This is coming from a teenage boy, man I fucking absolutely cannot stand this bullshit sigma culture. I understand the general concept of wanting to work hard and blah blah blah, thats commendable, and if thats the main thing people took away from their whole message, but its really not. One of my best friends for example, at least he used to be. Got brainwashed by all this shit. He’s literally a slave to tiktok, every single second of free time I see him have, he is scrolling on tiktok, he’s like actually a bot. This dude is upper middle class, picture perfect parents, the fucking upbringing id kill to have (context: abusive household;shitty parents, poor) The sigma culture made him fake being depressed. He’s always been aware of my upbringing, but i swear to god he believes the weight of the world is on him, he thinks he has the hardest life out of anyone in the room. Its like a competition for him, because the sigma culture has romanticized starting from nothing, so he wants to act like he has nothing. He 24/7 acts depressed now, on purpose, not saying a word. But then out of nowhere will just turn into a clown if we’re in a group. Its only if you’re with him 1 on 1 he puts up that facade. Once he even told me I look stupid because I’m usually joking around/being socially engaged whenever I’m around with friends/peers, and implying I have no life struggles. Like, mother fucker, you’ve know since 3rd grade my parents beat me, and you’re gonna tell me about struggle? You live in a fucking gated community, go fuck yourself. I give his bum ass rides on Wednesday to the gym cuz his parents got work that day each week, and really can’t say no, my mom says its alright even if I don’t like him, since we’re going to the same place right after school, its no harm. Couple weeks ago, he was ragging on my clothes (he dresses in an emo all black cuz “he’s literally batman”) knowing im poor and can’t afford nice shit. Like it actually infuriates me. Then the other big thing is the “sigma” takeover of arthouse media. Like, ever since I was in middle school, when I got into that shit, my gateway being Scorcese and Kubrick like most cinephiles, I’ve known I’ve wanted to be a filmmaker. Appreciating how many of these experimental and artistic works transcend entertainment for a thought provoking message, satire, comments on the state of the society and culture that birthed them etc. He made fun of those films thinking them odd, like once when I showed him a clip of “A Clockwork Orange”. Now the sigma culture has take the tip of the iceberg most basic of this genre of filmmaking (taxi driver, drive, nightcrawler, fight club, American psycho, etc.) And taken out all the meaning, and glorifying those characters, completely destroying the meaning of what they represent. This guy really fell in love with homlander from the boys (the show is much better than the comics, comics felt much more full of shock value, while the show delivered on some biting satire of our current society, along with thought provoking themes and brilliantly written and acted characters) but doesn’t fucking realize homelander is an exact parody of the type of “culture” my friend likes. (Hes also into Andrew tate and all that red pill b.s) Homelander literally made fun of the “literally me sigma” shit in season 2 when he identified with Travis bickle in taxi driver during the shoot out climax of the film. Then in season 3 homelander becomes almost a full stand in for Donald Trump, corporate greed and corruption, among many other things, and this satire apparently does not register to him?? And a lot of times he doesn’t even finish the shows, he watched in total six episodes of peak blinders, and I don’t even know if he finished season 2 of the boys. And lots of the movies he “loves” he hasn’t even watched, he just opts for tiktok edits. It pissed me off because this culture is making a fucking mockery of something im really passionate about, like its so infuriating when even the most basic satire or message goes over these people’s head. They group Homelander, Travis Bickle, Batman (Despite them never even touching a damn comic book in their life, or matter of fact, any piece of batman media but the 2022 matt reeves film), Thomas Shelby, Patrick Bateman, etc. Into the SAME CATEGORY. Even though these characters would literally be at eachother throats if you put them into a room together. That’s all, thanks for reading, hopefully somone does.