The Counter-Revolution was Already Televised

Rachel Haywire

Oct 22, 2024

How The Girlies Outranked the Dissident Right

After the news of the passing of Shannen Doherty, a legacy was laid bare that was already getting buried in the archives. 90210 may have been a bygone artifact among the revolving door of teen dramas, but it was also the last gasp of a dying cast of 90s archetypes. It was the gasp of a scene that allowed these archetypes to flourish. This is my celebratory tribute to Shannen Doherty. It commemorates one of the best examples of Elite Human Capital in the last American decade. This is about the legacy that Shannen Doherty and 90210 have left upon our cultural consciousness. For those cynical about Gen Z, 90210 fans might wish to consider how their memories can be passed down and reclaimed.

Let’s start from the beginning. Before our girl Shannen donned the newbie mask in 90210, she was a queen bee in Sherwood, Ohio as one of the Heathers. She enjoyed the spoils of aristocracy. Her place on the Heather Hierarchy wasn’t the main Queen Bee, but she was adjacent to their leadership. This inspired her to take over their entire clique after Veronica Sawyer conducted a regime change. A Straussian interpretation of Heathers, to be sure, but what isn’t?

Let us remember that Jason Dean wasn’t on a mere war-path against the cliques of Westerburg High School until Winona Ryder as Veronica became his designated muse. Her character was the purest of feminine seduction. She inspired war and factionalism which meant that The Incel did not walk alone. Now maybe all you Zoomers don’t understand what I’m talking about, but fear not. There’s a curious detail in this whole plot that needs to be understood. Heathers was sympathetic to a Paglian reading of history.

It was Shannen Doherty herself who went from an obedient member of the aristocracy to a Machiavellian princess. When Shannen went to Beverley High, she played the role of the Veronica archetype without The Incel romance and violence. She enjoyed both sides of the political spectrum. She was the first Hegelian E-Girl. She reaped the benefits of 90s America during an era when the 80s were still prominent. The youth were about to graduate and embrace the last epoch in which a unifying culture and aesthetic existed.

Whether you’re the It Girl or The Normie, there’s potential for you in 1990.

As Shannen says in the first episode of 90210, she could be “anybody” and “somebody.” The Girlies deserve women like Doherty who were, in fact, “somebody.” 90210 and Heathers were emblems of The Girlies before Clueless and Mean Girls, the second generation of these cinematic archetypes. The Valley Girls weren’t swept up by grunge. No, they thought Kurt Cobain was a poser. They dug further into the past to cope and speculate. It was here that they found Siouxsie Sioux. Just look at how Siouxsie Sioux dealt with the changing landscape.

Gen Z has the potential to do the same as Shannen and Siouxsie. They don’t need to adopt the cynicism of their enemies. Gen Z are not True Veronicas. They want to be Machiavellians, yet their safety nets stop them from actualizing their full potential. It’s so easy to forget that The Incel captured the imagination of Westerburg High School through college radio. Pirate radio does little to educate, and now Zoomers have to fend for themselves.

What if Zoomers didn’t lean on Conservative Inc. or the Dissident Right for their ideas? They still haven’t created their Eugenic Dream, if you get my drift. Should we let them dream of the Sunset Strip, Pasadena, and tales from Hammer of the Gods? There are still plenty of archetypes to assimilate into high art outside of the political cesspool. Come on, Zoomers. Stop waiting for Conservative Inc. to do everything for you when Gen X did it better. Stop letting the Dissident Right control your mind.

Those death squads that Ann Coulter referenced won’t be from Conservative Inc. These pundits don’t even have the energy of the groypers. Instead, it’s the would-be warriors with the 20th century at their disposal heralding a pool of mediocrity. All these lessons from the Dissident Right without a single celebrity in the works. All these lessons from the commercialization of the 90s as a cute decade for The Normies. A decade where Russ Meyer-tier films met the mainstream audience, and heavy metal remained popular even after the 90s ended. It’s not “wholesome content” that pertains to us in the end.

This cynical perspective may bring a nihilistic tone to my article, but these were Uppity Girlies who never defined their own identities. Their class and regional distance couldn’t reach young dissidents outside their own landscape. Or could it? We can’t forget that Brandon Walsh’s first girlfriend was one of us. She explained how her mom wanted her to be social as she put on her suspenders and stayed distant from social norms. It’s uncertain whether she would use her leverage to be cold like Heather Chandler without the style and snark, but we do know that she aligned with Brandon to create a counter-elite.

All of this is quite endearing for liberal-minded egalitarians. Yet how is it relevant? Let’s consider that they were creating a nepotistic faction to dominate the Hollywood landscape. A true dissident right, mind you. Populism, outside of politics, has been established by the youth. Kelly Garth had a deviated septum just like Nick Fuentes. This serves to remind us of what these artifacts now represent decades later. Generation X generated these archetypes as the era approached its expiration date. A Zoomer can find value within the ruins of the 20th century. The Counter-Revolution was already televised. It ascended from The Girlies.

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