An AI Slavoj Žižek rendition of the NPC streaming trend is making its rounds across the internet – and it’s ideology in its purest form. Already a living meme, Žižek is the celebrity philosopher behind incredible online moments such as this hilarious burger-eating moment and this self-recorded Coca Cola ad, making him no stranger to pop culture run-ins. And while this particular TikTok clip is very clearly fake, the very fact of its inauthenticity, too, feels strangely Žižekian. 

The Slovenian philosopher has been keeping relatively quiet in recent months, although a special mention goes to his 2022 review of the final The Matrix instalment, where he used words like ‘boringly postmodern’ and ‘ideological fantasy’ to describe the socio-economic conditions underpinning the film’s plot, despite (amusingly) having not seen it. One can only imagine what Žižek’s take would look like on recent internet phenomena such as girl dinners or Skibidi Toilet, which would almost certainly involve Lacanian terms like ‘libidinal’ and ‘desiring machines’. One step further and we arrived at short-form viral moments such as Pinky Doll and the NPC streaming trend, so what could Žižek possibly say about that?

OK, so I’m speculating – but, at its most basic, lies a fascination with Pinky Doll as a hyper-idealised feminine figure. Pinky Doll, with her overprocessed, blemish-free face, ineffable star quality and conventionally attractive demeanour, represents pre-packaged, commodified femininity. By performing phrases like “ice cream so good” and “gang gang” in exchange for TikTok coins, Pinky Doll becomes a blank canvas onto which societal expectations (and desires) are projected.

Maybe this functions as an ideological mechanism that reinforces gender roles, the adoption of the NPC trend by other conventionally attractive women mirroring our own unspoken assumptions and beliefs about society. Or perhaps this blatant promotion of consumption via doughnut gifts and fire emojis is a symptom of late capitalism, the flashing bright lights trapping us like NPCs within its behavioural conveyor belt, where the ice cream is so good, sniff sniff, yes yes yes.

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