Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and clowns.
That’s what Athens Halloween Block Partygoers will likely see the most of this weekend, according to TIME’s analysis of the most Googled Halloween costumes of the year. With the predicted top three most popular costumes in the U.S. being influenced by three different blockbuster movies that hit the screen in recent years, it’s more than common for Halloween partygoers to use colorful characters and celebrities as inspiration, whether it be from American or foreign media.
Akil Houston, an associate professor in the department of African-American studies, said the impressionability of pop culture figures is what often makes them popular icons to draw from when deciding on a Halloween costume.
“I think that’s something that people immediately kind of gravitate toward, maybe even subconsciously,” he said. “You want to live out your fantasies, and why not take those cues from pop culture?”
Houston said the internet has also made pop culture more accessible, which may contribute even more to the vast influence it has on costume choices. Popular internet memes have even generated new costume ideas.
He predicts in addition to Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn, Donald Trump and Marvel heroes like Black Panther will also be popular figures on Court Street this Saturday. Last year, he saw many people dressed as political figures like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and Houston said he wouldn’t be surprised to see more this year.
“I actually saw some little kids, I think they were brother and sister,” he said. “One was Hillary and one was Trump, so it’s kind of interesting.”
Janet Santone, owner of Uptown Costumes, said packaged costumes of popular licensed characters like Wonder Woman must be purchased in bulk orders, which can be expensive for a small business. Instead, Uptown Costumes carries pieces and parts that Halloween partygoers can combine to create their own look.
This year, Santone hasn’t seen a clear trend toward a few popular costumes. But nonetheless, each year she tries to predict which looks might be in high demand and order costume pieces accordingly.
“It varies,” she said. “Sometimes something is really popular. Like a lumberjack was pretty popular a couple years ago, and I think that was some internet thing.”
Santone agreed that Wonder Woman would likely be a popular costume this year, particularly for children.
“Wonder Woman is, I’m sure, going to be popular this year because the movie was so big,” she said.
Molly Owens, a sophomore studying middle childhood education, chooses to draw from Japanese pop culture instead of American and dresses as anime characters for her cosplay and Halloween costumes.
Owens said although it’s sometimes difficult to find the perfect piece to capture an anime character’s look, like a specific colored wig or style of gloves, it’s still easier than finding a costume of an American figure that she likes.
“The prepackaged (costumes), especially for women, it sucks,” she said. “They’re some variation on sexy whatever, and it gets really annoying. So that’s why I do more (anime) characters.”
