. I was stage manager for a local burlesque/variety show with a decidedly 1920s aesthetic in the early 2000s. Our friends held a 1920s themed wedding* a few years ago. I view it as the next party maturity step after '80s/'90s parties - when one moves beyond playing Edward 40 Hands while ironic-listening to Debbie Gibson to enjoying bespoke cocktails and half-listening to Ella Fitzgerald.
As for this tweet, I hadn't heard the term 'local twitter' before but have certainly seen the phenomenon of the 'I just want chicken tenders with ketchup'-type tweets bafflingly racking up thousands of retweets. That explanation for this tweet's popularity makes the most sense to me: big numbers from people who both like the mundane-unto-cliche idea of Gatsby party and from those who seek to mock it as basic.
The thing with the three 20s being 'oh hah', though, I don't have any kind of an idea.
*-apropos of nothing, my kid and partner in their '20s drag
posted by palindromic at 9:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
As for this tweet, I hadn't heard the term 'local twitter' before but have certainly seen the phenomenon of the 'I just want chicken tenders with ketchup'-type tweets bafflingly racking up thousands of retweets. That explanation for this tweet's popularity makes the most sense to me: big numbers from people who both like the mundane-unto-cliche idea of Gatsby party and from those who seek to mock it as basic.
The thing with the three 20s being 'oh hah', though, I don't have any kind of an idea.
*-apropos of nothing, my kid and partner in their '20s drag
posted by palindromic at 9:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Wherein a writer for the Huffington Post tricked a bunch of teenagers in to writing essays about The Great Gatsby and its place in contemporary pop/teen culture simply by presenting them with a weird, popular tweet. English teachers ought to be paying attention.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:53 AM on June 28, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by mudpuppie at 9:53 AM on June 28, 2018 [33 favorites]
1920s-themed things have definitely been big for a while.
I remember my mom and dad going to a '20's-themed party when the '74 movie came out.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:56 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I remember my mom and dad going to a '20's-themed party when the '74 movie came out.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:56 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
English teachers ought to be paying attention
there is an excellent tumblr post by an english teacher who taught romeo & juliet by having her class retell the story via character rpg social media accounts.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:57 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
there is an excellent tumblr post by an english teacher who taught romeo & juliet by having her class retell the story via character rpg social media accounts.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:57 AM on June 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
The final sentence of this article is absolutely perfect.
posted by torridly at 10:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by torridly at 10:05 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm a much of a sucker for early art deco, bow ties, and gin drinks as anybody. . . but why's it always got to be Gatsby? There are lots of other options. Even famous ones. Come on, how hard is an AL Capone party or a Cab Calloway party? Even if it weren't a nearly unreadable book, Gatsby doesn't actually celebrate the aesthetics that it's used to evoke. (Which is fine, and could be interesting, except the author rejects them for petty, shockingly dull reasons that could have easily been expressed in a three page short story, or a couple of tweets.) This is a lesson that we need to broaden the early 20th century American literature that we force kids to read in school.
To be fair, I've been told that my Winesburg, Ohio parties are really depressing.
posted by eotvos at 10:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
To be fair, I've been told that my Winesburg, Ohio parties are really depressing.
posted by eotvos at 10:06 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Also, the distinction needs to be made about Twitter popularity. If something gets thousands of likes and retweets, it's usually people from people mildly agreeing with something. The numbers themselves would make you think people are losing their minds over this tweet, but it's mostly thousands of people staring glass-eyed at their phones going "heh".
posted by Philipschall at 10:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Philipschall at 10:16 AM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Just so long as we agree that Ryan Reynolds should play Gatsby in any future adaptations since he's already been Green Lantern and Dead Pool.
posted by straight at 10:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by straight at 10:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Now do a piece about why there are so many memes that consist of nothing but a pithy quote with a picture of a Minion standing next to it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:31 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:31 AM on June 28, 2018
*-apropos of nothing, my kid and partner in their '20s drag
*further apropos of nothing, recently I had to go to a Roaring 20s party, only it was black tie, and how to turn a regular tux into a Roaring 20s tux? I slapped a button on it saying 'Repeal the 18th'. I thought it was clever, but I only got confused looks.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:47 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
*further apropos of nothing, recently I had to go to a Roaring 20s party, only it was black tie, and how to turn a regular tux into a Roaring 20s tux? I slapped a button on it saying 'Repeal the 18th'. I thought it was clever, but I only got confused looks.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:47 AM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
That was educational and successfully reinforced my feeling of extreme oldness.
posted by latkes at 11:39 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by latkes at 11:39 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
tbh I just wanna party with Baz Luhrman.
posted by gucci mane at 11:58 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 11:58 AM on June 28, 2018
This is a painfully tone-deaf exploration of a worthy topic. dcipjr solves most of it in half a paragraph.
Prohibition, jazz, and gangsters are cool. Adults stripped of adult rights acted like crazy teenagers and sewed the seeds for the cultural revolutions of the coming century. All this during the birth of Hollywood and race records. This isn't a mystery
posted by es_de_bah at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Prohibition, jazz, and gangsters are cool. Adults stripped of adult rights acted like crazy teenagers and sewed the seeds for the cultural revolutions of the coming century. All this during the birth of Hollywood and race records. This isn't a mystery
posted by es_de_bah at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
mudpuppie: Wherein a writer for the Huffington Post tricked a bunch of teenagers in to writing essays about The Great Gatsby and its place in contemporary pop/teen culture simply by presenting them with a weird, popular tweet. English teachers ought to be paying attention.
So, class, which characters do you think have BDE?
posted by mhum at 12:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
So, class, which characters do you think have BDE?
posted by mhum at 12:57 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
You forgot Art Deco. Art Deco is also cool.
posted by capricorn at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by capricorn at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
To be fair, I've been told that my Winesburg, Ohio parties are really depressing.
