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Can someone explain me USA obsession with prom and similar school rituals? (lemm.ee)

submitted 5 months ago by FookReddit69@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I just don't get it... Why is that important, especially for kids now, that feel like they need to do a YouTube video asking for a date or doing some meme stuff. Some teens even hire the hottest celebrity or ask them to appear in their prom? This is so bizarre for me, all that just for a frivolous night.

In my country prom was a thing but nowhere near as theatrical, I didn't went to either my prom trip or the party. Also skipped half of my middle school trips.

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[–] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 5 months ago

The rituals started in the 1950s. At that time, in order to go on a date with someone, your parents had to chaperone you. It was the wisdom at the time. Prom and homecoming were the only exceptions, so it became a really big thing. Then those people grew up, impressed upon the next generation how homecoming and prom were the best times in high school, started making nostalgia movies about homecoming and prom. That created pressure to live up to this, girls started getting overly fancy dresses, guys started doing elaborate prom-posals, the wedding dress industry jumped in to fill the gap, and now it's a whole capitalism-fest like Christmas and Valentine's Day