This week New York Magazine announced in 2022 “The Year of the Nepo Child”(Opens in a new tab) and published deep dive into taxonomy(Opens in a new tab) famous generations.
For those uninitiated, a “nepo baby” (short for “nepotism baby”) is the child of a celebrity, or someone with power and influence in their field who uses their parents’ influence. are a step ahead in their careers. Archetypal examples are Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, and Maya Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.
To clarify the term: New York Magazine Nepo classified infants into several grades. The highest are the “classic Nepo kids” who have inherited famous surnames like Depp and Hawke. Then there are the “industry babies,” or children of people working behind the scenes in the entertainment industry, who can also benefit from their parents’ connections. One example is Phoebe Bridgers, whose father is a composite builder. The children of billionaires, like Paris Hilton, should not be forgotten either.
Sorry, but Jenna Ortega doesn’t really reveal anything
New York Magazine The origins of “Baby Nepo” can be traced back to a tweet in February by Canadian tech support worker Maryam Derajee. He tweeted: “Wait, I just found out that the actress who plays Lexi is nepotistic. His mother is Leslie Mann, and his father is a film director. With that tweet, the lexicon of the internet changed forever.
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Every time a new child of nepotism is revealed to the public, be it Maud Apatow Euphoria or Hawk in Stranger Things, the internet is ablaze with anger and self-righteousness over who gets opportunities in the entertainment industry. But how Buzzfeed’s Izzy Ampil(Opens in a new tab) Notes that the conversation around children of nepotism in entertainment is often a shallow “pop class analysis” of a problem that permeates every industry, all too often starting and ending with celebrities. Some readers urged New York Magazine analyze the reproduction of privileges in other areas, eg journalism(Opens in a new tab), banking and politics(Opens in a new tab).
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New York MagazineThe Nepo Babies study brought the concept back to the forefront of the Twitter hive mind, with nearly everyone weighing in. But at least the memes were funny.
As is common when something reaches the Internet masses, nepo baby was quickly democratized by people, with users sharing their definitions of nepo babies and discussing inequality in their respective fields. For example, one Twitter user wrote(Opens in a new tab)“My only contribution to the academic discourse for the Nepo child is this. I am the first and only person in my family to have a PhD. I was legitimately surprised when I started this job and learned how rare it is.”
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Shortly after New York Magazine article was published, Twitter and TikTok users began satirizing the overly specific and frankly deceptive classifications of nepo-babies, sharing the advantages and qualities they inherited from their families. A meme is a clever way to make us examine our own privileges or shortcomings. TikToker: @literalwhore:(Opens in a new tab) “I’m a nepo kid in Warsaw, Missouri on a medium sized lake (my dad sets the fishing limit and we don’t have to pay for parking).
A Twitter user @literally(Opens in a new tab) wrote: “I hope no one ever finds out that I’m a nepo child (inherited a mental illness not only from one of my parents, but from both).
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May we use nepo baby as a jumping off point to examine in detail the effects of generational wealth and privilege around the world. Until then, the internet is going to do what it does best.