You want a Jazz Age party, not a jazz hands party!
posted by chavenet at 1:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
You want a Jazz Age party, not a jazz hands party!
posted by chavenet at 1:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Why does the above tweet have over 330,000 likes and 84,000 retweets?
Because Twitter is the Internet's biggest cesspool and needs to be destroyed ASAP?
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:41 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Because Twitter is the Internet's biggest cesspool and needs to be destroyed ASAP?
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:41 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Gatsby-Themed Wedding Ideas
Obsessively stalk the bride, die in a swimming pool.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Obsessively stalk the bride, die in a swimming pool.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
So, class, which characters do you think have BDE?
Jordan, Daisy’s daughter, and TJ Eckleburg.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:09 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Jordan, Daisy’s daughter, and TJ Eckleburg.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:09 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
For the entire six years I worked at a vintage shop, we had at least one customer per week looking for something to wear to a 20s party. And at least one for a 70s party. No other decades. Sometimes there'd be a handful of 60s parties around the Mad Men season finale.
It drove me bonkers, because no one actually wanted clothes from those actual eras. They wanted the Halloween costume version, even if they said they wanted the real thing. But of course they couldn't have the real thing, either, because actual extant 1920s dresses are mostly tiny, expensive, extremely fragile, and totally unflattering to a modern eye.
I would suggest alternative to the "generic flapper" look everyone came in for, trying to talk up all the other interesting things that happened in the 20s. You could be an Egyptologist! an aviatrix! a revolutionary!
...and then I would find them a 60s black drop-waisted cocktail dress, long gloves, and a long strand of pearls. Usually they'd also be mad that we didn't have any fascinators or cigarette holders.
I'm opening my own vintage shop next month, and this is totally gonna start happening again, and it is the thing I am least looking forward to. We're gonna host decade theme nights, but *very* rarely 20s, and when we do I'm giving out some kind of prize for, like, least generic costume. Maybe it'll help.
posted by nonasuch at 2:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
It drove me bonkers, because no one actually wanted clothes from those actual eras. They wanted the Halloween costume version, even if they said they wanted the real thing. But of course they couldn't have the real thing, either, because actual extant 1920s dresses are mostly tiny, expensive, extremely fragile, and totally unflattering to a modern eye.
I would suggest alternative to the "generic flapper" look everyone came in for, trying to talk up all the other interesting things that happened in the 20s. You could be an Egyptologist! an aviatrix! a revolutionary!
...and then I would find them a 60s black drop-waisted cocktail dress, long gloves, and a long strand of pearls. Usually they'd also be mad that we didn't have any fascinators or cigarette holders.
I'm opening my own vintage shop next month, and this is totally gonna start happening again, and it is the thing I am least looking forward to. We're gonna host decade theme nights, but *very* rarely 20s, and when we do I'm giving out some kind of prize for, like, least generic costume. Maybe it'll help.
posted by nonasuch at 2:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
nonasuch: ...and then I would find them a 60s black drop-waisted cocktail dress, long gloves, and a long strand of pearls. Usually they'd also be mad that we didn't have any fascinators or cigarette holders.
Sounds like a cheap-knockoff business opportunity.
I had a girlfriend who got excited about genuine 1920s hats in a shop once... until she tried them on, and the shopkeeper explained how much smaller the average person's head was back then.
posted by clawsoon at 2:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sounds like a cheap-knockoff business opportunity.
I had a girlfriend who got excited about genuine 1920s hats in a shop once... until she tried them on, and the shopkeeper explained how much smaller the average person's head was back then.
posted by clawsoon at 2:26 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Read the last line of the OP. Please read the last line. Someone upthread said it already - but please do it!
(Lovely post)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:48 PM on June 28, 2018
(Lovely post)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 2:48 PM on June 28, 2018
I am randomly inspired by this. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to combine those new years glasses/masks with the year and the sunglasses that let you see behind yourself and make "hindsight is 2020" an actual thing.
posted by gryftir at 3:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gryftir at 3:07 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's this nightclub around the corner from here called Prohibition. I think you need to be dressed as a flapper to get in. It looks like a lot of fun for someone who isn't me.
posted by adept256 at 3:41 PM on June 28, 2018
posted by adept256 at 3:41 PM on June 28, 2018
I'm just reading the 'about the venue' part of that website
“The brick walls remain as ghosts from previous tenants, slyly eluding to the bathtub gin connections of the time from which Prohibition has been inspired.”
Er, no. I remember the previous three tenants and I think you're thinking of bath-tub speed.
And prohibition was never tried in Australia because... y'know.
posted by adept256 at 3:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
“The brick walls remain as ghosts from previous tenants, slyly eluding to the bathtub gin connections of the time from which Prohibition has been inspired.”
Er, no. I remember the previous three tenants and I think you're thinking of bath-tub speed.
And prohibition was never tried in Australia because... y'know.
posted by adept256 at 3:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
I guess I'm officially an Old, can anyone explain what "quite-tweeting" is?
posted by heyforfour at 4:55 AM on June 29, 2018
posted by heyforfour at 4:55 AM on June 29, 2018
It's just a misspelling of "quote-tweet".
posted by tobascodagama at 6:59 AM on June 29, 2018
posted by tobascodagama at 6:59 AM on June 29, 2018
If you overthink it, you lose.
Though I also think part of the reason the 20s are popular is we recognize the modernity of their pop culture works, but they are out of copyright so we can sample them freely.
posted by subdee at 9:53 AM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
Though I also think part of the reason the 20s are popular is we recognize the modernity of their pop culture works, but they are out of copyright so we can sample them freely.
posted by subdee at 9:53 AM on June 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by chavenet at 9:01 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]