I think the cottagecore phase during the pandemic, however brief it was, did signal that people are yearning for simplicity and for an escape from technology.
Yeah, I agree but the way in which this was propagated and performed was mainly online. I think people yearned for it, but it was about the vibe and the online emotion associated with it. People want to live in a picture or a TikTok, not really in a cottage. Because I think people interact so much with online things and representations of reality like in movies instead of actual reality.
There was never a cottagecore phase. There was a miniscule and irrelevant portion of city people on tik tok who found comfort in the idea of their invented fantasy of what rural living is like. This was never anything more than some women who were briefly interested in a tik tok aesthetic. So no, this does not signal anything about society.
@@waltercommunitycollege1615I disagree- because it’s more than just those rich-girl city dwellers. Yes, That trend has started to fade, but it’s the people that don’t go on social media 24/7 ; we’re starting to see a trend like the “back to the land” shift of the 70s; even in suburbia/urban life. Traditional skills like Sewing, Canning and full scale food gardening is making a huge resurgence as compared to 20 years ago. People are turning more to permaculture in thier communities and local buying, and thrifting after seeing the extreme harmful effects of fast -merchandise and imported industry. “Underconsumption” is huge. And yes you’ll always have the wasteful high-tech people in society. But lots of us are turning away and rekindling old habits that have been lost for a while. And we aren’t flashing about it on social media. It’s no longer a fashion-forward trend, yes, but a slow and quiet burn.
I never stopped to realize how similar the public feeling towards technology and the future insecurity of our time are with the first Industrial Revolution. Very interesting video
This easies my mind. We like to think this is the first of something BIG. It's something that will change humanity forever, but it isnt that. The past has experienced similar scares, but we are still living today. Knowing that things will be okay in the end makes me have hope for the future.
It goes back to every single time in every single culture in every single era. There is always a pendulum of appolonian and dionysian thought, keeping things in check. When things get to be too much, the swap occurs.
One can take solace in the fact that humans are adaptable, strong, and at their heart, feeling. We can't diminish the differences between this new era we are emerging into and the ones we've came from though.
We're in the middle of the 4th industrial revolution, that's why. Unfortunately not to scare everyone but the technology is currently in the wrong hands. These people plan on replacing the entire workforce with AI automation. Capitalism would be over but instead of us enjoying the fruits of our labour in a true communist system, the elite envision a world where they are waited on by robots in some fully automated luxury dystopia. They wont need workers to produce for them. The end goal of global capitalism was this. We are all horses about to be replaced by a car. Obsolete. They encouraged baby booms when they needed labour. Now they encourage individualism and porn consumption. They want our wagie cagie bloodlines gone. Asap. They used us to build and fund these technologies as workers, tax payers and consumers. They rigged our governments and economies in their favour so they could own the tech. We won't be around to enjoy what ever cyberpunk monstrosity tech mafia billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Theil want for themselves. Were currently in a great depression they just haven't announced it. Between covid, wallstreet and the tech boom we are walking through histories foot prints completely, exactly the same steps. Its no coincidence either. The elite have plotted everything down to a T. Its horrifying to those who really understand what is happening. Enjoy your life as much as you can in the coming 5 years. Everything will change after that. We are about to be reminded how brutal humanity has been for hundreds of thousands of years. We were all very comfy the last 70 years but its not going to last. Sorry.
I'm a PhD who specialised in romantic literature and really enjoyed this video. It's worth specifying that Romanticism was as much a reaction to a media revolution as the Industrial revolution: Romanticism deals in large part with changing attitudes around what it means to read and write given that literacy rates have gone up, the book market has gone fully commercial, patronage no longer exists etc etc. Romantics obsess over the problem of what language even means once it had become increasingly medial. If anything I think this reinforces the point of your video: we're dealing with the results of our own media revolution, and the emergence of new visual aesthetics or 'cores' is pure Romanticism in terms of how out brains handle a whole new system of codes and information transfer.
You're making a really interesting point. What do you mean by "patronage" though, I feel like that term is either too specific in the field or it's too vague. I just finished a media literacy class I learned about some of these concepts. Are you saying that as the social influence of media grows, as you said the book market has gone fully commercial, we have become largely detached from how literature and information was viewed in the past? Has the entire way that we view and process information completely changed as a result of the media revolution?
@@HdogGaming5I can’t speak for OP, but as someone who has a BA in English literature, your questions are likely the thesis to multiple essays and are difficult to address in a RUclips comment. But I would say you are thinking along the correct lines of inquiry. As for patronage, the way it has worked historically in the arts is dead. A lot of individuals whose works we now consider Great Works of Art were supported by a patron (a wealthy donor, or several, who financially supported the artist to enable them to continue to create their art). Many writers in the Romantic movement got by with support from patronage. We see something similar happening recently with creators on RUclips being financially supported by their viewers through systems like Patreon, though with marked differences than historical patronage.
A professor of mine in college who taught romanticism died this year. He was completely obsessed with William Blake, and the class I had with him was clearly influenced by his age. But you could tell this stuff was his life. I think he would have very much enjoyed this video and would have also been very pleased to see it come out shortly after his death.
I think the popularity of "Nosferatu" and the positive response it's gotten kind of reflects this. Stunning romantic era- esc imagery, and Gothic themes that are striking that same chord with people disenchanted with modernity.
I'm a huge fan of the director of that film Robert Eggers. He's stated multiple times that he has a nostalgia for pre-modern view of the world--that evil, good, and the transcendent really existed and could manifest themselves in the human realm.
