← Ahead of the Curve with Coco Mocoe
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Kokomoko
What do Keeping up with the Kardashians, Wolf of Wall Street, Breaking Bad and Shark Tank all have in common? Besides the fact that they all deal with themes of wealth, reputation and economic prowess of the individuals and the systems that they exist in, they are all pieces of media that were launched and thrived during the peak Capricorn Pluto Age, which lasted from 2008 to 2025. But now we have entered officially into the Age of Aquarius, which will last for the next 18 years from now until 2043 and 2044 teeters those years. In today's episode of Ahead of the Curve with Kokomoko, we will be talking about this astrological phenomenon around Pluto and how it may specifically influence media, culture and fashion now that Pluto is moving into Aquarius for the first and last time in our lifetimes. This is a topic that I've discussed before, and it is a topic that I'm endlessly fascinated by. And yes, astrology is a little woo woo, but if you're a coconut and you followed me long enough, you are probably quite aware at this point that I can be a little woo woo. And I'll admit it, spirituality plays a really big part in how I interpret the world around me. And you don't have to believe in astrology. That is totally okay. I know we're all kind of like marketers and creators and brand owners here, but I do think that this episode will be a great sounding board for anyone who's fascinated at how and why certain trends are shifting in media and culture. So I ask you to keep an open mind, even if you're not totally into astrology. I must also preface that I am no astrology expert, nor do I claim to be. I find it fun. But always do your own research and come to your own conclusions. I do my best to get all of the information right, but but sometimes I can be wrong. Thank you so much for being a coconut and for listening to this podcast every single Monday. Let me know in the reviews on Apple and Spotify what creators, artists or brands you want a future Deep Dive episode on. I've been loving the brilliant branding episodes that I've been doing and they've been some of the highest performing for me so far. Thank you for making this substack a bestseller. Those of you who are subscribed to my substack for $9 a month will get access to the extended episode here. Plus every extended episode of this show since last June when my substack launched, and you will get access to the Friday Trend Report. You can become a paying member of my bestselling substack@cocomoco substack.com and thank you guys so much. For 10,000 subscribers, the topic for today's episode will include what is the Pluto in Capricorn? What does it mean? What is its themes and how did it influence media, culture and trends from 2008 to to 2025? And also how did we see these Capricorn themes come out specifically in Millennials and Gen Z and how they consumed and influenced media? And then in the extended episode exclusively on Substack, we will talk about what is the Age of Aquarius with Pluto moving into Aquarius this year, and how will its themes be different from Age of Capricorn? What has happened in previous Pluto and Aquarius times, and how are we seeing the rise of these Aquarian themes specifically in Gen Alpha and how they consume media differently from Gen Z and Millennials? So that will be today's episode. Again. The first half is going to be free for everyone. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Substack, where you get your favorite podcasts and where you leave reviews. Thank you so much for the reviews. But then the extended episode will be the exclusive on Substack. So thank you guys so much and coconuts. We are going to dive right on into this episode. So what exactly is Pluto in Capricorn? The Age of Capricorn isn't a widely recognized term in traditional astrology like the Age of Aquarius, but in some modern astrological circles it's used to describe long term cultural phase marked by Capricorn values, specifically when Pluto was in Capricorn from 2008 until this year 2025. The Capricornian values are structure, ambition, capitalism, and control. This is when Pluto moved into Capricorn in the sky in 2008 and stayed there officially until this year. Pluto is the most distant planet. It governs the deep hidden forces that drive change both personally and collectively. Where Pluto shows up in a chart or transit, it often signals a breakdown of what is no longer working, followed by a slow but permanent rebuild. It rules things like death and regeneration, taboo secrets, control, obsession, and the subconscious. Pluto's energy is intense and non negotiable. It doesn't ask politely. It exposes the truth and demands evolution. Because Pluto moves so slowly, it takes up to 248 years to orbit the Sun. Its influence is generational, shaping cultural and societal patterns over decades. According to astrologer Jessica Davidson, the era when Pluto was in Capricorn aligned with humanity's focus on material success, hierarchical systems and societal institutions that prioritize order over emotion. It's an age obsessed with building legacies, achieving status and maintaining authority, often at the expense of spiritual or collective well being. If we're currently transitioning out of the Age of Capricorn, it suggests a shift away from rigid systems and towards more decentralized, progressive and community driven values. Hallmarks of Aquarius now for my favorite part of the episode that I loved Scripting is Capricorn themes in media and Fashion