I haven't done this in over a week but here is part 6 of this Occulturation series that this YouTuber (of the same name) posted.

In this video, Occulturation looks at the current zeitgeist of the 2020s and best describes it as a "Testing" period. He considers the period in between the Depression and Testing to be the lowest point of the cycle  because, as he put it, "nobody wants to be here". He references the Wizard of Oz as a representative form of this media for "Testing" era art, which came out 86 years ago (1939), on the cusp of the 1940s, since we're still in this current decade and there hasn't really been a piece of art that accurately reflects this zeitgeist just yet, and based on his 80-year "stages of grief" cycle, the 1940s was the last "Testing" stage. 

He briefly touched on the previous cycle as a whole, with the 1890s representing the last "Shock" stage (like the 1970s), the 1900s as the last "Denial" stage (like the 1980s), the 1910s as the last "Anger" stage (like the 1990s), the 1920s as the last "Bargaining stage (like the 2000s), the 1930s as the last "Depression" stage, and the 1950s as the last "Acceptance" stage (which he thinks the 2030s will represent this stage). He even mentions the 1960s as the last "Peace" stage (this would mean that the 2040s will be the next stage).

The old power structure is revealed in the Testing stage and gets dismantled as we transition into the next global superpower. Many ideas and viewpoints will be entertained in this period, while one is ultimately prevail by the time we enter the Acceptance stage. 

He attributes the "Multiverse" as the genre of fiction that best categorizes the Testing period. The reason for this is because the 2020s is essentially defined by not having a distinct theme of its own but by being a weird combination of all the past decades into one. In his own words, "Testing stage art has an eclectic array of influences." This kind of explains why music has felt extremely stagnant with nothing groundbreaking and new. That formula had run out so everyone's just copying material from past decades (this was always a thing but it's overabundant in this decade), and even the new stuff is simply just a total mashup of many different established genres (hyperpop is a good example of this). He references the video game "AstroBot" (2024) on the PS5 as being a good representation of this, as it showcased all of PlayStation's video game history with famous characters appearing in the form of robots. 

If the Depression period was considered to be a time of self-reflection, then the Testing period is considered to be a time of collective reflection. The veil is being removed off of the eyes of the overall population. The truth is being revealed, which makes sense as a lot of people began to wake up to the corruption of the world in the last 5 years as a result of the "forced hibernation" we went under. 

Let me know what you think about the video in the comments below.

The 2020s: There’s No Place Like Home