I'm an Architecture student, and honestly, I feel as though our art is nearly at the forefront of this rising desire for the classical, the gothic, or otherwise. You see, Architecture has almost lost its soul, I feel. The role of an Architect is to design the human environment, we're not aesthetic designers, we don't just "choose the color pallete" or anything. Think of cities, and of Architecture, it is nearly omnipresent in those circumstances, everywhere you go, work, live, sleep, it surrounds you. It dominates your lines of sight, the walls, colors, and light dominate and literally define your entire life. Architecture is the *only* art form you live in. With other arts, the consuming and experiencing of them can be ceased. If you don't like a bad movie, you can turn it off. If you don't like a bad piece of art, you can stop looking at it. If you don't like a meal, you don't have to eat it. However, with Architecture, the experiencing of it is non-consensual, whether you want to or not, the environment curated there will in many ways define you. Define how you feel, how you act, and your general mood. As well, Architecture deals with time in the long term, you work or live often in the same place for many years, accumulating tens of thousands of hours around that piece of art, around and in that environment. Could you think of watching one movie for thousands of hours? Or looking at one painting for thousands of hours? The effects of Architecture are not to be ignored. Industrialization and Capitalism have forced Architecture to be more and more about money, and about making investors or clients money. Architecture should be about the user, the person who will live in and around that structure, but instead, Architects' voices have been handed to the corporate. We can no longer express our art for the sake of the love we have for it, or for the sake of the people we wish to design for, but instead, we design for the wealth of those who will never care to experience our creations. We no longer design beautiful libraries for others to experience, but instead we design trophies for men who will seldom see them. Modernism, Contemporary Architecture, and the loathesome Starchitect have branded us as fools, fools who are to far up our own asses to truly understand what people want. The Art of architecture has more and more been called into question, it's seen as purely a science, instead of as a hybrid of the many things that make our world. Art, Science, Math, Psychology, Sociology and History. People think more that the engineer is responsible for the reality of the building, or in other words, that Architects are futile, and useless. People are displeased and disinterested in Architecture, a new skyscraper will go up and few will bat an eye. Something so massive and influential to our lives, and they don't even care. There is a disconnect between Architects and humans. People do not care about Famous Architects like Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, of the odious Le Corbusier. Who sought to say that Architecture was nothing more than "machines for living", who didn't care one drop of the actual lives of those who will experience it. Instead, they view it as an Art of self expression, when it is anything but. People, truthfully, in my opinion, do not want the old specifically for what it stands for, for its philosophies, or anything like that. They desire the old for the beauty they possess. People want more beautiful Architecture, more detail, more color, more love and soul, and Architects inability to give them that is why they are so hateful of us. EDIT: For clarity, I'm not stating that all Modernist or Contemporary Architecture is ugly. There are many many designs and modernist/contemporary Architects that make very beautiful work. From Brutalism to Minimalism, there is beauty, and beauty to many different people's taste. I'm stating that the overwhelming amount of designs that are modernist or contemporary is an issue. It's as if the whole world only made movies in the Sci-fi genre, it's not interesting anymore. A good meal is nice until you've eaten the same thing 500 times in a row. I think many people are simply bored of what stands today.
Man I could read a book of you speaking about how architecture affects everyday life, how borish modern architecture is, how we got to this point through corporate takeover of the arts, the dissatisfaction people feel towards their environment, and how people yearn for beauty and art to return. Could easily fill a couple chapters with these topics, certainly would be an interesting read.
Couldn’t agree more. A spiritual renaissance and romantic era is tingling up our spines. A life of love, beauty, and connection to the true source is what we all crave, and our Art will reflect this.
Coincidentally enough there is a resurgence of modern luddites in recent years, they self identify as neo-luddites, or new luddites, check out “this machine kills” podcast if you want to get more into it.
And now jeans made with vintage selvedge looms are luxury products selling for $300. Everything changes but somehow mostly stays the same. The threat of mass unemployment due to automation has been under-delivering for 300 years.
@@DeflatingAtheism that’s not true, custom attire has always been expensive even back in the day, but 300 dollar jeans would still make sense back then as you would probably only have a few staple pieces that last for years and you would wear them until they fell apart. That was the mode for most of history. But it’s still very true that automation has been taking jobs in fashion as people in the West don’t go to tailors anymore (big surprise as an Asian tbh) and garment manufacturing isn’t 100% automated yet as sweatshop workers are the ones to piece together the patterns and sew them with the machines.
The more AI creeps into the creative spaces, I think there will likely be a backlash that might somewhat resemble the 19th century concept of humanism. If AI is destined to outdo us in most intellectual pursuits, our only respite is in pure creativity. As a child of the 70s, I can look back on that era as something of a Romantic period. Great hopefulness in reaction to - and combatting - the collapse of hippie idealism and the new cynicism; all mixed with plenty of narcissism and hedonism. A period that produced a lot of astounding beauty in music, arts, literature, film, etc., but that was also ultimately very self-serving and inward. Honestly, it all looks kind of lovely to me from my vantage point now. Is it time to go back to penning ultra shiny powerpop gems with gory lyrics? Perhaps!
The comparison to the ‘70s is spot on, particularly with regard to the proliferation of the New Age movement & its neopagan ilk. Your use of the word “narcissism” is also spot on. I think there’s a lot of good to be found in the humanism of the ‘70s-although, aesthetically speaking, I’m more of an ‘80s gal myself-so we needn’t dispense with all of it, but you’re right, some careful sifting is in order.
I'm kind of hoping this new romanticism mixes more with Leftist anti-humanism and the environmentalist movement that's grown since the turn of the millennium. We don't need to return to the idea that humans are some exceptional creatures which can never be replaced, that idea is still a harmful one.
Something ive noticed with AI is theres a sort of chain reaction going on im not sure what the end result will be, people are more skeptical of digital images due to AI so they look for the patterns and signs that AI has, but even further the more these quirks are expected the more we expect them... over expecting reality, ive seen now and then people misinterpreting photos in ways that only make sense when your first thought is whether something is AI or not, like instead of seeing one animal standing behind another thinking it is some strange merging or the two that an AI might do just cause the shapes were connected. This can lead to some very surreal results. Personally i think aside from creativity what AI is really missing is thoughtfulness, i mean it can make some insane surreal things that before one might have considered very creative, but whats really lacking is something tailored specifically to an idea yeah it can give you some random answer to your problem but it cant work out the details its not going to check for consistency and referencing back to context, it doesnt know the internal structure of things, it doesnt know anything its just replicating the appearance of things that appear to have intention behind them. If theres going to be a movement in response i think it will have to be very personal and clear in the choices that were made(i hesitate to say very intentional or meaningful as that can be a lot of pressure)
The threat of AI in art is not that it will replace human genius at its loftiest heights, but rather that it will kick the legs out of the entry level. Actually, that’s already happened, but the question now is how humans will respond. No one becomes a great artist without going through an apprenticeship or juvenalia stag, and I’m not sure how much patience people are going to have for apprentice-level art when everything can be done faster and cheaper with AI.
no one really makes art alone. whatever diverse perspective an author may filter it through, art is also a product of the collective unconscious, and once released into the world contributes to a societal conversation which transcends time, and as such, belongs to all of us
Nice video! I would add that romanticism was a predominantly Germanic movement, in England it was way smaller and consisted of a few artists we today classify as a group. In Germany the movement had massive influence on every aspect of life: philosophy, art, architecture, politics, even medicine. I think that the most important of these was philosophy, that's what missing from our era, if a romantic philosophy was about to emerge (which is pretty possible tbh) a new romanticism could be established and not end up as just fashion. There are signs of that happening, we just have to wait and see
In the spaces I’m in, the philosophy sounds kinda romantic. It’s all about Doing Whatever the Fuck you Want because the world is big and awesome so you gotta see its full potential. There’s also a whole thing of reverting to tangible/physical media such as letters, records, or film cameras because they feel more personal and human in a way.
