here’s something i didn’t know about. http://mollysoda-try-hards.tumblr.com
because of a style that was popularized by a blogger, an entire subculture has been formed which imitates that style. the subculture doesn’t necessarily need to be connected to other members in any way in real life. so each follower of the culture is an isolated entity, which follows the same dress (and minor attitude, and visual aesthetic) in the individual as it does in the whole.
One horrible example of this is the hundreds of girls in their rooms spitting on themselves in front of a webcam. but regardless, this same visual style of dress, along with symbols used in 90’s revival* graphic blogs, became the official look of the seapunk subculture.
#Seapunk, and seapunk music both work off of each other. They both want to use symbols from the past 20 years to show that they have accepted the irony** (acceptance of distance from opinion**, not an ironic situation) of using them. Seapunk music combines the idea of 90’s revival (by including simplistic early 90’s breaks and use of piano solos like that of house music in that time) with that of juke (post-witch house) and very modern simplistic hip-hop which play off of each other in a new and interesting way. There’s also the sea theme which is infact the crux of the subculture. The sea theme is a totally absurd element that implies that a movement could be based on anything in the current social climate. That not only adds a meta-narrative to the movement, but it also gives seapunk artists a freedom to express themselves without feeling too restricted for stylistic choices. That feeling reflected in the movement as artists works progress also are reflected in the kinds of images that are created by individual members of the subculture who are not specifically trendsetting. Those members are not unlike early ‘actual’ punk fans that didn’t make punk music but still listened and drove the fashion scene of it’s moniker.
* 90’s revival is a trend on tumblr that runs off of nostalgia. Gifs of people in the 90’s living with excess is a salvation to the modern blogger of this subculture. It may have to do with a longing for the excess of a stable economy. But those symbols that were popular ‘for real’ back then are used “ironically” now.
** Irony the way bloggers use (and more critically used by alt-lit related bloggers) is defined as separation from the responsibility of one’s own thought. One example is that once their thoughts are a (micro)blog post, it’s part of something that is not entirely themselves, and part of a projection of themselves that they show the community. That leads to ideation that stems from the thought of having community approval (madd notes) rather than the sake of the thought itself. And all of that adds up to a sense of detachment from thoughts, feeling as though they’re ‘over’ them after a change in the blogosphere’s climate. Comment about those type of events satisfy a need to be meta/understanding. And I think this attitude is represented at least in a small way by a lot of young adult bloggers with posts. that gives the ironic use of symbols the added undertones of discontent in the (online) social climate that any punk movement should have.
notice i didn’t have to call anyone a hipster and i actually talked about a generational issue not like some thought catalogue alt runoff bs PEACE
