Cryptidcore Aesthetic

[Sharon Hill]

I've mentioned cryptidcore on other threads but today I came across a new article that I think is worth discussing. I'd love to hear some views on it.

Cryptidcore and the joy of discovering mythical creatures in the wild, explained​

https://screenshot-media.com/visual-cultures/internet-culture/cryptidcore-explained/

Cryptidcore encompasses a lifestyle, interest, outlook, and fashion and consumer choices that one adopts focused on cryptids and mysterious, spooky themes. Here is a bit from a preceding piece from the author that describes what it is:

Borrowing visuals from the 1970s to the 1990s, cryptidcore imagery generally includes pitch-dark forests, abandoned buildings, polaroid cameras, VHS tapes, pocket knives, tin foil hats, Ouija boards, glow-in-the-dark iconography and field diaries—bursting to the seam with newspaper clippings of cryptid sightings. Cryptidcorists love researching conspiracy theories, government cover-ups and local mysteries while taking long walks in the forest, planning 2 a.m. alien-watch seshes in local wheat fields and exploring haunted places and corn mazes during road trips. They are also avid enthusiasts of garage sales, thrift stores, vintage sci-fi movies, alien documentaries and, of course, ghost stories narrated around a campfire.

You would often spot cryptidcorists decked in practical and comfy outfits with browns, beige and muted colours. Specific clothing items also include graphic tees, flannel shirts, plaid and corduroy jackets, trench coats, cargo pants and oversized sweaters featuring iron-on patches—topped off with classic combat boots and a backpack.

The above-linked article has so many zingers that we can argue about. But have a read and see what you think. Without a standardized, scholarly community for cryptozoology, the definition and bounds of the field have REALLY expanded. To me, this sounds very much like value signaling for youth who want to look a bit edgy but who like the generalized concepts of science and the natural world but also have a deep interest in cultural issues. Also, they crave fantasy worlds and a sense of an enchanted world - a world with lots of hidden monsters to love.

 

[Austin Popper]

Erm. Uh. *sigh*.

This is challenging for me to appreciate, mostly because there is a lot of lingo in that article that I'm not familiar with, and the annoyance I feel at finding myself living in a world where someone felt the need to coin the term "virtue signalling", no matter how relevant or useful it might be. My inner Abe Simpson is repulsed by all the Tik Tok references. As far as I can tell, Tik Tok is a mashup of Youtube and Twitter for those whose attention span is too short for those venues. I try to keep my inner Abe well out of range of anything important. I'll slog through some more of this, but it seems like it's mainly about the children of hipsters looking for their own group identity without appropriating too much steampunk or Sherlock Holmes. Do I sound cynical? Yes, I know I do. When will the beatnik scene get rehashed? That might be fun.

 

[Kondoru]

Watch it guys!

The delicate souls have been let out of their influencer cloning tanks and cotton wool wrappings in order to have an out of doors experience!

(and they seem to have raided my wardrobe; luckily the SWAT vest and bomber jacket are still there, I checked today).

 

[stu neville]

Pushed for time this evening, but a couple of quick thoughts:

To me, this sounds very much like value signaling for youth who want to look a bit edgy but who like the generalized concepts of science and the natural world but also have a deep interest in cultural issues.

The Cryptozoological community itself is so riven with factions that (in my opinion) none of them can really be dismissive of anything that encourages the coming generation to actually, actively research stuff rather than sit there, passively swallowing the (80+%) sewage that makes up YouTube cryptid-related output. In many respects this is no more than a more tech-savvy, slightly older version of The Puffin Book Of Monsters which helped kickstart my own interest at age 8 - and there's nothing wrong with that.

Also, they crave fantasy worlds and a sense of an enchanted world - a world with lots of hidden monsters to love.

Most participants' interest will probably wane in the same way as Pokemon Go!, but there will be a hardcore whose interest hopefully matures and focuses, and that can only be a good thing.

 

[Mikefule]

My first thought was that "cryptidcore" is such a mouthful that it sounds badly contrived and will never catch on. Steampunk, Goth, punk, rockabilly, metalhead, emo, and even hipster all trip off the tongue in a way that cryptidcore does not.

For simple euphonics, cryptocore or even cryptophile would work far better.

But what is the article describing? A style of dress and a set of affectations loosely connected to the sort of cryptid enthusiast who is portrayed in movies.

