As a millennial, I find it hard to understand the workings of the Gen Z brain. Just like Gen X and baby boomers look down upon us, millennials, we seem to embody similar dismissive behaviours. This claim of course begins with the assumption that hordes of people can be lumped into a certain ‘type’ simply due to their birth era without considering their various identities including their geographical locality, class, gender and so much more. Which is why the current Gen Z trend of #BratSummer has become a source of impatience and dismissal for me personally. Maybe it is because I am no longer cool, I still wear skinny jeans (Gen Z ‘cancelled’ skinny jeans a while ago), or probably because I am in this phase of life where #BratSummer lifestyle is no longer appealing.
The BratSummer trend is inspired by the British singer Charli XCX’s hit album, ‘Brat’ released on June 7, 2024. The singer herself explained Brat further in a TikTok video by stating, ‘You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb thing sometimes. Who feels herself but may also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.’
I am not a big music connoisseur so I cannot comment upon the music or the album itself. #BratSummer seems to have inspired a pop culture revolution making its way to the New York Times mini crossword and the lime green minimalistic album cover art actually making its way to Kamala Harris’s banner on X (formerly Twitter). Well, go figure. Or perhaps this conveys the importance of this current generation, and how what they say or do inspires trends, and actually motivates PR departments of politicians to revamp their campaigning strategy. Which seems to have worked. At least it appears so when the pop artist herself later tweeted, ‘Kamala IS Brat!’
Beats me, really. The world that I grew up in, you’d call someone a brat if they misbehaved, were petulant, wanted things their own way, or were just generally unruly. Note that there is nothing wrong in being unruly and that is where the Harris campaign is targeting – that humans are flawed, and they sometimes do and say dumb things, and that’s alright. This reckoning that human beings are imperfect makes an individual, particularly a politician, quite likeable, very important when the contest centers on who gets to sit at the helm of world politics.
Language evolves, and words take on new meanings. The word, ‘brat’ itself was initially used to denote ‘a garment, or a robe’ in old English which then became associated with a child’s garment, or robe that was unruly. This may have led to its modern semantic and here in 2024, the word is re-branded. The current meme trend however still makes me uncomfortable.
Because despite the oh-so-likeable sentiments that this word being used for Harris may inspire, I do not want a ‘brat’ (modern or 2024 era) to sit at the top of world politics. Not when there are thousands of children and women being killed ruthlessly by Israeli forces, of which Harris states, ‘Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself’. While she acknowledges that the scale of suffering in Gaza is ‘heartbreaking’, it appears to be a matter of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. Being a woman doesn’t justify her actions or her calling herself a feminist if her politics support mutilation of women and children of another land or another people.
Israel will continue to assert its right to ‘defence’ itself and this will inevitably lead to massive suffering and slaughter of innocent civilians. Do I (or rather Americans) want someone who makes mistakes during this time and ‘stumbles’ their way through, if we accept the proposition that ‘Kamala IS brat’? And let it go because women are perceived to be feminine is which of course highly problematic and in no way to end with a pop culture reference with brat in it only to seem cool with the youth of America.
At this point in time, there are no room for mistakes. There is no space for ‘volatility’ (note I am borrowing from the words used to define ‘brat’), not when it comes to the US foreign policy and the constant arming of Israel by the US, an important concern for the pro-Palestinian US voters. Kamala cannot be ‘dumb’ when it comes to overturning of Roe Vs Wade, an area that she has wholeheartedly supported. While the world would appreciate someone ‘honest’, and endearing as some of Harris’s quirks have been termed, a world leader and politician cannot be cruising along the summer (inspired by #BratSummer), seemingly unaffected by the magnitude of suffering occurring around the globe, whether it is in the Middle East, or Sudan.
To me, using this trend in fact appears a bit distasteful, slightly ‘cringey’ in contrast to what has been termed as ingenious to cater to young voters.
The writer is Assistant Professor at CBEC, SIUT
