Were you a Teenage Dirtbag? Or is this just an excuse to post hot photos?

“OK, your haircut wasn’t flattering, or that jumper wasn’t that exciting, but that’s a really small ‘dirtbag’ quality,” says Rosewarne of the celebrities’ take on the trend, which began in 2021 and began resurfacing in July this year. “Particularly people like Reese Witherspoon; she’s been famous since she was a teenager. Her dirtbag phase was when she was being a Hollywood commodity. So it’s kind of like, ‘well, yeah, you look different’, but you were still successful. So, there’s a limit to the transition.”

She’s not wrong. Reese Witherspoon may sport bantu knots and tadpole eyebrows, and Martha Stewart might look like a Dynasty extra in her black bustier. And, sure, Kevin Bacon looks like he’s trying to seduce his teacher in a cheesy 1980s rom-com in a photograph in which he runs his hands through his hair. But none would make the cut for Revenge of The Nerds.

And, adds Davis of the meme: “It’s generally looking back at an unflattering past in a way that casts light on a more flattering present.”

And the memes have ushered in kudos for the participating celebrities.

“YOU’RE SO GORGEOUS EVERYTIME” wrote one person, below Demi Lovato’s Tik Tok.

“You haven’t aged at all!!xxx” wrote another, under Victoria Beckham’s.

This is because the “Teenage Dirtbag” meme is just the latest #glowup meme, like the “How It Started vs How It’s Going” meme and the “10 Year Challenge”, says Rosewarne. They’re all avenues for people to show how they’ve become more attractive or accomplished (or both).

So, the latest meme is just more evidence that we’re all a bunch of narcissists, endlessly seeking validation?

“Right,” says Davis. “We’re all, I think, just maybe a little bit needy.”

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But it could be worse, she says. The 1960s and 1970s version of the “Teenage Dirtbag meme” – the ritual countless people partook in as a means to, like the current meme, share who they once were and bask in nostalgia – was the dreaded vacation slide show.

“The vacation slide show was a thing, [where people would say] ‘Do you want to see our vacation slide show?’ The person’s bored out of their mind watching another person’s slide show.”

At least, she says, the Teenage Dirtbag memes are entertaining. “Yeah, we’ve come a long way. It’s funnier. And there’s music.”

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