This is not to say it is a bad thing as such. In my teens, searching for an identity, like many kids my age, I joined a musical tribe. There were mods, rockers, teds, punks, etc. What music you liked initially influenced which tribe you joined, but once you were in, your tribal allegiance dictated your taste in music and your choice in clothes, hair, and friends.

Just as a few of the kids that I knew as a teenager went on to become professional or semi professional musicians, but most joined the rat race, most of the people who buy into this cryptidcore thing will come out the other side with little more than a feeling of nostalgia when they are "all growed up" but a very few may go on to take a serious interest in the subject.

 

[Yithian]

Without a standardized, scholarly community for cryptozoology, the definition and bounds of the field have REALLY expanded.

"I’m wearing Mothman eyeshadow right now,” Alex said, inching closer to the screen. ​

​

“And I’m wearing a Bigfoot sweater,” Alicia chirped in." ​

Does the Wiccan community suddenly expand and then contract around late-October and early-November?

(Weird English in that article: a mix of U.S. idiom, British spelling and odd solecisms and neologisms: birthed, gifted, forage as transitive, presently for currently...)

From a link in that article:

Dark Academia:

"Picked up by young TikTokers as a response to the physical shutdown of schools and colleges during the pandemic, dark academia is a subculture that romanticises classic literature with a passion for knowledge and learning. Stemmed from European culture, it targets nostalgia for the 19th and early 20th century private schools in England."

When I used to do Live Action Role-Playing in woods and caves as a teenager, we didn't a) spark a new 'culture' every time we came up with a new party of characters or b) expand 'the culture of hermeticism' by dressing up as magicians; it was roleplaying--and now they do it online a lot. There's nothing wrong with it, yet 'Cryptidcore' is as readily distinguished from Cryptozoology as 'Dark Academia' is from '[Real] Academia' and, indeed, a dramatisation is from the real events it depicts: dressing up as an arctic explorer and consuming media about arctic exploration is not itself arctic exploration.

Short version:

• I used to love dressing up and still do from time to time--it's fun and healthy.
• The surfeit (excess? explosion?) of nostalgic, pseudo-nostalgic and nostalgia-linked activity/commerce seen today is symptomatic of a considerable number of fascinating facets of the modern world; hence, the area is certainly worthy of analysis.
• Nonetheless, I think attempts to claim specific 'aesthetics' betoken much beyond a series of transient fads and fashions are a case of overstretching. You may as well study individual waves in place of kumatology. You won't get far before your subject matter has vanished: gains will only be made through aggregation.
• I view these cultural practices as the epiphenomenal sparks generated by far deeper reactions underway beneath the surface; the majority of participants are oblivious to the currents that have bestowed the temporary sheen of appeal upon each trend, and many followers are aesthetic magpies, simply picking up and following lifestyle trends and fashions. Why has there been, at various stages, the trend for wearing a feather on/in one's hat? We have both a surface explanation (it was a cool look) and a book-length discussion to be had on the structural forces that generated meaning across half a dozen fields and as many centuries. That article looks as if it's aiming for the latter and coming up with more of the former.
• Back to point one: there's nothing wrong with following a fashion, but you are highly unlikely to be 'advancing', 'expanding' or really 'exploring' much of anything beyond your own sense of pleasure.

 

[Sharon Hill]

I realize that piece sounds very silly because none of us are under 20 years old. But I suspect this is the new cryptozoology - consumer driven and detached from all reality. It's a sophisticated step beyond LARPing. In my opinion, there are many grown men and women playing pretend action heroes who are Squatching on the weekends with their guns, call blasters and candy bar bait. Some of them are pretty serious about it - they spend a lot of money and it's part of their identity.

But there are millions of kids (and not a few adults) who recognize these aesthetics. "Tumblrgram-InstaTok" is their culture. They are conditioned to identify themselves as a brand and to be noticed.

As noted in another thread, the old guard of cryptozoology is getting REALLY old and passing away. Some of us middle-agers are post-cryptid cryptozoologists. The young ones are about identity and, apparently, magic. But overall --- MONSTERS!

I thought the Scooby Doo reference was odd since that show began in 1969. (Maybe they are talking about the movie reboot). But I got a strong vibe from this piece similar to what I heard from the TV-famous ghost hunters of the early 2000s - they knew nothing about the history and just thought what they were doing was unique and edgy. If you go to any cryptid cons (not Bigfoot meetups so much) in the US, you will find this Cryptidcore crowd. They are younger and liberal minded. In contrast, the Bigfoot crews are older and conservative. It's socially intriguing.