TV shows from 2008 to 2025 that defined the Age of Capricorn and reflected Capricorn's core themes. Power, hierarchy, ambition, control, leg and image are listed below. These shows didn't just entertain, they reinforced the structures and status obsessions that Capricorn Energy thrives on. Here are some standouts that captured that vibe. Although it premiered just before Pluto entered Capricorn, Mad men defined early 2010s media with its hyper curated aesthetic, rigid gender roles and obsession with success and image in the ad world. It romanticized a time when status and structure were everything, a nostalgic nod to Capricorn ideals. And it also takes place in New York City, kind of seen as the epicenter of American capitalism. Love them or hate them, the Kardashians were the Age of Capricorn. They built a media empire through relentless image control, brand building and capitalist hustle. Their show didn't just reflect culture, it helped shape a new model of influence and ambition. I also think it's fascinating that they seem to be struggling to remain in the limelight in the last few years as Pluto has begun to move away from Capricorn House of Cards. This political drama was all about manipulation, control and institutional power. Capricorn themes on steroids. It dissected ambition and the rot inside hierarchical systems like government, showing how far people will go to rise and maintain status. It was also something I wrote about in the Trend Report last week. It was Netflix's first original series and premiered in 2013. The Rise of streaming platforms, with media now all centralized in one place with few gatekeepers, represented those Capricorn themes. It is serendipitous that Netflix, a streaming platform that changed the landscape of media forever and aligned with Capricorn themes at the time, had a successful first show launch that was about those exact ideals. Scandal, which launched in 2012 during peak Capricorn, this show was centered around image management and political power. Scandal was a Capricorn fever dream. Olivia Pope literally fixes reputations, helping people maintain control and status while hiding their shadow selves. Of course, I have to mention succession, which launched and came to an end during the final years of Age of Capricorn. Possibly the most Capricorn coded show of the era. It's all about legacy, corporate power, family hierarchy and control. Every character is climbing, scheming, or collapsing under the weight of ambition. Its cold, calculated and prestige focused, pure Pluto and Capricorn energy. Another one is Breaking Bad, which launched in 2008, the exact year that Pluto moved into Capricorn. It's a quintessential example of these themes playing out through storytelling. Power, control, ambition, legacy, and the dark side of capitalism. The show follows Walter White, a struggling teacher who couldn't afford his cancer treatment, so he turns to selling drugs as a way to make money. He's driven by a desire to reclaim authority and provide for his family. He's disenfranchised by the insurance and healthcare system. A textbook Capricorn motivation is that desire to provide for the family. But beneath that goal is Pluto's influence, destruction, obsession, and a moral decay that comes from unchecked ambition. Walt isn't just building something, he's dismantling everything in the process, including himself. The show's focus on calculated moves, dominance with a rigid power structure, and the illusion of doing things for the right reasons mirrors Pluto and Capricorn shadow the ruthless pursuit of success and legacy at all costs. Now, I think it's interesting that this show launched in the year Pluto moved into Capricorn, and it's about a man who's disenfranchised by the healthcare system and then turns to violent criminal behavior. And the year, the last year that Pluto was in Capricorn, the last month of that year, we saw the rise of someone who in real life turned to violence because he was disenfranchised with the healthcare system, allegedly. So when I was writing the script, I was like, wow, it's so interesting how this guy in real life and is being celebrated by the public because he represented kind of the fallout of Pluto and Capricorn and people becoming so frustrated by these systems. I don't want to say his name because I don't want to get, like, in trouble. I don't want to be on a list. Okay, Now, White Lotus. The White Lotus is a perfect example of a show born at the tail end of the age of Capricorn. Its DNA is steeped in themes of power, privilege, image, and the quiet rot beneath elite structures. Each season dissects wealth and social hierarchy with surgical precision, exposing how money, status and appearances shape everything from. From relationships to morality. The characters are trapped in systems they either exploit or pretend not to see. Classic Capricorn energy. But the show is also beginning to hint at an Aquarian transition. Its tone is shifting from critique to chaos. The narratives are becoming more fragmented, the characters less concerned with legacy, and now more concerned with freedom, identity and breaking convention. As White Lotus continues, it's poised to reflect Pluto's shift into Aquarius by unraveling power structures it once explored, giving us not just a portrait of privilege, but also the collapse of it. Now, my favorite segment, which is reality TV franchises that thrived, launched and reflected Pluto in Capricorn ideals. The Real Housewives of Orange county started in 2006, so two years before Pluto moved into Capricorn. But the