tech
March 6, 2026
From luxury ‘dupes’ to literary doubles: why doppelgangers are everywhere right now
AI ‘twins’, Mar-a-Lago lookalikes, Melania impersonator conspiracies … doubles proliferate in today’s culture – and nowhere more so than in a series of unsettling new novels that draw on a rich gothic tradition to tap into our paranoid times
TL;DR
- The doppelganger motif is currently widespread in books, films, and fashion, mirroring a societal sense of paranoia.
- Contemporary examples include literature like Isabel Waidner's 'As If' and Deborah Levy's 'August Blue', and films such as 'The Substance' and 'Get Out'.
- In fashion, AI 'twins' and runway collections named 'Doppelgänger' highlight this trend.
- Online, digital doubles, 'dupe' culture, and the rise of catfishing reflect a fragmentation and replication of identity.
- Historically, the doppelganger has been used to explore themes of repressed desires, mortality, and the uncanny.
- The modern prevalence of doubles may be linked to anxieties surrounding corporate espionage, data leaks, and the difficulty of discerning authenticity in a digital age.
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