The Absurd Theater of Modern Icons: From Ice to Screen to Runway

The Sisyphean Struggle of the Auteur

In a world where meaning is not given but must be created, we find the auteur Bong Joon Ho pushing his cinematic boulder uphill. “Mickey 17” stands as testament to the fundamental contradiction of our artistic economy – a $118 million investment in vision meeting the cold indifference of a $7.7 million opening weekend. The numbers reveal nothing but the absurdity of our financial systems when confronted with art that dares to challenge.

Like Sisyphus condemned to his eternal task, the filmmaker crafts a satire of dystopian futures, of genetic purity and fanaticism, while the audience – that nameless, faceless collective – responds with apathy. Is this not the perfect metaphor for our financial markets? We build monuments to creativity with massive capital investments, only to watch them crumble under the weight of consumer indifference.

The film’s critique of personality cults and fascist ambitions through “over-the-top storytelling” mirrors our own economic systems – elaborate constructions designed to provide the illusion of meaning in a fundamentally indifferent universe. When we read of a $118 million budget yielding such meager returns, we are witnessing not just a box office disappointment but the absurd mathematics of late capitalism itself.

The Revolutionary’s Pursuit of the Impossible

Meanwhile, on sheets of ice across America, a man named Alex Ovechkin hurls himself toward an impossible goal – 894 times finding the back of a net, simply to equal another man who did the same before him. This “Gr8 Chase” exemplifies man’s need to create meaning through achievement, through numbers, through record books that will eventually turn to dust.

Since 2005, this Russian has fired rubber discs past other men wearing masks and pads, collecting trophies named after dead men – the Hart, the Maurice “Rocket” Richard. We celebrate these achievements as though they contain some fundamental truth, some escape from the indifference of existence. Yet what is 894 goals but an arbitrary marker in the vast emptiness of time?

The economic machine surrounding this pursuit reveals our collective desperation. Millions tune in, merchandise flies off shelves, ticket prices soar – all to witness a man approach a number. This is the economy of myth-making, of hero worship, of our desperate need to believe that excellence in sport somehow transcends the meaninglessness of our day-to-day struggles.

The Fashion of Rebellion in a Conformist Economy

The rise of “WONYOUNGtoPARIS” presents perhaps the most absurd economic theater of all. Here we find the ultimate synthesis of East and West, of youth and tradition, of authenticity and marketing. A K-pop star becomes a Miu Miu ambassador, wearing a vintage floral dress before the cameras of the world’s fashion capital.

The economic machinery behind this cultural moment is staggering – fashion houses investing millions in the calculated spontaneity of a young Korean woman. Her retro style, we’re told, “exemplifies the blend of K-pop aesthetics with European fashion sensibilities.” But what is this blend but the perfect metaphor for global capitalism itself – the constant appropriation and recombination of cultural elements for profit?

The economic implications are clear – Asian markets merge with European tradition, creating new nodes of consumption and desire. The young influencer becomes both product and producer, both consumer and consumed. Her rise to Paris represents the peculiar alchemy of modern celebrity economics – fame transmuted into fashion, fashion into influence, influence into wealth.

The Revolt Against Financial Determinism

What binds these three seemingly disparate trends? Perhaps it is this: each represents a form of revolt against the determined nature of our economic systems.

Bong Joon Ho creates a commercial failure that succeeds as art. Ovechkin pursues a record that matters only because we collectively decide it should matter. Wonyoung rises from K-pop to high fashion, blurring the boundaries between entertainment economies.

The financial implications point toward increasing fragmentation. The $118 million film that earns $7.7 million signals a disconnect between creative investment and audience reception. The hockey star’s pursuit of a record demonstrates the ongoing power of individual achievement to generate economic activity within established systems. The K-pop star’s fashion ascendance reveals the continuing globalization of taste-making and influence.

The Only Serious Philosophical Question

Camus wrote that the only serious philosophical question is suicide. I would suggest that in our hyper-capitalist age, the only serious economic question is participation. Do we accept the absurdity of these systems – the failed blockbusters, the record chases, the manufactured fashion icons – or do we revolt?

The trends above suggest both acceptance and revolt. We accept the financial framework of blockbuster filmmaking while rejecting this particular offering. We embrace the mythology of sports records while knowing their ultimate meaninglessness. We celebrate the global cultural exchange of fashion while recognizing its manufactured nature.

Perhaps true economic rebellion lies not in rejection but in conscious participation – in knowing the system is absurd yet choosing to find meaning within it anyway. Like Sisyphus, we may be condemned to push our economic boulders uphill forever, but we can still find purpose in the pushing.

And in that tension – between knowing the absurdity of our financial systems and choosing to participate anyway – we might just find something like freedom.