This week on The Deep Dive: How UwU transcended itself, now that indie sleaze might be making a comeback it’s time to talk about Cory Kennedy, Gen Z’s never really worked in an office but now they’re dressing like they have, the worst-kept secret behind Boeing’s flop era, and let’s just go ahead and add horses to the list of things women and girls can’t enjoy without being ridiculed.

Coming tomorrow on The Rabbit Hole, binge-watching Vanderpump Rules is like digging up a time capsule. Last week, I wrote about my thoughts as someone who was way too late to the Big Brother hype.

INTERNET

The Etymology of UwU by STRANGE ÆONS (16:35)

Whether you were an early adopter of the internet or only became aware of anime culture when it went mainstream in the 2010s, any chronically online person knows about the cutesy emoticon-turned-sound: UwU. But where did it come from and how did it come to represent an entire online subculture? In this video, STRANGE ÆONS gets to the bottom of UwU, dating all the way back to the year 2000. From bare-bones forums to a copypasta to a rap adaptation of the copypasta to the rap adaptation finally making its way to TikTok, the story of UwU spanned internet generations, eventually becoming a meme of itself.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Cory Kennedy: The Internet’s First It-Girl and Muse of Indie Sleaze by Final Girl Studios (25:50)

It was 2006 and 16-year-old Cory Kennedy, the internet’s first “it girl” who arguably paved the way for influencers in the decade to come, was living every mid-2000s teen girl’s dream – with questionable approval from her parents. In this video, Final Girl Studios details the explosive rise and sudden online disappearance of “the princess of indie sleaze.” Even if you don’t recognize Cory Kennedy by name or face, anyone in the 25-35 crowd could spot her personal style and aesthetic from a mile away. If you ever stole your mom’s digital camera for a photo shoot with your friends that consisted of smudged eye makeup, squatting on the side of the street, a solid-colored background, and the kind of super-bright flash that could only be produced by a point-and-shoot, you have Cory Kennedy to thank for that.

This issue of The Deep Dive is sponsored by Strong Towns

Less than a month left until the Strong Towns National Gathering…

And I want to see you there! If you don’t already know, Strong Towns is a YouTube channel dedicated to a better future for America's towns and neighborhoods. This year, Strong Towns is holding its National Gathering on May 14-15 in Cincinnati. The event will feature sessions about building safer streets, how to talk to your community about the need for public investment, and more.

Register for the event here and use code HAYAK2024 to get 10% off General Admission tickets. If you do buy tickets, hit reply and let me know so I can connect you with other rabbits who will be attending!

CULTURE

everybody’s obsessed with the retro corporate aesthetic by Mina Le (33:30)

In a time of record-low occupancy rates in city office buildings following COVID-era work-from-home policies, a post-Silicon Valley idealism hangover, Gen Z’s general apathy towards work, and a discouraging job market despite the government and business media really trying to convince us otherwise, what could possibly be fueling the rise of the retro corporate aesthetic? In this video, Mina Le explores what happens when an entire generation of young people don’t know what it’s like to work an office job – they romanticize it. Why work at home with a brand-new clickety-clackety keyboard when you could pretend to be Ally McBeal or Gisele Bündchen’s cameo in The Devil Wears Prada? And now that we’ve learned to see right through the “coolified” tech offices of the 2010s, have cubicles and fluorescent lighting come to represent, in some way, a better work-life balance?

BUSINESS

Boeing: How Capitalism Crashes Planes by Elliot Sang (38:04)

Why is Boeing falling off (literally) so hard? If you ask The New York Times, the answer might be “bad airmanship.” If you ask John Oliver in a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, the answer would have something to do with a deeply flawed company culture that simply lost its way after the good ol’ days. But in this video, Elliot Sang identifies the underlying theme behind why, in a shocking and completely unprecedented move by a massive American corporation, Boeing began prioritizing profit over its trademark quality. Capitalism. The answer is capitalism. I bet you didn’t see that one coming! Anyway – please, if you can help it, do your best to avoid flying on 737-MAXs. To state the obvious, it’s never a great sign when a whistleblower dies just as suspicious details start coming to light.

POP CULTURE

The "Horse Girl" phenomenon 🐴 by Tara Mooknee (56:49)

When you first heard the term “horse girl,” a very specific person from your childhood probably came to mind – we all either knew one or were one. It was all fun and games at first, but somewhere along the way, the horse girl hate started to get…misogynistic. Besides, it’s not the horse girl’s fault that horse-related hobbies have been historically feminized despite still being dominated by men, or that there’s so much great horse-themed media, or that owning a horse requires a lot of time, money, attention, and energy, or that, dare I say, horses are just cool animals. That said, there are valid criticisms of Horse Culture to be made (like racism and classism) as well as interesting comparisons between American horse girls and British horse girls, which has a lot to do with the UK’s lack of “yee-haw” vibes. Sorry that was bad, but I’m keeping it.

The Deep Dive’s Bonus Video of the Week

Shout out to LJ from France/Philippines (a citizen of the world!) for the recommendation.

Any lover of cozy games has complained at least once about the lack of variety the category has to offer – and for good reason, do we really need another farming sim? Before you blame indie game developers, how can we realistically expect them to shoot for the moon and try something completely new when their entire livelihoods are at stake? On a separate note, Maybe: Salem might have the most calming voice I’ve ever heard, and the quote “Money talks, but I wish money would shut the fuck up for once” was so good, I think I might have briefly lost consciousness after hearing it. And if you want more on cozy games and capitalism, check out this video by Zoe Bee I recommended a few months back.

If you have a bonus video you want to share for a shoutout in an upcoming newsletter, check out the poll below – it doesn’t even have to be a video essay!

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