Yes, it was big in Germany,Goethe is great! but there were English and French philosophers and artists. Swiss philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau. It was a Western European movement with people influencing each other
On the Germanic emphasis: There's been a new fascination with the etymology roots of words in books by fantasy writers. Higher amounts of Germanic words (in English books) seem linked to a greater enjoyment of prose (for most, not all) as opposed to books with more Latinate words. I'm going to further study any links between Germanic vs. Latin/Anglo/American ways of approaching life and culture. It seems like "something Germanic" might be a seed (the seed?) for an Authentic Intelligence era
@@st4r_eats_molten_plastic "So much to do, so much to see, so what's wrong with taking the back street? You'll never know if you don't go. You'll never shine if you don't glow" (I'm sorry for this, but All Star by Smash Mouth was a foundational pillar of a romantic ideal in my adolescence. I had to do it)
really enjoyed this. I'm requesting your future videos might end with 10 or so seconds of music, silence, or really anything so that the final thoughts can resonate with the viewer uninterrupted (by post-video ads which of course start off instantly blaring their corporate narratives immediately to beg people to consume something and thus completely breaks the "internalization reflection period" of your videos' examining!) Thank you for your work and rigored speculation!
@@north_star_yt I hear ya. Though to be honest, this is how RUclips pays out its creators. I do think there is the option to tell RUclips what points are appropriate in the video for ads though. In videos I’ve done that were guided meditations I have told it not to put ads in the middle area-that would kill the mood as you can imagine!
What an absolutely delightful essay. As a working artist with a split amount of time in online and offline art spaces and a lot of opinions on both, who comes from working artist parents who had VERY different experiences in the industry, it’s very illuminating to see what I’m experiencing laid out so succintly. It’s all so harrowing and thrilling and hopeful at once, it feels like we’re approaching the swell of a wave or perhaps dam is ready to break and soon fresh inspiration will just come pouring through in all creative industries, I even think it’s already starting to happen in indie spaces and on a small scale in certain bubbles of culture. Leaving this vid more optimistic than I was before about it all. Thank you! (edited for grammar errors lol)
What a lovely reflection. I certainly hope a new "Romantic" period develops, especially in the cinematic field, which has been corporatized and relegated to the bin of sterilized, unimaginative mediocrity, at best.
Romanticism is a great passion of mine, so I want to share a few thoughts about it here. Its core components - Exaltation of the Sublime and Beautiful - Expression of intense emotions and experiences - Inspiration from Nature - an intense and adventurous outlook on life Listen to the Romantic Composers: Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Scriabin, Schumann, Verdi, Wagner, Mahler etc... Their work is the evolution of the Romantic Writers, and took place after the era of Romantic Literature, often inspired by Romantic Writers. Here are a few essential pieces I recommend: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2, Chopin's Nocturnes, Liszt's Dante Sonata, Tchaikovsky Symphony 6. To understand their music, is to understand the meaning of Romanticism from a gut level. The next artistic movement is emerging organically in response to oversaturation burnout and rejection of 2010's Minimalism. Perhaps it will take some concepts from Romanticism, but it really feels like uncharted territory. This next movement will be quite unique, and will move away from the superficial, and toward things of substance. Society is simply burned out of minimalism, and like an immune response, has recognized it and will soon demand a reversal of the basic minimalistic design of the last half century, opting instead for things more Beautiful.
To add to this. I'd also recommend Bruckner, Wetz, Franz Schmidt, and Franz Schrecker. I would also recommend more "Romantic-tempered" conductors such as Furtwangler, Celibidache, or Bruno Walter, perhaps even Otto Klemperer too. (Who himself, vehemiently and aggressively denied that he was a romantic conducter, but, for crying out loud, listen to his Mozart, or Bach, and compare it with today's interpretations, tell me that is not romantic!!!) If you want "Romantic" pianists, I was recommended Alfred Cortot, Artur Schnabel, Josef Hofmann, Horowitz, Frederic Lamond, or pretty much any classical pianist born in the 19th century that have recordings!
You have a very fair point. I'm an artist and a writer and I've noticed that escapist, romantic, and natural themes are the most popular and sell best lately. Our heavily technology laden society is likely what gave rise to trends like cottagecore.
I work in tech, and it is amazing how many people who work in my industry end up veering towards these romantic ideals as a contrast to the cynical consumerism and disposability of labor that has taken over the tech industry. I think we are already seeing a lot of this mindset in movements like history-bounding, cottagecore, permaculture, foraging, homesteading, and “right to repair”- ones that shun the disposability of modern consumerism, value the home-made and hand-made, and that convey a desire to detach oneself from at least some of the dependency on multinational monopoly capitalism.
All I know is if Luigis start attacking people for political beliefs, it won't be anything like this one incident. It'll be both ways and one side is FAR more capable than the other. That is all 😊
This video was incredibly inspiring as an artist and animator. There's so much pessimism in art culture right now (I've let it affect me too) but this take on things was really refreshing. Wow. Didn't expect this to help my art block so much
For years I've felt like we were living during the Bonfire of the Vanities, and with any luck we might just get a Renaissance, so I think you're spot on. I just hope we can get past our now literally-shorter-than-a-goldfish attention span.
My mom was a teacher for decades, then went into education at the state level. All her friends who were in education have said it’s literally impossible to even get a class of younger people to read a whole book. Teachers aren’t paid well and are abandoning education, because many young people simply can’t bring themselves to care about anything but quick fix social media highs. Twitter and social media have really messed with the ability of people to pay attention.
@@sub-jec-tiv Yes, I've met the communications majors that don't know how to talk. Whatever happens would be different and might just have to start with bad poetry. The first renaissance began without a lot of readers. I've seen news go from papers, to TV, to the net and people have gotten a shorter attention spans with every step of "progress."
@@sub-jec-tiv I totally agree with you. So listen to what we have to say and don't give into the temptation to trash talk us the way everyone else does with other generations. We have something to important to show you.
Having recently taken a class on German romanticism and entering a period of fascination with occultism, magic, etc, I freaking hope so. We’ve sapped the mystery and magic from the world and we’re only now realizing what we’ve lost
This is a fucking gorgeous essay and I am seated. I admit to being particularly passionate about the subject matter. So, that helps. But my RUclips watch history is basically an even split between comedy, commentary, and video essays. And this is the most beautifully written ones I've watched in a while. I really look forward to hearing what else you have to say!
I watched this video a couple days ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it. I think your observations are astute and right on the money. I have felt the same myself, but not with such clarity. Thanks for making this!
