what is media moodboard?
a smorgasbord of stray links from the internet that can help us question, confront, and stay informed about moments in internet culture (how we exist in it, experience it & talk about it!)
each article of the week is paired with a mood board of complimenting tweets, images, stories, etc. that can help inspire deeper exploration and round out a delicious media diet.
#Hopecore
What’s it about? #hopecore is a hashtag, internet subculture, digital aesthetic, and lifestyle. Started on TikTok through video montages of humans experiencing joy and positive memes, #hopecore has evolved into a niche internet aesthetic that accompanies any piece of digital media that feels hopeful, joyful, and anti-nihilistic.
What does “core” mean? For more on internet subcultures and the aesthetics they create read here.
Media Moodboard:
1. Gen Z Nihilism (1,2,3)
Looming existential crises like climate change and economic recessions have inundated young people to believe that they are without a substantial future. Gen Z’s adolescence is bookmarked by tragedy and they’re constantly surrounded by it. The compulsion of doom-scrolling is in part the reason why social media is one of the largest drivers of mental-health concern for this generation.
From political action to meme-making, how Gen Z reacts to this nihilism is one of the most lasting legacies of our generation.
2. #hopecore (4,6,7)
#hopecore is the anti-doom scroll. The hashtag #hopecore has over a billion views on TikTok and related tags (ie. #hopeposting #antinihilism) have reached the tens of millions.
What is labeled “#hopecore” is fluid. On TikTok, they take the form of inspirational slideshows, clips of achievements in the human experience, or quotes from inspirational songs, literature, or poems.
Hopecore is also closely tied to identity and experience. How hope is perceived or persists for Black TikTokers or women of the internet is different and is represented through this hashtag. The ability for #hopecore to reflect the specific dreams of your identity or interest is a key factor in the trend’s longevity and omnipresence online.
3. Is the internet good? (5)
A couple of weeks ago, The Daily, released a podcast on the most influential creator on the internet Mr.Beast. The hosts approached the creator and his content with a level of wonder and bewilderment that amazed me as a creator with 167 Million followers on YouTube alone.
The thesis of their investigation was that what’s most popular on the internet is positive, impact-driving content (planting millions of trees or curing strangers of blindness). A conclusion that the hosts found slightly shocking and opposed to the counter-culture of generations past (because an internet following of 167 million is counter to the culture).
Internet culture = culture (a thesis of Kate on the Web) and where there is good in our daily lives there is good in our digital ones.
4. Anti-toxic masculinity (9)
What feels unique to #hopecore (or at least to my experience of the internet) is how it centers radical experiences of joy by men. The top videos of #hopecore feature quotes from men in their acceptance speeches or interviews and achievements of men in sports. What feels radical is how often these videos feature extremely emotional displays from these men either crying tears of joy or embracing each other.
Many of the top #hopecore videos are paired with the #mensmentalhealth and in a digital landscape that is algorithmically conditioned to radicalize, #hopecore is a departure from this norm and one that may lead to a lasting change in how Gen Z and Gen Alpha boys come of age online.
5. Cool is dead. Cringe is king (8,10)
Cringe is inherent to the Gen Z experience. As young people our lives are marked by it and coming of age online has led to a wealth of it. Gen Z doesn’t shy away from cringe and as the internet has now been around long enough to be self-referential, we’re embracing it on a meta-level.
To Gen Z, where it’s cool (and imperative to our survival) to care, feeling emotions even powerful one’s like hope isn’t cringe.