“Empire is the US from roughly WWII to a little after 9/11. It was at the height of its power, its prestige, and its economic worth. Then it lost a lot of those things. In the face of technology and social media, the mask of pride has been slowly eradicated. That empirical attitude of believing you’re better than everyone — that you’re above everything — and trying to give the impression that you have no problems. Post-empire is just about being yourself. It’s showing the reality rather than obscuring things in reams and reams of meaning.”
— Bret Easton Ellis
The concept of “post-empire,” coined by Bret Easton Ellis in 2011 to describe Charlie Sheen’s erratic behavior after leaving the TV sitcom Two and a Half Men, captured something bigger than celebrity breakdown. In hindsight, Sheen gave a name to a powerful set of behaviors and symbols which have disrupted and transformed American politics, movies, sports, music, TV, and more.
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