I was born in the early 2000s. Every day, at increasing magnitudes, I feel an extremely strong pull towards ditching all social media, as well as me having sworn that I will never use/create AI generated photos or videos again. I also dream of either owning a home somewhere that nature is abundant and without smart technologies. If it had any smart features, I would ensure they do not access the WWW or really any connectivity besides *maybe* Bluetooth. If I had a robot "assistant" or "friend", and I am almost certain I will given that I am still very young, I would do everything in my power to move every functionality that it has *offline*, so it does not turn into a brick, and so it does not jeopardize my privacy. I am a huge believer in the tech optimism of the late 90s, and I want to make sure that my future has the same naturalistic, simplistic style I was always promised (you may know it as Frutiger Aero or Y2K Futurism). But that starts with me ditching social media, and all app clutter, even if it does not happen now, I will make absolutely sure that I do it before moving into my first house.
something I find very interesting about the romantic era in music is that from when it started with Beethoven to when it ended with Mahler, it was a consistent crescendo of works of music becoming more and more grand and profound to the point that Mahler wrote a symphony that called for over a thousand musicians.
Indeed, and perhaps the quintissential "Romantic" musical work, might be the "Der Ring Des Nibelungen", by Richard Wagner, (Who with Liszt, dialed up Romanticism in music into overdrive) which was largely a critique against the industrialisation of Europe. I said something similar, about how Romanticism seems to have lingered in the Classical music scene right up until the 1920's at least, with composers like Gustav Mahler, Franz Schmidt, Richard Wetz, Walter Braunfels, Giacomo Puccini, Hans Pfitzner, Franz Schrecker, Richard Strauss, Korngold, etc... I believe it has been said that other genres that were developing at the time, like Neoclassical was a result of pushback against the excesses of overheated Late-Romanticism. Nevertheless, in regards to this video, it has been discussed in some circles, that there seems to be a resurgence in popularity of the works of Gustav Mahler, and "Romantic" conductors such as Wilhelm Furtwangler, who is now overshadowing Toscanini, who was more autocratic and perfectionistic. Furtwangler believed that music held within it a transcendental truth, and emphasized musicality and expression over technical accuracy, believing that perfectionistic conductors missed the forest for the trees. There were quite a few "Romantic" conductors such as Bruno Walter, Celibidache, and right now, I believe Daniel Barenboim is in the "romantic" camp. These conductors seem to be quite popular, in fact, this is just a hunch by myself, I have no evidence to back this up, but.... I believe that these conductors will overshadow the perfectionistic and autocratic conductors in the long run.
i don't think so. the way art movements work these days with the internet is so different from how they did back then that it just doesn't make sense to say we'll enter a "romantic era" anymore also, gotta point out, the bad corporate art being produced these days isn't bad because of technology, they're bad because capitalism incentivises corporations to produce whatever is the most profitable, which isn't necessarily the best art.
I feel like if we do have a new romantic era, it will mostly be on the internet or in art spaces. People in power likely won’t be influenced, but the internet culture sure as hell will be!
This return of romantic thinking is something I’ve been pondering for these last few years. While I’ve always thought it can be largely good, with people being willing to open up to more abstract concepts, I do worry about how it will affect people’s willingness to think rationality or logically. Challenging a person’s personal imagination of how the world is has now become a rare skill. There is a danger that we become even more isolated as we all move down rabbit holes that seems increasingly nonsensical to those by our side. Even just when it comes to media, a lot of realism is dismissed less as a hinders to story telling but rather because many authors don’t care to learn how something works in reality when adding it to a story. A concept beauty in this imagined way is preferable to finding the beauty within a complex reality. Im struggling to find the words to express what I mean. But this video did an excellent job. Thank you for drawing attention to this. No matter what the future holds, at least it will be interesting.
interesting that youre already finding detractions in something that hasn't happened yet haha, what do you mean by "Challenging a person’s personal imagination of how the world is has now become a rare skill."?
I suggest you venture into modern tumblr if you want to see what this new era of romanticism is steering towards. in my experience, since it's inception, tumblr has consistently been a great predictor of culture and this new romantic mindset has been growing over there for the past five or so years already. posts about sincerity over irony, people encouraging each other to change mindsets and search for community, engage in hobbies, go outside. but most importantly, it has born a slow-forming culture of being unapologetic about one's art. things like, "make bad art" or "write 'problematic' characters" have been sentiments that have been steadily forming from tumblr and have finally started to disseminate onto other social media.platforms. even on a matter of taste, tumblr has somewhat steered away from franchises and IP, and instead embraced the mid-budget and the critically unacclaimed. it's not romanticism like it was in The Romantic Period, but I think it's rather what modern romanticism is going to look like when scholars are looking back in 50 years. for the past few years, I've actually been expecting that pendulum switch you mentioned, and tumblr has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to these kinds of things. lately, the only other social media I think has finally come to dethrone tumblr as the early adapter of culture/subculture might actually be tiktok, but it's still too early to tell.
TikTok still has its astroturfing and attention span problems in being the new media centralizer, but it _does_ have the user base and effective reach.
THATS WHAT IM SAYIN LIKE‼️‼️‼️ And methinks the tiktok people who are also following this pattern are ALSO on tumblr and are spreading the ideas across The Interwebs. Just a theory!!!!
great video! one thing i wonder is if a new artistic movement from is possible in the medium of film. Big studios with big pockets have a lot more control over media than up-and-comers with brilliant ideas. I really hope that we see an artistic revolution, doing away with the bare minimum being widely accepted.
One thing about Romanticism that I think might even be helpful to revisit, is the idea of nature as 'the sublime'. I always enjoyed that artistic approach towards something that is ubiquitous and beautiful and a fact of life for all of us, that we ultimately have so little control over. 'See?!' fells like a timely Romantic answer to our current 'find out' stage, after a long time of fucking around with nature. It will ultimately have to progress from that initial stage to be helpful, but I do think regaining an awareness about humanity being only one part of a larger puzzle could be a step towards something beautiful.
Romanticism's emphasis on the irrational and the inner self can contribute to a sense of nihilism. By isolating individuals within their own minds and detaching them from shared, rational structures of meaning, it may inadvertently deepen the very crises of meaning it aims to resolve.
ive read critics about the romanticism art movement in literature and poetry from the 1800-1900 and the critics says the exact same things as your comment. This is not a reproach or anything, I just wanted to share it because i find it very interesting how the idea for this return to the self and the worries about it are still very relevant to this day
Towards the end of the 90s, I read a quote from Tom Araya of Slayer in a magazine that was something to the effect of “I don’t believe in God or the Devil but I sing about both.” Never forgot this as it was an interesting statement on creativity and separation of art from the artist, especially as I perhaps thought Slayer meant what they sang about up until then. (This quote made me like them more.) PS: Great, smart, and interesting video! Subscribed. Happy New Year! 😊
Great video, very inspirational. I looked Romanticism up again after a long time of not interacting with it and most of the thoughts I had about it were covered here. I truly believe in that if we want to manifest Romanticism today, we should personally should live it.
i had the same thought a couple years ago, its always a cycle of romanticism and classicism and now days looks like a new period of romanticism indeed, very nice video!