franchise exploded in 2008 when Pluto officially moved into Capricorn, which is the year that spinoffs like Atlanta, New Jersey and New York City were launched. These shows are Capricorn central, built on status, wealth, legacy and power dynamics. The glam, the competition within social circles, the hierarchies, they're all pure Pluto and Capricorn symbolism. Capricorn is an earth sign, and earth signs are often what represent material possessions in this lifetime. Also, our earth signs rule beauty in this world. And so the Bravo Real Housewife franchise, I think, was so loved by the collective because it represented these subconscious feelings that we all had and our fascination with social structures and capitalistic prowess. Shark Tank launched the year after Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2009. And the show is a capitalist fantasy come to life. Entrepreneurs pitch their way into success in front of self made millionaires and billionaires. It's not just about good ideas. It's about dominance, strategy and survival. It's a literal competition for funding, status and validation from the elite gatekeepers. Though this started in 2004, the Apprentice continued into the Pluto and Capricorn years and helped launch Donald Trump's brand as a powerful business mogul, eventually leading to his presidency. The show glorified cutthroat ambition, capitalism and corporate ruthlessness. You're fired was basically Pluto's catchphrase. And lastly, one of my favorite shows below deck. This show is a behind the scenes look at luxury yacht crews serving the ultra wealthy. It's all about hierarchy. The captain versus the crew versus the people on board. Professionalism plays a huge role in this show and also the way that they look, their appearances. The show reinforces class dynamics while offering a peek into the service labor. These people aren't getting Paid much and yet they're brushing shoulders with the the ultimate elite. It's often an invisible system upholding elite lifestyles. A common theme here is that the rise of Bravo during the age of Capricorn. The shows on that channel often thrive when exploring themes of reputation, social class structures and material possessions. Bravo rose to fame as a cable channel with a cult following because it represented what the subconscious collective was obsessed with at the time. Even Bravo's only success, successful dating show, Millionaire Matchmaker. Yes, it was kind of about love, but it was really about money and the, the difference between the power of a man who's using his money as a way to gain social status and thus trying to gain access to a great partner, but also women who are beautiful and kind of using that as their resources to gain access to a partner with money. So it's interesting that Bravo was kind of able to identify these themes and this subconscious obsession with these, these different values that we were all feeling at the time and turn them into fascinating entertainment and essentially turn them into time capsules. Capricorn themes in fashion Luxury brands like the Row and Celine under Phoebe Filo dominated fashion with understated, ultra expensive minimalism. No logos, no flash, just perfect tailoring and sky high price tags. It wasn't about standing out, it was about knowing the code. The aesthetic screamed Capricorn status through subtlety, wealth and conforming to structures. No one embodied Pluto and Capricorn fashion more than the Kardashians. Their shapewear, silhouettes, hyper sculpted bodies, designer heavy wardrobes and dominance over fashion cycles were all about control, ambition and status. Signaling them and other top creators ushered in the Facetune era of the Internet. While maybe not exactly baked into fashion, it did signal the Capricorn values of control and sculpting the face and body digitally to fit ideals as a sign of status. To have a BBL was a status symbol in the beginning of Pluto of Capricorn because it meant that you could afford this procedure and then it became more readily accessible and cheaper due to its popularity. And then they all seemingly reversed their BBLS from TikTok trends to Pinterest boards. Aesthetics like rich mom energy mob wife energy and clean girl glam were aspirational fantasies rooted in wealth, polish and structure. They weren't about creativity, they were about control and image management. Even beauty became minimalist and strategic. Capricorn to the core. Throughout this era, fashion wasn't just about looking good, it was about looking like you're in control. Every trend pointed back to structure, hierarchy and ambition. But as we move into the Age of Aquarius this year, those systems are beginning to crack, making way for chaos, individuality and radical expression. And then I also want to mention the Capricorn values that came through in the rise of the influencer space. Even though the Internet seems to be decentralized, it is more and more about gatekeepers and a few deciding who get to make it. As platforms become more centralized. Gatekeepers think Instagram being acquired by Facebook. Even on TikTok, you'll notice that after maybe 2022, it was a lot harder for people to become famous on the app because the app had kind of identified and really like platformed specific creators that they decided were going to be famous. They became the gatekeepers. It was no longer what the audience was finding, it was what the audience was being served via their for you pages. Audiences were also obsessed with Cancel Culture during this time. While this can be used for good, and I do