star wars episode iii: revenge of the sith (2005) dir. george lucas / monster by starset
I've been thinking this!! goblincore has a lot of overlap with punk, with the diy and overal disregard for social expectations of appearance and conduct! (fuck the grind, I'm gonna eat dirt!)
It seems fueled more by an appreciation for nature, than how punk is fueled by anti-capitalism, but a love for nature and sustainability goes hand in hand with anticapitalism! And i totally see the goth influences too, especially in the overlap between goblincore and vulture culture and momento mori. It's kind of like a little lovechild with extra dirt.
Sure, goblincore is largely about appreciation for nature, but we can't forget our trinkets! our shinies! I think the things we regard as our precious treasures: bones, sticks, dead bugs, scrap metal, Actual Trash, also feels very un-capitalist because none of these things have any monetary value, and very little social value. Perhaps this and the fashion also speaks to a reamergence of maximalism, which seems to be a huge trend at the moment in response to the late stage capitalist hellhole we're living in, but that's another post.
Going back to goblincore's lack of regard for social expectations, there are plenty of things like diy, dressing "badly", collecting bugs, going outside and getting mucky, that are also deemed childish, things we're supposed to stop doing when we grow up. You're supposed to neaten up, become proper (which also feels like an idea rooted in capitalism).
Idk I've also been doing shit like this since i was a kid, I'll never forget the day i found a rabbit skull under my wendyhouse and took it into school in a ziplock bag for show and tell. I'm also neurodivergent, so i extra don't vibe with silly societal expectations, and really do embrace any alternative space that shares that. Actually I'd love to know how many autistics are alt for similar reasons. that's also another post. Anyway these are my observations and interpretations of goblincore. Fuck capitalism and long live the Humongous Fungus.
something I've been thinking about is how interesting it would be to see the goblincore/gremlincore/corvidcore type aesthetic to evolve into an actual subculture. obviously for starters we should change the name bc anything ending in -core just doesn't sit right with me? unless of course it becomes that "placeholder name turns true name" sorta deal but ANYWAY.
main three key elements I've noticed that tend to make up a subculture is: style/outfit presentation (the optional part), belief system, and music genre(s).
style and presentation: (like what you wear), that part is already obvious if you ever followed the aesthetic at any point. (it was trendy for a time I think, is it still trendy? bc idk if it is but that's not stopping me from loving it.) basically wearing majority earth colors like browns and greens, stuff like hobbit-esque cloths or sweaters and stuff. definitely LOTS of nature based themes or just wearing weird trinkets. gotta go for that "creature directly out of the chronicles of spider wick" type look you know?
with the clothes (and often interior design I've noticed, which my entire bedroom would probably fit the aesthetic actually) one thing I've noticed for most who are into the aesthetic is there is a LOT of DIY. also going out and collecting things you find (anything from mystery trinkets to dead bugs and sticks and rocks, which I grew up doing and would call myself a tinker bc I made stuff out of what I found very often).
belief system: I feel like, above all else, beliefs commonly held among people in this aesthetic is to respect and be in nature, as well as do not waste, reduce and reuse. a lot of environmentalist like stuff, as well as seeing and respecting the beauty of nature, from butterflies and flowers to dirt and corpses. I don't have a solid concrete answer for belief system, but hopefully that sums up my view on it.
music genre: folk/folk punk, fantasy DND type genres, and nature based lyrics and vibes. from my experience and digging around, there's less artists who catch the vibe of this aesthetic all around (bc that's not what they're trying to do), and moreso having a couple or handful of songs that fit so very well. unless of course it's a genre of music that is enheritly matching to this aesthetic.
anyway, I'm not great at explaining the music aspect of it, but I feel like if it's magical and yet sorta punk-like that can work. no limits here yet, I have a playlist on my youtube that definitely pushes the boarders but who cares? the thing has celtic woman and httyd score on it. I just think if this evolved into having music for the genre (idk if we could call it a music based genre since it didn't start that way but I mean overall having a genre of music dedicated to this aesthetic-turned-subculture) it would be really interesting to hear what comes of it.
circling back for a minute, I feel like punk comes hand-and-hand with a couple of things here, but specifically mainly eco-punk. like diy, reduce and reuse, etc. as well as the music, while not deeply punk still feels like it would have a punk undercurrent.
