Poetic Justice is a 1993 romantic drama about a woman named Justice, played by Janet Jackson, who loses her boyfriend in an act of violence. Throughout the movie, she recites mournful poems about her loneliness and her desire for love and emotional empowerment. But all is not lost. She manages to pull herself out of a hole and go on to love another.
Enter her new love interest: the late Tupac Shakur as Lucky. IRL he would die just three years after filming took place.
One of the reasons why Poetic Justice is so iconic is because it tackled big themes in a way that was considered honest and poignant.
Poetic Justice is also iconic because of the spark-infested chemistry between Janet and Tupac. It makes people TO THIS DAY wonder if they were doing it while they were filming. Apparently, there was indeed romantic tension between them, according to a friend of Tupac, but it went awry after filming.
Another iconic win was the film’s soundtrack, which was also a huge success, featuring songs from Janet, Tupac, TLC, Naughty by Nature, and Usher.
So let’s celebrate everything that should make a comeback in 2023.
1. Chonky Earrings
Who even were you in the 90s if you didn’t have a pair of chonky earrings? While most fashionistas had fake gold and silver earrings, big stars had the real deal. These earrings were often worn as a statement piece along with a chonky neck chain.
The popularity of big gold oversized earrings in the 90s can be attributed to several factors. One of the main reasons was the rise of hip-hop culture, which had a significant influence on fashion trends at the time. Hip-hop artists such as Salt-N-Pepa, Sade, and TLC loved big gold earrings hard.
The popularity of chonky earrings in the 90s also had a lot to do with their symbolism. These earrings were often seen as a symbol of cultural identity, wealth, status, and emerging power. And, they looked fly.
2. Going to the drive-in to pash
While drive-ins in Australia are dying out, some still exist and are holding on for dear life. But in the 90s the drive-in was still totally a thing. They were the place to meet up with your friends, pash in a car, eat Chiko Rolls and Violet Crumble together as a sound dinner choice, and lose your virginity in an unplanned event when you got too carried away.
They even had classic arcade games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders in the common areas. Sweet! Bring these bastions of unplanned babies back right away!
3. Asking people on a date in the wild
There were no dating apps in the 90s. People had to actually hit on other people in person. Yes, that’s right, you had to find your lover in the wild. Bring this shit right back ‘cos dating apps have turned us into monsters.
4. The Stereo Blaster in the car
In the 90s, if you drove an older car, it was likely that it didn’t have a good sound system. So people legit put their portable stereo systems in their cars so they could have good tunes while they drove.
And then if they went to the park or the beach, as long as the batteries held out, they could bring the sound system with them and bathe in the sounds of Salt-N-Pepa while lying in the golden sands of the local body of water. Let’s bring this hassle back into our lives because who doesn’t enjoy tunes on the beach?
5. Original Ray-Bans that aren’t associated with Meta
Ray-Bans were a total thing in the 80s and 90s. From Tom Cruise’s iconic Aviators in Top Gun to his Wayfarers in Risky Business, these were the dominant sunnies of the 90s. In Poetic Justice, Joe Torry’s character, Chicago, rocked these sunnies hard. But then he became the bad guy and now we all think his character is ew. But the iconic sunnies remain excellent!
Meta has recently launched a new generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses that have augmented reality capability built in. These smart glasses are equipped with Meta AI, which allows users to get answers to voice commands about the weather, measurement conversions, and restaurant recommendations. You can use them to listen to music, calls, and podcasts and they can film what users are seeing.
And we just know that in time, like Facebook, they will bring advertising into the paradigm, and everywhere you look, there will be ads for teeth whitening. So let’s just appreciate the 90s version of the Ray-Ban Wayfarers, where you don’t risk accidentally filming yourself having a wee, and seeing ads wherever you go.
Welcome back, all the Poetic Justice things.
You can watch Poetic Justice on our PEDESTRIAN TELEVISION channel at 9pm AEDT on the 3rd of December.
Images: Poetic Justice