believe that people with a platform should be held responsible for for the way that they potentially weaponize it against others, especially on a massive scale against minority and marginalized groups, I do think that the emphasis of Cancel Culture was magnified in the Age of Capricorn. Celebrities and influencers built carefully curated personal brands that mirrored Capricorn ideals, discipline, ambition and social dominance. So when cracks appeared, the fall was dramatic. The culture demanded perfection and punished those who strayed. Not because people expected authenticity, but because public figures were seen as products that failed to meet brand expectations. It wasn't about growth or accountability, it was about protecting the structure. And lastly, in the free portion of this podcast, I want to talk about how Age of Capricorn ideals came out and how millennials and Gen Z consumed and created media between 2008 to 2025. I believe millennials very much embodied the controlled themes of Capricorn. With the rise of platforms like Instagram and the perfectly curated esthetic, the rise of apps like Facetune and curated IG feeds, it was all a symbol of being in control of your image. The rise of Tumblr during the early 2010s perfectly reflected the age of Capricorn's obsession with esthetic control, identity, curation and intellectual status. Tumblr wasn't chaotic like later platforms. It was organized chaos. Users meticulous. Oh my God, you guys might dyslexia. Users meticulously crafted their blogs to project a specific mood or Persona, often through minimal color palettes, moody photography and carefully chosen quotes. For example, black and white photography was huge on this platform. It was a space where identity became a visual brand and subculture, credibility was currency. Whether you were part of soft grunge, pastel goth or indie sleaze circles, your value came from how well you understood and executed a vibe beneath the surface level rebellion. Tumblr thrived on Capricorn ideals, control over image, mastery of niche interests, and a silent hierarchy of who curated it best. Platforms like YouTube and podcasting thrived under Capricorn's need for depth and structure. Even Gen Z, who loves fast content, still seek out long form podcasts and documentary style videos from creators that they trust. If it had structure and purpose, it felt more legitimate. Capricorn's shadow side fear of failure and obsession with hierarchy made creators hyper aware of metrics. Likes, views, follower counts and brand deals became measures of self worth. Creators adapted to algorithm changes like employees reporting to a corporate boss because visibility was survival, conformity was survival. From Girlboss aesthetics to rise and grind YouTube vlogs, even like the Paul brothers did these like daily vlogs. For a while, Capricorn's grind mentality was everywhere. Millennials consumed content that teach them how to optimize their lives, get ahead or launch businesses. Gen Z absorbed it too, but with increasing cynicism, often parodying it while also still chasing results. They would make fun of it, but they were still kind of a victim to the system. One of my still favorite books is Girlboss by Sophia Omarosa. She is the one who launched Nasty Gal, while her word girl boss eventually became a meme of hustle culture within womanhood. The book is really good and I believe it represented the subconscious Capricorn themes of the time. And lastly, the rise of TikTok in a centralized feed versus a follower first feed. The rise of TikTok is essentially this centralized algorithm driven for you page and it's a textbook manifestation of Capricorn values, structure, hierarchy and success through performance. While the platform appears to be chaotic and freeform, its underlying system is rigid and goal and number oriented. The algorithm acts like a digital authority figure, silently rewarding creators who conform to its patterns. Post frequently, follow trends, hold attention. Viral success isn't random, it's the result of mastering TikTok's rules. Creators quickly learned to optimize their content not for authenticity, but for algorithmic approval, turning self expression into strategy. The for your page become a virtual meritocracy where visibility was the new status symbol and everyone was in quiet competition for clout under Pluto. In Capricorn, even creativity had a corporate structure. If you guys want a great talk on the fall of the follower, you should watch the video by the founder of Patreon, Jack Conte called the Death of the Follower. Now for paying subscribers Paying Coconuts I will go into the second half of this podcast where we are going to explore more about the shift into Pluto and Aquarius which will last from 2025 to around 2043 2044. Who and what brands will become famous in the next 18 years during this time and what can we learn from what has happened in previous age of Aquarian times? If you love pop culture and marketing as much as I do, then consider becoming a paying member of my bestselling substack. For $9 a month at kokomoco.substack.com you will get access to the Friday Trend Reports and you will unlock every single extended episode of this podcast, which I've been doing since last June. And I don't run any ads on. And let me know in the reviews what other pieces of media that I missed that you think were represented by Capricorn Ideals. I would love this to be a conversation and a discussion so you can leave your thoughts there. As always, there's no right or wrong answer. And paying Coconuts I'll see you on.