Overall "aesthetic" systems

IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I'm not totally sure what I want to say here, but I'm interested in these things; kinda integrated systems where a big enough fan could, should they so choose, effectively live in the world generated by their obsession.

I guess the obvious one is cyberpunk - and relatedly steampunk - cos someone could wear cyberpunk clothes, listen to cyberpunk music, watch cyberpunk films, read cyberpunk literature and so on. Cyberpunk has been around quite a while and has a strong, easily recognisable style which makes it work here.

There is also the kind of 80s neon, vaporwave aesthetic, again defined by a clearly recognised style and it has most of the above outlets... although do you get vaporwave literature? And does that matter?

So I'm asking, first up, how do you define these things, and are they different from say the mod scene or whatever? I think they are but I'm not totally sure how... is it maybe cos they grow out of fantasies and fiction rather than real music scenes?

So... help me here - what are the other big ones? Do these things differ from music scenes and if so how? How has the internet affected them?

Also, on a lower level, what are the defining tunes, films etc of the above systems and others? What makes them the main ones in their scene?

Just anything of interest that comes to mind here... take the ball and run with it, let's see how it develops between now and when I wake up... over to you.
 
ghost

ghost

Well-known member
Really good prompt.

The renaissance faire and the anime convention come to mind as exemplars, and maybe also of the sort of person who tries to live in them all the time. And same with the furry. But I think that, strangely, "luxury" is also approximately the same sort of qualitative sphere: unified aesthetic cues, sense of lore and knowledge…

I think like music, people can be attracted to them for intensifying reasons or as a heterotopia. They seem more deeply ideological though, and somewhat more connected to a political imaginary than to an energy-level one.
 
linebaugh

linebaugh

Well-known member
ghost of beiser said:
Really good prompt.

The renaissance faire and the anime convention come to mind as exemplars, and maybe also of the sort of person who tries to live in them all the time. And same with the furry. But I think that, strangely, "luxury" is also approximately the same sort of qualitative sphere: unified aesthetic cues, sense of lore and knowledge…

I think like music, people can be attracted to them for intensifying reasons or as a heterotopia. They seem more deeply ideological though, and somewhat more connected to a political imaginary than to an energy-level one.
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My gut says political imaginary doesnt seem right either but im not sure
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
@ghost of beiser - how are you using 'luxury', in this context? To me, the word conjures up images of fur coats, brash gold jewellery and Armani sunglasses, the sort of look you associate with 90s hip-hop - but also makes me think of the standard-issue look for the modern billionaire, which is aggressively anti-bling, and in fact very normie but with outrageous price-tags on everything, so stuff like plain white T-shirts made from some ludicrously high-spec'd material that cost $5k.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
ghost of beiser said:
The renaissance faire and the anime convention come to mind as exemplars, and maybe also of the sort of person who tries to live in them all the time. And same with the furry. But I think that, strangely, "luxury" is also approximately the same sort of qualitative sphere: unified aesthetic cues, sense of lore and knowledge
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The first two are bang on... and they are good examples cos although I wanted to separate this from music scenes, both of mine had a strong base in music (shows the bias in my thinking no doubt). However, with Furries... well I'm not able to say that there is NO furry music, if there is it's surely incidental and I strongly doubt it constitutes a new style.

But luxury... you're suggesting it constitutes a similar almost imaginary world pulled into existence by the super rich and indolent? Sounds promising but can you enlarge a little, I'm not sure I quite get it?
 
mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
It's a bit strange no fashion house has attempted to create such an all-encompassing environment or maybe they have, I don't know. Rick Owens has produced furniture and soft toys as well as clothes and shoes but he borrows other people's music and it's not wholly consistent.
 
sus

sus

Moderator
Some fandoms (e.g. Star Wars) are large enough you can effectively live in them—endless Star Wars novels, Star Wars art, Star Wars film & TV spinoffs, Star Wars cosplay and conventions, Star Wars video games and LARPs and bulletin boards and Discords.
 
sus

sus

Moderator
ghost of beiser said:
The renaissance faire and the anime convention come to mind as exemplars, and maybe also of the sort of person who tries to live in them all the time. And same with the furry. But I think that, strangely, "luxury" is also approximately the same sort of qualitative sphere: unified aesthetic cues, sense of lore and knowledge…
Click to expand...
If you haven't seen Knightriders, it's a solid film and also a good look at RenFaire cosplay within a 60s heterotopic hippy framework.

en.wikipedia.org

Knightriders - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
sufi

sufi

lala
punk is one for sure, that spanned music, literature, fashion etc,

techno/rave was another imho, it doesnt have the same coherence of brand but it was some sort of futurism that took off in early 90's late 80's

and goth, of course?

or are these too broad and obvious
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member

Midgardsblot 2023

neo-heathen norse pagan viking metal

white skin, mead, "runic" tattoos, antlers, wood furniture, ginger beards with knots
 
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