I got recomended this video and wasn't planning on watching it fully but soon got enticed in. I love the way you speak and the wide range of sources and knowledge you brought. This is a really intresting discussion that I am sure to bring up soon in dinner table talks and to ponder on myself. I think of myself as a romantic in many ways and this video makes me rethink what that actually means for me. I also wanted to say that I was really moved by your phrase "I'd like to think we can make art better than we are"... I don't know, but that touched something in me, like a nice breeze! So thank you for that, and thank you for this video! Know that it is appreciated :)
Im a musician and a writer. I swear ive been feeling for the past couple years... People are wanting a return to the soul. To Earth. To nature. To source. People are starting to want real art again.
A brilliant and inspiring piece, thank you . Of which reflects of how we are now, technology actually taking us backwards , and how more importantly what we can really be, how we can see the truth and beauty of nature, and how we can really be whom we want to be, purely through expression , of how we feel, regardless of what we see and hear. Please keep your light burning bright, for others to learn and follow . Kindest regards neoklis
Hi Kate! I really liked this video, very happy to be recommended your channel :) I am history MA student, studying intellectual history, specifically as it relates to gender and Jews in Europe. I deal with romanticism quite a bit, though I'm no specialist, but, if you will permit me, I'd like to share some thoughts that might add to the points in your video. As you mention, romanticism was highly individualistic. Even if it contrasted itself with the enlightenments focus on rationalist materialism, it was still a child of Renaissance humanism, that is an ideology which placed humans, and specifically the 'individual' (defined as male) at the centre of the world. While the enlightenment stressed scientific mastery over nature, romanticism stressed solitude in nature as a way of looking inwards, emphasizing inner contemplative cultivation (not dissimilar to the enlightenment's stress on inner individual reasoning versus blind obeying 9f authority). Still, man was understood as being above nature. What was acknowledged was an civilised higher nature or irrationalism, that is emotion, sensibility, particularism. These were natural forces (though it was believed they could be cultivated through exposure to the arts), yet they nevertheless distinguished man from the rest of the animal kingdom, because only came into fruition when man reached a certain level of civilisation - this is connected to Hegel's theory of history. This means that there simulationeously exists 2 highly contradictory strands within romantic thought: 1) people can embrace romantic culture, in German Bildung, and cultivate their individual personality; 2) there exists within each individual a fixed 'nature' in terms of gender, race, nation - this is what I mean when I say particularism, though it is often called relativism in romantic thought. This is why Romanticism was so important in solidifying the cult of domesticity and the idea of 'the angel of the house' in the nineteenth century. Women's nature was fixed in romantic thought, they were supposed to be in touch with their emotions but not establish powerful creative abilities, but rather to be invested the lives of the men around them. The romantic woman facilitated the romantic man's 'genius' by promoting civilisation and the arts, she however was not supposed to be a genius herself. Particularism is also why Romanticism is so important for the development of nationalism in Europe. This is true across the board, from Italy to Ireland to the Balkans. Within German Romanticism, this of course means a identification of a special German 'nature' or essence, that makes someone German (this essence often centres around romantic ideals) and a connection to the German land, in the most literal sense. The most terrible manifestation of this idea can be seen in the Nazi's ideology of Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil). Inward, individual spirituality as you said was a hallmark of Romanticism, but it did not originate with it. Rather the idea of being the true and final arbiter of ones salvation is an idea core to Protestantism, especially English Puritanism and German Pietism. We can think back here to Martin Luther and 'Salvation by faith alone' - true connect with the divine was supposed to be found by looking inwards towards God in oneself not an external church. Again this is not a million miles away from the enlightenment's emphasis on universal reason, Kant afterall was deeply influenced by his pietist background. So are we in a romantic era? I think probably not, poststucturalism has unpacked a lot of the unsavoury baggage of the romantics, nationalism and individualism. With this knowledge I think there can be no progressive turn towards Romanticism, but that doesn't mean it can be used by conservative forces. Moreover, romanticism, despite its associations with pre-industrialism and simplicity, shares too much in common with ego-instrumentalist capitalist ideologies to avoid get swept up into its clutches. Arguably, you could say that the tech-bro, 'Californian ideology' we have today has its roots in the romantic hippie mindset of the 1960s, if you want to pull another example. I think the current climate is more similar to fin de siecle decadence if you ask me, but I'm not sure if that's a good way forward either.
I really enjoyed your comment! this is actually the first time I hear of such a Masters Course, it sounds fascinating - would you be able and willing to recommend some further reading material on this subject? I have studied a bit of romantic literature within my German and French studies and would love to expand on that! Or honestly, if you have written any essays on this, I‘d love to read them too!
Can I just add to what you already said? I'm doing a double MA in philosophy and art history so maybe I can expandon your comment. When you said that we are probably not heading towards a new romanticism. I would say that we are most definitely not heading towards it. I will first cover philosophy and then art (as in painting and sculpture and cinema). Now you've already covered the poststructuralists, but they aren't the only ones: 1. Marxism is such a strong ideological force in the world right now and has been for over 100 years. Marxism and romanticism do not mix. Marxism does not allow for romanticism in its ontology. I tried a further explanation, but the entire thing with marxism is so complex I rather not in a youtube comment. 2. German idealism, which is incredibly important is the further development of enlightenment as you yourself said. It was inspired by romanticism and did inspire romantic art, but I would not call it a romantic philosophy. It is part of the enlightenment at the start and then towards the end it breaches the gap with modernism and other early 20th century thought. I mean german idealism started before and ended after romanticism. It is its own beast. And its thinkers are diverse and heavily misunderstood in the first 40 years of the 20th century. 3. As you can see I've barely covered the 19th century and there's a 100 more years to go. I'll make it quick. We can't possibly revert back to romanticism and german idealism in connection. Structuralists, post structuralists, marxism, modernism, postmodernism and much more habe shaped our collective understanding of the world so much that a return to romanticism would be a very conservative move. I don't even think an actual movement of romantics is possible in a world that is aware of existentialism and the absurd man and the social structures underpinning everything. A post freud and Wittgenstein world cannot possibly be romantic. I can maybe see some return to modernism in rejection of postmodernism but in no way can I see romanticism. 4. Romanticism as you've mentioned is rooted in Christian thought that came out of the enlightenment. Pagan, spiritual, politeistic, new age religions won't lead to romantocism. How? Same with the fact that atheism is not some niche thing in rejection of organized religion, but an actual popular standpoint. Ok now onto art: 1. Romanticism hold this weird place where it and neo-historism kinda duck tape together baroque and post baroque art. After romanticism we had realism(which was in the period of unrest and revolution she kinda wrongly connects to romantocism). In political thought neo-historisms took over and not romanticism. Even if romantocism built the german identity I would argue other styles born out of realism contributed more. Most of the famous german paintings of romanticism are not strictly romantocism. Then we had impressionism, postimpressionism,... 2. 20th century was even more wild. We've deconstructed every single part of art. We've deconstructed art itself. And the audience is used to that. 99% of films are basically postmodern at this point. I mean the most popular art form (cinema) was born into modernism and experimentation of the 20th century. That medium can't return to romanticism even if it tried. This video asserts something that will be repeated by people watching and it is just wrong. Like metamodernism suddenly picking up in online discussion even tho it is an empty term
Saw this on my feed and was instantly intrigued. I like how you present this video as more of a question, as it gives the viewer something to think about. I always like to look at the past, to get a better idea of the present (or just to feel a sense of comfort that humanity has been through similar fears before).
