There’s a debate in historiography of when history begins—a more nuanced and educated version of the daily internet argument of when a joke is “too soon.” Is last year history? What about Pearl Harbor? Like most questions of this sort, there isn’t really an answer. However, due to the fact that 2020 took approximately thirty-seven years, historians are confident that the 2010s are no longer off-limits for chronicling, and they’ve identified what may have been humanity’s last golden age: 2013, the Year of Luigi.
Much like Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2, 2013 was a year where humanity jumped to great heights. Having just survived the 2012 apocalypse scare, we were ready to bound back. Twitter went public, Sony and Microsoft duked it out in the world market with the release of the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One, and Google released, like, eight commercials for Google Glass, a product that did never and will never exist.
“Look, far be it from us historians to wax nostalgic about 2013, but as students of human history, it’s our job to look at our failings, look at our successes, and try to learn from them,” says Pat Bellings, modern history professor at Columbia University. “And what we’ve learned from 2013 is that Nintendo single-handedly brought a world on the brink into prosperity by placing the mantle of humanity onto the shoulders of Luigi, who can jump higher than Mario in Super Mario Bros. 2. I mean, remember Vine? That was in 2013. Thanks, Luigi.”
Belling’s recent paper, “Turning Back The Doomsday Clock: Emulating Bringing The Year Of Luigi to 2021” is available on various academic databases such as JSTOR or Kotaku.
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