Every year certain themes dominate popular culture, acting as a tell-tale sign of what everyone is experiencing. Indicators of what topics are trending can be determined by the television shows and movies everyone watches. The games people play online and the year’s bestselling novels. Trending topics can also be seen throughout social media as well as through new releases and inventions, some even changing the way we look at the world.
2022 was no different and saw three trends dominate popular culture: fantasy, sci-fi, and dark academia.
Fantasy
The fantasy genre has been popular for years now, and 2022 has been no exception. Two of the biggest shows released this year were House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Both shows introduce audiences to another world, and both shows broke records with how many people tuned in together for each premier.
In the gaming realm, one of the most popular releases this year was Elden Ring, a vast, fantastical world written by George RR Martin of Game of Thrones fame. Even the online casino industry saw a rise in fantasy-themed casino games, with one popular casino UK site seeing many people gravitate towards games like Book of Dead, Dragons Cluster Buster, and Fury of Odin, where players can interact with fantasy scripts. The book world was no different, with trending books including Court of Thorns and Roses and the Six of Crows, with the latter also having a spinoff Netflix series.
Sci-Fi
This is another genre that may not surprise you as this popular motif has been around for generations, but the difference this past year is with the rise of the Metaverse, Web 3.0, and virtual reality, sci-fi is beginning to become our reality as the virtual world competes with the real one. This year saw the rise of AR/XR headsets and the Playstation VR 2, while some of the most popular movies and series this year revolved around sci-fi, including Disney’s newest Star Wars show, Andor.
Dark Academia
The dark academia trend started a few years ago through social media sites like Tumblr, TikTok, and Pinterest, as well as the popularity of the book The Secret History. This trend is a nod to the past, maybe of simpler times, with recurring imagery of bohemians writing poetry in darkly lit University libraries and studying fine art in classic Greek buildings. The wardrobe usually resembles an Oxford University student in the 1940s but can also romanticize Victorian-era garb and art deco mixed with film noir. It’s more of a feeling than a period.
In 2022, dark academia was seen on more than just social media. Popular movies released in this genre include Amsterdam and See How They Run. A popular subgenre on TikTok is BookTok, where dark academia fans share their favorite reads, one being the bestselling novel by Matt Haig called the Midnight Library, where the heroine explores the many facets of her life through reading novels in a magical library.