I also think this could parallel well with goth, with the dark romantic sorta stuff. the music and belief system having love and adoration for the strangest and darkest aspects of nature, similar to goths seeing beauty in the darkness and creepiness of the world.
if anyone actually read this I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on my little rant (suggestions for bands/musicians and similar subcultures/subculture parallels are very encouraged) bc I grew up doing pretty much everything within this aesthetic long before I knew it was a thing or maybe even before it was a thing. that isn't meant to be gate keepy. I mean that when I found out just how many other people liked and did the same things as me, it was just so cool. so I just really wanna talk to people about this and I think something like this aesthetic could easily become a subculture one day.
Padmé Amidala in a deleted scene from:
ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002) - dir. George Lucas
this is so incredibly cool.
Here's the notes on the Medieval Fantasy Star Wars au! I'll add to this as I do more. If you're new here, this is the saga of me drawing Star Wars but like what if it was Fantasy?
when I handed in my autism paperwork, I scheduled an appointment directly with my GP to go over my fully filled out and annotated paperwork, and go over the questions I'd made notes i didn't understand or needed clarified. I think colour coding was involved.
The way most autism literature describes "literal interpretation" is often not at all similar to how I experience it. Teenage me even thought I couldn't be autistic because I've always been able to learn metaphors easily.
In fact, I love wordplay of all kinds. Teenage me was fascinated to learn all the types of figurative language there are in poetry and literature.
But paperwork and questionnaires are hard, because there's so much they don't state clearly. Or they don't leave room for enough nuance.
"List all the jobs you've had, with start and end dates." What if I don't remember the exact day or month? Is the year enough?
"Have you been suffering from blurred vision?" Well, if I take off my glasses the whole world is blurred, but I'm fairly sure that's not what the intake form at the optometrist is asking.
Or the infamous (and infuriatingly stereotypical) "Would you rather go to a library or a party?" What sort of party? Where? Who's there? I work at a library. Am I currently at the library for work or pleasure? Does it have a good collection?
It's not common figures of speech that confound me. It's ambiguity, in situations that aren't supposed to be ambiguous.
anakin skywalker + mama by my chemical romance
“Fives wouldn’t sell Echo.”
Listen, not only would Fives sell Echo. He would be able to haggle for more than 3000 credits.
Now, I'm not entirely sure what came first, the tcw show or all of the novels expanding on Mandalorian culture, but nonetheless it annoys me so much whenever i watch tcw and they depict the Mandalorian people, one of the most diverse cultures in starwars, all with blue eyes and blonde hair. Mandalorian is a culture, a religion, not a race. A creed anyone of any species or origin can join.
The Mandalorians were so prolific in adoption into their creed, that it lives on despite their ancestors -the Taung- having died out. All you even have to do in Mandalorian culture to adopt someone is speak a vow, (The gai bal manda) which is recognised by Mandalorian law. (and I'm distraught that in the Mandalorian show we didn't get to see Din speak this vow to Grogu, but I digress.)
The show also presents Sundari, Mandalore's capital at the time, as so... clinical and bare? Yes the new pacifist Mandalorians have foregone the war worshipping ways that founded their culture, but the worship of war also bred a celebration of life and relishing each moment and day you get -Shereshoy being the term for it. From a culture like this I'd expect a little more... soul to their home.
They dress everyone in such plain (lack of) colours too!! When the pacifist Mandalorians discarded their armour, did they discard the cultural meanings or importance of colour too? (And I'd love to see New Mandalorians treating their clothing with as much respect and reverence as they traditionally did armour, following the Resol'nare's tenet of Beskar'gam in their own, new way. I have so many thoughts on how the Resol'nare can apply to a peaceful lifestyle, but ultimately I know that's far too much detail for tcw to have delved into, and I'm sure i wouldn't be the first to talk about it, if only there was a show solely about Mandalorians that could explore their culture in such depth-)
Ever since I had a hyperfix on Mandalorian culture a year or two ago I haven't been able to consume Mandalorian related content the same way, and I am trying to resurrect the intense interest because it ended before I was able to learn Mando'a, and by goodness I think it might be working.
saying “i want him” about the character but not in a romantic or sexual way . i just Require him i need to Obtain him