the feminine urge to look pretty when i cry - 1531QCA Making Visual Media Assessment 2

ellalissauer

mvm

#the #feminine #urge #to #look #pretty #when #i #cry

The sad girl is not a new phenomenon. Created by men, it’s an archetype prominent in art and literature. It emboldens a man and belittles a woman, making her no more than a passive part of their lives as a way to add meaning (think Juliet from Shakespeare’s tragedy). This intrigue into sad women fetishises brokenness. The ‘Tumblr girl’ is not much different.

An aesthetic that defined the early to mid-2010s, the ‘Tumblr girl’ was known for listening to angsty, sad indie pop, quoting shitty poetry and talking

#we #all #want #to #belong

about their emotional trauma online. Tumblr became a platform where people were able to commiserate in company and feel connected to other people due to similar experiences, becoming almost relatable. This perpetuated a mass masochistic self-indulgence, where you had to be mentally ill to be interesting.

Due to the anonymity of the internet, it can feel alienating to be present in our real lives and online. Sharing our truths online, but with no face, and sharing our face in reality with no truth behind it can be a difficult situation to navigate. It can feel freeing to speak honestly, but this distinct separation between reality and an online presence can impact who we are and how we interact and empathise with others.

Musicians like Arctic Monkeys, Marina and the Diamonds and Lana Del Rey, who were beloved during this era, made music about sex and sadness, drugs and depression, singing as if they enjoyed it. Influences like this reframed depression and sadness as not always being debilitating, but something to sometimes

#do #i #wanna #know #if #we #we’re #born #to #die

be grateful for.

Trend cycles are not a new idea, however, due to TikTok, trends have been moving in progressively faster cycles. Before, trends would come back every 20 years, but now forecasters are predicting an indie sleaze renaissance, the aesthetic that dominated the wardrobes of ‘Tumblr girls’, not even a decade out from the era.

Being a kid during this time, who desperately wanted to be a part of this, is concerning to my now adult self. With the societal awareness I now have, the predicted resurgence of the indie sleaze aesthetic, and my ability to comprehend the nuances of different and still prevalent issues, I present an exploration of my past and present and how I define this era and the coming one.

i’ve always been fond of the ocean.

maybe its because something so endless and dangerous, yet calming all the same, tastes the same as my tears.

there’s some comfort in that.