You continue to have an incredible ability to release videos precisely on things I've been fixating on lately. I for one would welcome a neo-romantic movement!
RAPUNZEL PFP SPOTTED!!!! I totally agree with you on the neo-romantic era thing, I would LOVE to just Feel Things and Make Stuff about it (/j I know that’s not all it was about). I just feel like it will be more of a community/society-based thing rather than an individualistic one, as I for one am TIRED of the whole “every man for himself” idea, eugh.
the soothing voice in this is beyond wonderful and adds so much to the subject. In it I felt a type of building hope for a possibile return of romantic art.
I think your video is insightful, but it misses the romantic movement state in Germany with Goethe and the fact that romantics were a larger movement across Europe England actually got to the movement late. This is a in my opinion a myopic view of romantic literature and its effects on modernism which inherented their styles
Fantastic video! I had never seen one of yours, and it definitely convinced me to subscribe - if it wasn't for the fact that I've already read your amount of followers, I would've bet they were nearing the million, or perhaps more. The editing, choice of pictures, and overall flow of it (words & image) were very neat. Thank you for including more info in the description
I definitely believe there will be some change and/or revolution in art. How big or small it will be and how uniform it will be I bother not to quantify. But at least within myself, AI and its ability to make the most generic, cheap, easily accessible art, faster and more efficiently, something I see as a product of a capitalist society that has continually encouraged generic art from the art industry, has encouraged me to change my perspective on art. To look at the art of others and myself that I and this culture would normally look at as “unfinished” or “imperfect” or otherwise be seen as the step towards perfection, “perfection” in this case I believe is subliminally viewed as industry level art which as stated prior is the same type of art intent on producing cheap, generic, easily accessible art, that I have grown tired of. I’ve been working on accepting more the beauty of “the imperfect” in art, and I think I do so because at this point that is now the only way for me to tell if a work of art is made with some genuine artistic intentions. It’s funny you bring up new atheists in the 2010’s on RUclips being essentially gateways to alt-right pipelines. I definitely fell into that trap at that time and sometimes now I struggle to love myself knowing I had consumed those ideas and believed those things. I would’ve been about 7 or 8 at that time, and it was about that age that I had gotten access to RUclips, and be latched onto and would continue holding onto these bad ideas into my late teens. It wasn’t until going to college where I met friends and had education that I was able to get out of such a horrid lie. It’s possible I could be excused in some regard, to what extent is a child and teenager supposed to “know better” about this? Especially if arguably this alt-right ignorance encouraged by the society. Doesn’t change the fact that I am still angry at myself for having been in that place in the first place. But perhaps, recontextualizing my experience with my recontextualized belief on the beauty of “imperfect art.” My imperfect path in life is a living human experience, I am not some perfect AI with all of the knowledge of everything that would have prevented that. Or conversely, since AI is moreso a product of, and the maintaining of, a purpose built flawed system; perhaps “the perfect AI” would maintain some alt-right stance given that is the information it is inundated with in this system, and my “human imperfection” allows me to break away from that. That may be looking at it a little too romantically. And such an outlook should not be an excuse to ignore or glorify my imperfections, but rather to embrace that fact of myself that I had been consuming the alt-right pipeline and use the tools I now have to fight against it and to use my experience to create art that speaks to myself and others that feel the same as I do about this.
Great video! I was a huge fan of romanticism during the last years of high school, I was in art school too. Until I realized that I was following the wrong path, that my mental health was shaking and that I needed to resettle my view of the world. Since then I never dwelled into romanticism that much anymore. I abandoned the idea that the artist has to struggle to do art and other unhealthy illusions. I still love romantic art and literature but I don't feel like a romantic artist anymore and also my philosophy is very different and more calm, a little bit more thoughtful and less driven by sentiment and illusions. There is also something you forgot to mention, that romanticism is the cradle of nationalism. This is where the 20th century ideas of a motherland or a culture to protect comes from, which of course we all know what happened with these ideas...
Can traditional "eras" really exist anymore, with how fast trends are coming and going and how much information we consume every day I don't see traditional art movements being able to flourish for longer periods
This was excellent. I was thinking of something similar, but more like the flourishing of art, music, etc in monasteries during the so called Dark Ages. I have a sense right now of many people detaching & turning to nature, spirituality, crafts, & arts. Your take is fascinating.
0:14 Because VR Chat did it better... especially with, dare I say it, sexually provocative avatars : )... thank god for the recent age verification update.
My big problem with digital public spaces is always the same. When you go there it’s still people. And there’s always somebody being annoying/rude, especially when they’re anonymous. That’s why I don’t play multi-player games, and why I don’t use VR chatting apps. Wherever you go, there we are 😂
What a great video. The kissick article sounds like it's straight from a Coleridge treatise on art! It has however been lambasted by lots of contemporary art critics as being too anti-identity politics - by privileging sublime experiences, we can ignore art's function as a tool to communicate the experiences of the underrepresented. It becomes easy to prioritise emotional escape over interpersonal communication.
Interesting observation! I have noticed the similarities too so i was really interested when i saw the title of the video. The romantic era made way for nationalism and imperialism so i wouldn't say resurgence of that mindset is a very good thing tho. The similarities between that time and our own actually worry me more than they excite me.
This was amazing!! I’d be interested to see how this all bleeds into the nationalist tendencies that Romanticism has historically often overlapped with
This was fascinating and really put into words something I've been feeling for a while, a shift away from social media in particular. I grew up during the time when the internet and smart phones went from new, exciting, and exclusive, to ubiquitous, so I'm not surprised that the next generation has had enough of it. As a fan of original Romantic era art, I'm ready for this renaissance. Though, as you said, we need to be careful not to venture towards the irrational.