Has anyone listened to the Cryptidbits podcast?

 

[Analogue Boy]

I think this is less about cryptozoology and more about a form of attention- seeking Cosplay. You only have to look at a few social media sites to see how popular superhero cosplay is and how professional the outfits look. Cryptidcore seems to be nodding heavily towards Stranger Things. The low tech gear, the old style clothes, interests in D&D, drawings illustrating a particular theme etc. It’s not a rejection of modernity but a contrary reaction using the media that more often presents vacuous models who never go too far from the bedroom mirror where they pout, duck-lipped, in an endless series of selfies.

There’s also a heavy influence of Pokemon Go at work here. Just do the nerdy dressing up, put a load of cool-looking but obsolete kit in a retro themed backpack and take a short hike to look for monsters. Of course the real aim is the photographs of yourself in the outfit with a little fan fiction narrative to go with it.

 

[Xanatic*]

Monster Hunter Cosplay seems like a better description. There's worse things the youth could get up to.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Good point about video games. The appearance and popularity of cryptids in games is massive. Because I don't play, it's an area I'm totally unfamiliar with. But it seems that the history of whatever cryptid is featured (Mothman, Yeti, Bigfoot...) is used as a foundation and people build upon that. Therefore, we have a new means of ethno-knowing the cryptid. The new lore feeds back into the existing stuff and we see an evolution of what people think of the legend. To me, this is a valuable area of study - but I'm of the opinion that cryptozoology is not part of zoology but very interdisciplinary. If you have a look at academic stuff on the subject these days, that's evident. It's hardly any zoology - it's anthropology, religious studies, folklore, history.

 

[Frideswide]

If you go to any cryptid cons (not Bigfoot meetups so much) in the US, you will find this Cryptidcore crowd. They are younger and liberal minded. In contrast, the Bigfoot crews are older and conservative. It's socially intriguing.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I've been musing about this cryptidcore stuff for a few months now (merely as a tangential aside). In some respects it echoes some of the varied 'aesthetics' ('chics') that emerged during the countercultural upheavals of the Sixties and Seventies. It can even be traced farther back to the Hip and Beat orientation / lifestyle cues floating around earlier in postwar western societies.

In all these scenes the front lines for foment were situated in the temporal landscape of adolescence and young adulthood. As such, I find it easy to see cryptidcore as a latter day version of youthful style experimentation.

Having said that ... I don't agree that cryptidcore has a strong substantive linkage to the practice, history and / or objectives of mainline (old school; 'formal'; etc.) cryptozoology per se. It's certainly true that cryptidcore is prominently flogged with regard to crypto elements and themes in attempting to define itself (or in vapid third party commentators' attempting to characterize and hence latch onto the latest trend).

However, the label is being used as an umbrella term spanning 'mysterious' or 'weird' subjects that aren't cryptozoological at all - e.g., ULs / folklore, ghosts and even ufology. Some descriptions of cryptidcore cast so broad a topical net that this 'aesthetic' seems more like a general 'Fortcore' to me.

Furthermore, there's a significant difference between 'projecting the look' and engaging in what the look insinuates. To the (admittedly limited) extent to which I've found self-identified cryptidcore adherents engaged in actual discussion, there's been little indication that any inclination to engage in active thematic experiences (e.g., investigations; explorations) has focused on cryptozoological activities.

I definitely think there's something interesting in all this, but I'm not sold on the idea it's all about a new wave / movement peculiar to cryptozoologists or cryptozoology alone.

 

[Austin Popper]

So I missed my opportunity to dress up like Indiana Jones, and swagger around with a bullwhip like some kind of demented dork. Probably just as well. I might be at the leading edge of Fortean cosplay if I get some more rounded spectacles and a frumpy three piece suit, but that's not really my style either. Guess I'll continue to ignore the whole mess.

I always thought the Bigfoot hunter "reality show" casts should be done up like Larry, Curly, and Moe.

 

[Sharon Hill]

I've been musing about this cryptidcore stuff for a few months now (merely as a tangential aside). In some respects it echoes some of the varied 'aesthetics' ('chics') that emerged during the countercultural upheavals of the Sixties and Seventies. It can even be traced farther back to the Hip and Beat orientation / lifestyle cues floating around earlier in postwar western societies.