We are already seeing it. Millennial artist making romantic figurative paintings in a serious art context which would have been considered passé 10-15 years ago.
there is so much creativity going on in the world, but no one will ever see it. Because art needs craft and skill, and we have tried to obliterate this side of it. Artists are not always organized and great at marketing. They do nor have time for social media and so on, because being an artist means to them to do art, not waste your time on the net. then all the wise guys will tell you , this is modern times, and if you are not willing to promote yourself like all the time, then it is on you, when you die in oblivion, and all your art work with you, no matter , how great it may be. I am not so optimistic . but thank you very much for the video...i still liked it a lot !
I think that, in a similar vein to Romanticism, we've been on the cusp of a parallel to the Pre-Raphaelites and Arts and Crafts Movement for a few years now.
We've been on the 'cusp' ever since people started smelling the rotten stench through the floorboards of 90's/2000's mass-market consumerism. That happened in... like... 2007. If the revival manages to take root or not, probably depends on economics and politics allowing or sidelining this particular thread of values.
Great essay. I agree art and Literature is prime for a Romantic-esque moment, it's pretty clear we're all tired of what the mainstream serve us, and that post-modernism has reached its peak. The overall skepticism over AI and the raising concern (and even bans, see Australia) over the use of social media by kids and teenagers are also big clues (as a parent of a toddler, I see all around me more and more awareness about it, thankfully). I also think this all ties to a resurgence of religion, maybe even organized religion, in a big way; the popularity of New Age;that you rightly point gives clues to a hole our Western culture has that once was filled by it. The lack of meaning many people feel, I think, may make this inevitable, and the raise of right-wing religious adjacent politicians, like Trump, Bolsonaro and Milei also signal it. It's all a big soup that will spill big cultural changes, someway or another. Interesting times ahead😅 Learning history is the best way to not feel overwhelmed about how chaotic this all seems!
I study painting at a major art school in my country with a very classical curriculum. One of my classmates is painting liminal spaces. Dark academia, cottagecore and gothic aesthetic are quite popular, (albeit, to the horror of elder goths, not necessarily fitting into the good old goth subculture). You might dismiss these aesthetics as "internet culture", but they do influence young artists, who then go on to begin their careers in the art world. "Romanticize your life", slow living blogs, meditations, pagan witchcraft got modernized and all... it's here, we have it.
Eu não acredito que estejamos entrando em uma nova Era Romântica, porque, pra que isso acontecesse, a maioria das pessoas teriam que ser pessoas de mais caráter e de sensibilidade verdadeira, como no primeiro Romantismo - e não é o que a gente tem visto por aí...
Amazing video! I like the idea that witchcraft and alt right conservatism are two sides of the same reactionary coin. The only difference being is your brand of nostalgic retaliation aesthetic or not
young people, who this tech is for, are not well....and they don't have any money. I hope it turns around and we all get to just relax outside and be awkward and safe again. everything is too slick. lacking intuition.
This analysis makes me think of Nosferatu - and, by extension, Eggers's other films. It's reductive to say there's no deeper meaning to the movies he's made but, to me, they're not as allegorical or provide as much social commentary as other 'artsy' movies. A covetous vampire wreaks havoc on a couple and their friends. Two lighthouse keepers go mad, or do they? A young woman is tempted to escape her harsh frontier life by joining a coven of witches, and who can blame her? "...when its beauty or strangeness transcends its subject." I like this quote a lot. Great video, glad the algorithm threw it my way.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I think the cottagecore phase during the pandemic, however brief it was, did signal that people are yearning for simplicity and for an escape from technology.
Yeah, I agree but the way in which this was propagated and performed was mainly online. I think people yearned for it, but it was about the vibe and the online emotion associated with it. People want to live in a picture or a TikTok, not really in a cottage. Because I think people interact so much with online things and representations of reality like in movies instead of actual reality.
cottagecore predated the pandemic - it was not a response to it
There was never a cottagecore phase. There was a miniscule and irrelevant portion of city people on tik tok who found comfort in the idea of their invented fantasy of what rural living is like. This was never anything more than some women who were briefly interested in a tik tok aesthetic. So no, this does not signal anything about society.
it's turned into conservative propaganda
@@waltercommunitycollege1615I disagree- because it’s more than just those rich-girl city dwellers. Yes, That trend has started to fade, but it’s the people that don’t go on social media 24/7 ; we’re starting to see a trend like the “back to the land” shift of the 70s; even in suburbia/urban life. Traditional skills like Sewing, Canning and full scale food gardening is making a huge resurgence as compared to 20 years ago. People are turning more to permaculture in thier communities and local buying, and thrifting after seeing the extreme harmful effects of fast -merchandise and imported industry. “Underconsumption” is huge. And yes you’ll always have the wasteful high-tech people in society. But lots of us are turning away and rekindling old habits that have been lost for a while. And we aren’t flashing about it on social media.
It’s no longer a fashion-forward trend, yes, but a slow and quiet burn.
I never stopped to realize how similar the public feeling towards technology and the future insecurity of our time are with the first Industrial Revolution. Very interesting video
This easies my mind. We like to think this is the first of something BIG. It's something that will change humanity forever, but it isnt that. The past has experienced similar scares, but we are still living today. Knowing that things will be okay in the end makes me have hope for the future.
It goes back to every single time in every single culture in every single era. There is always a pendulum of appolonian and dionysian thought, keeping things in check. When things get to be too much, the swap occurs.
One can take solace in the fact that humans are adaptable, strong, and at their heart, feeling. We can't diminish the differences between this new era we are emerging into and the ones we've came from though.
Read the comunist manifesto, it tals about our present
We're in the middle of the 4th industrial revolution, that's why. Unfortunately not to scare everyone but the technology is currently in the wrong hands. These people plan on replacing the entire workforce with AI automation. Capitalism would be over but instead of us enjoying the fruits of our labour in a true communist system, the elite envision a world where they are waited on by robots in some fully automated luxury dystopia. They wont need workers to produce for them. The end goal of global capitalism was this. We are all horses about to be replaced by a car. Obsolete. They encouraged baby booms when they needed labour. Now they encourage individualism and porn consumption. They want our wagie cagie bloodlines gone. Asap. They used us to build and fund these technologies as workers, tax payers and consumers. They rigged our governments and economies in their favour so they could own the tech.
We won't be around to enjoy what ever cyberpunk monstrosity tech mafia billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Theil want for themselves.
Were currently in a great depression they just haven't announced it. Between covid, wallstreet and the tech boom we are walking through histories foot prints completely, exactly the same steps. Its no coincidence either. The elite have plotted everything down to a T. Its horrifying to those who really understand what is happening.