In all these scenes the front lines for foment were situated in the temporal landscape of adolescence and young adulthood. As such, I find it easy to see cryptidcore as a latter day version of youthful style experimentation.

Having said that ... I don't agree that cryptidcore has a strong substantive linkage to the practice, history and / or objectives of mainline (old school; 'formal'; etc.) cryptozoology per se. It's certainly true that cryptidcore is prominently flogged with regard to crypto elements and themes in attempting to define itself (or in vapid third party commentators' attempting to characterize and hence latch onto the latest trend).

However, the label is being used as an umbrella term spanning 'mysterious' or 'weird' subjects that aren't cryptozoological at all - e.g., ULs / folklore, ghosts and even ufology. Some descriptions of cryptidcore cast so broad a topical net that this 'aesthetic' seems more like a general 'Fortcore' to me.

Furthermore, there's a significant difference between 'projecting the look' and engaging in what the look insinuates. To the (admittedly limited) extent to which I've found self-identified cryptidcore adherents engaged in actual discussion, there's been little indication that any inclination to engage in active thematic experiences (e.g., investigations; explorations) has focused on cryptozoological activities.

I definitely think there's something interesting in all this, but I'm not sold on the idea it's all about a new wave / movement peculiar to cryptozoologists or cryptozoology alone.

I see your points. However, I think we underestimate the power of the internet and social media to completely obliterate what was once considered usual, standard, or accepted. I don't know that you can roll that back. People get their information in different ways today. It's really difficult to get a hold of an idea and rein it back in when it's been released and is actively mutating and getting popular. IOW, cryptozoology as a scientific field is long dead, it's now entirely cultural studies.

In the larger sense, from a cultural standpoint, all paranormal subjects are coalescing. UFOs, psi, demons, cryptids, conspiracies... it's all one big overlapping mess now. (And pretty much has been for a while, thank you Keel.)

"Fortcore" would be cool if it wasn't already co-opted by other things and if people actually read books on the subjects.

 

[Austin Popper]

...and if people actually read books on the subjects.

Infotainment has devolved to the point that many people think "research" is watching some videos with no credible link to anything that actually exists, reading a few multi-paragraph "deep dive" blog blurbs, and discussing them with other uninformed twerps. Then there is the whole Facebook University crowd, many of whom can't put a coherent sentence together twice in a row. These are the geniuses who call anyone with a lick of sense sheeple, while being the most easily manipulated fools in the world themselves.

But anyway, I suppose much of this -core stuff lives on or near college campuses where, I'll continue to fantasize, intelligence still has value. We don't live near one of those, and we miss many of the things that come with the territory. Like good book stores, wacky alternative newspapers, lively garage bands, and good cheap bars. You'd need some good thrift stores to put together the kit without spending a fortune, too, which I hope are still abundant around college towns. Excuse me--University towns, since every campus with more than three buildings now houses a University.

 

[Mythopoeika]

But anyway, I suppose much of this -core stuff lives on or near college campuses where, I'll continue to fantasize, intelligence still has value.

This is looking less likely as time goes by.

 

[Kondoru]

I have read the article and I am completely traumatized.

When I was in my early teens, led astray by Mr Dinsdale; I was heavily into the LNM. (I grew out of this when I was 14)

(Dinsdales book is wonderful in a different way now, the journey of a True Believer)

But would I have been into this? I don't think so. These people cannot tell a myth from a possible live creature, and presumably mistake pussies for ABCs all the time.

Its small kids with make believe, its not even roleplaying; LARPers know what they are doing is fantasy, if it was real I suspect they would find it too scary.

The worrying thing is that its not small kids; some of them are quite advanced in years.

 

[James_H]

Perhaps related to goblincore? Which is, I regret to report, a thing.

 

[Frideswide]

Do you have a source for that @James_H ? pretty please

 

[James_H]

Do you have a source for that @James_H ? pretty please

Here's the link the image comes from
https://cosmiquestudio.com/blog/a-c...re-aesthetic-style-5-goblincore-outfit-ideas/
Here is the aesthetics wiki
https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Goblincore

 

[Kondoru]

Now, I am totally traumatised now.

(Particularly about the antisemetic worry; do we have to check for that all the time now?)

 

[Sharon Hill]

Perhaps related to goblincore? Which is, I regret to report, a thing.

View attachment 62159

All aesthetics, I guess, can be said to be related. People want to identify with something strongly and adopt it as a personal lifestyle. I don't know that cryptid core is really "related" to goblincore. There are a lot of people who reject reality and would rather live in a fantasy world. This stuff mostly appeals to the under 30 and life eventually wrenches these more extreme efforts (such as wearing pointed ears) away from them.

 

[Yithian]

Perhaps related to goblincore? Which is, I regret to report, a thing.

I see your goblincore and raise you...

Grandparentcore is an aesthetic related to the common aesthetic depiction of grandparents as a whole. It is a comfortable, whimsical (but not necessarily chaotic) aesthetic centered around focusing on things we enjoy most. Though it may appear simple or even naive at first glance, grandparentcore implies a certain level of expert knowledge in various topics or activities. Most of the things that are involved with grandparentcore are old, vintage, or even antique as it is implied that they have been used or were invented a long time ago. This aesthetic is split into two different aesthetics: Grandmacore and Grandpacore. Though these two groups fall very neatly into binary gender categories, they tend to overlap or borrow from each other. They aren't Female-Grandparentcore and Male-grandparentcore; they are two groups under one overarching umbrella.

Source (that keeps giving):
https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Grandparentcore

 

[Kondoru]

That is one supertraumatic website.

(And interesting...)

 

[Sharon Hill]

I see your goblincore and raise you...

Grandparentcore is an aesthetic related to the common aesthetic depiction of grandparents as a whole. It is a comfortable, whimsical (but not necessarily chaotic) aesthetic centered around focusing on things we enjoy most. Though it may appear simple or even naive at first glance, grandparentcore implies a certain level of expert knowledge in various topics or activities. Most of the things that are involved with grandparentcore are old, vintage, or even antique as it is implied that they have been used or were invented a long time ago. This aesthetic is split into two different aesthetics: Grandmacore and Grandpacore. Though these two groups fall very neatly into binary gender categories, they tend to overlap or borrow from each other. They aren't Female-Grandparentcore and Male-grandparentcore; they are two groups under one overarching umbrella.

Source (that keeps giving):
https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Grandparentcore

Ummm. There goes my idea of appealing to the under-30!!!

 

[James_H]

What happens when the -core aesthetics disappear into (up) themselves? Explaining corecore (article).

 

[Kondoru]

Young folk; where did all the `Sex n drugs n rock n roll` go?

 

[Sharon Hill]

Early in the 3rd decade of the 21st century, cryptozoology is mostly of interest to certain communities with age clusters of either under 30 or over 60. These two cohorts appear to perceive the field of cryptozoology very differently, which feeds into my overall observations for “Pop Goes the Cryptid”. The key conclusion is that the field is becoming less “zoological” and more “fantastical” or supernatural for a variety of reasons. An illustrative example of this manifestation is the recently popular “aesthetic” of Cryptidcore.

https://moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com/2023/08/28/cryptidcore/

 

[Zeke Newbold]

Early in the 3rd decade of the 21st century, cryptozoology is mostly of interest to certain communities with age clusters of either under 30 or over 60. These two cohorts appear to perceive the field of cryptozoology very differently, which feeds into my overall observations for “Pop Goes the Cryptid”. The key conclusion is that the field is becoming less “zoological” and more “fantastical” or supernatural for a variety of reasons. An illustrative example of this manifestation is the recently popular “aesthetic” of Cryptidcore.

https://moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com/2023/08/28/cryptidcore/

This is an example of what Marx meant when he coined the term `Fetishism of commodities`.

In a capitalist society we become alienated from the products of our own labour and begin to fetishise inanimate objects - forgetting that they were produced by people for specific uses by other people and that their only real value resides in that fact.

Thus the record collector who never listens to the records that s/he collects.

In the case of Cryptidcore the paraphenalia of `cryptozoology` has become fetishsised within consumerist social media by people who like the image but who, one suspects, don't (really) believe in their monsters and have no real intention of carrying out any serious on the ground research into them.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Another article trending towards cryptozoology as an aesthetic, not a "field of study". It's more about how young people see the world as magical, nothing much having to do with zoology.

Cryptozoology: Inside the online communities hunting for strange creatures​

Social media is abuzz with stories of urban legends such as Bigfoot and Moth Man – but what about these cryptid sightings feels so relevant now?

https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-c...unities-hunting-for-strange-creatures-mothman