Enjoy your life as much as you can in the coming 5 years. Everything will change after that. We are about to be reminded how brutal humanity has been for hundreds of thousands of years. We were all very comfy the last 70 years but its not going to last.
Sorry.
12:54 ‘I like to think that we can create art that is better than we are’ is an incredible statement
Yes, I came to say the same. The art is not the artist. Such an excellent analysis.
I feel that's going to stay with me, above all else this video had to offer, which was quite good
I'm a PhD who specialised in romantic literature and really enjoyed this video. It's worth specifying that Romanticism was as much a reaction to a media revolution as the Industrial revolution: Romanticism deals in large part with changing attitudes around what it means to read and write given that literacy rates have gone up, the book market has gone fully commercial, patronage no longer exists etc etc. Romantics obsess over the problem of what language even means once it had become increasingly medial.
If anything I think this reinforces the point of your video: we're dealing with the results of our own media revolution, and the emergence of new visual aesthetics or 'cores' is pure Romanticism in terms of how out brains handle a whole new system of codes and information transfer.
It will be interesting if the Romantic notion of artist-as-hero re-emerges as a reaction to authorless AI.
You're making a really interesting point. What do you mean by "patronage" though, I feel like that term is either too specific in the field or it's too vague. I just finished a media literacy class I learned about some of these concepts. Are you saying that as the social influence of media grows, as you said the book market has gone fully commercial, we have become largely detached from how literature and information was viewed in the past? Has the entire way that we view and process information completely changed as a result of the media revolution?
@@HdogGaming5I can’t speak for OP, but as someone who has a BA in English literature, your questions are likely the thesis to multiple essays and are difficult to address in a RUclips comment. But I would say you are thinking along the correct lines of inquiry.
As for patronage, the way it has worked historically in the arts is dead. A lot of individuals whose works we now consider Great Works of Art were supported by a patron (a wealthy donor, or several, who financially supported the artist to enable them to continue to create their art). Many writers in the Romantic movement got by with support from patronage.
We see something similar happening recently with creators on RUclips being financially supported by their viewers through systems like Patreon, though with marked differences than historical patronage.
A professor of mine in college who taught romanticism died this year. He was completely obsessed with William Blake, and the class I had with him was clearly influenced by his age. But you could tell this stuff was his life. I think he would have very much enjoyed this video and would have also been very pleased to see it come out shortly after his death.
Yeah there is something morbid about romanticism
I think the popularity of "Nosferatu" and the positive response it's gotten kind of reflects this. Stunning romantic era- esc imagery, and Gothic themes that are striking that same chord with people disenchanted with modernity.
I wholeheartedly agree
I was actively searching for this coment! Nosferatu really sums up this feeling
I'm a huge fan of the director of that film Robert Eggers. He's stated multiple times that he has a nostalgia for pre-modern view of the world--that evil, good, and the transcendent really existed and could manifest themselves in the human realm.
I'm an Architecture student, and honestly, I feel as though our art is nearly at the forefront of this rising desire for the classical, the gothic, or otherwise.
You see, Architecture has almost lost its soul, I feel. The role of an Architect is to design the human environment, we're not aesthetic designers, we don't just "choose the color pallete" or anything. Think of cities, and of Architecture, it is nearly omnipresent in those circumstances, everywhere you go, work, live, sleep, it surrounds you. It dominates your lines of sight, the walls, colors, and light dominate and literally define your entire life. Architecture is the *only* art form you live in.
With other arts, the consuming and experiencing of them can be ceased. If you don't like a bad movie, you can turn it off. If you don't like a bad piece of art, you can stop looking at it. If you don't like a meal, you don't have to eat it. However, with Architecture, the experiencing of it is non-consensual, whether you want to or not, the environment curated there will in many ways define you. Define how you feel, how you act, and your general mood. As well, Architecture deals with time in the long term, you work or live often in the same place for many years, accumulating tens of thousands of hours around that piece of art, around and in that environment. Could you think of watching one movie for thousands of hours? Or looking at one painting for thousands of hours? The effects of Architecture are not to be ignored.
Industrialization and Capitalism have forced Architecture to be more and more about money, and about making investors or clients money. Architecture should be about the user, the person who will live in and around that structure, but instead, Architects' voices have been handed to the corporate. We can no longer express our art for the sake of the love we have for it, or for the sake of the people we wish to design for, but instead, we design for the wealth of those who will never care to experience our creations. We no longer design beautiful libraries for others to experience, but instead we design trophies for men who will seldom see them.
Modernism, Contemporary Architecture, and the loathesome Starchitect have branded us as fools, fools who are to far up our own asses to truly understand what people want. The Art of architecture has more and more been called into question, it's seen as purely a science, instead of as a hybrid of the many things that make our world. Art, Science, Math, Psychology, Sociology and History. People think more that the engineer is responsible for the reality of the building, or in other words, that Architects are futile, and useless. People are displeased and disinterested in Architecture, a new skyscraper will go up and few will bat an eye. Something so massive and influential to our lives, and they don't even care.
There is a disconnect between Architects and humans. People do not care about Famous Architects like Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, of the odious Le Corbusier. Who sought to say that Architecture was nothing more than "machines for living", who didn't care one drop of the actual lives of those who will experience it. Instead, they view it as an Art of self expression, when it is anything but.
People, truthfully, in my opinion, do not want the old specifically for what it stands for, for its philosophies, or anything like that. They desire the old for the beauty they possess. People want more beautiful Architecture, more detail, more color, more love and soul, and Architects inability to give them that is why they are so hateful of us.
EDIT: For clarity, I'm not stating that all Modernist or Contemporary Architecture is ugly. There are many many designs and modernist/contemporary Architects that make very beautiful work. From Brutalism to Minimalism, there is beauty, and beauty to many different people's taste. I'm stating that the overwhelming amount of designs that are modernist or contemporary is an issue. It's as if the whole world only made movies in the Sci-fi genre, it's not interesting anymore. A good meal is nice until you've eaten the same thing 500 times in a row. I think many people are simply bored of what stands today.
you are very right, you've summed it up perfectly
Man I could read a book of you speaking about how architecture affects everyday life, how borish modern architecture is, how we got to this point through corporate takeover of the arts, the dissatisfaction people feel towards their environment, and how people yearn for beauty and art to return. Could easily fill a couple chapters with these topics, certainly would be an interesting read.
Beautiful sentiment
Brutalism is cool though
@@loganmoon380only the really good examples and even those need to be surrounded by nature in order to not be depressing
Couldn’t agree more. A spiritual renaissance and romantic era is tingling up our spines. A life of love, beauty, and connection to the true source is what we all crave, and our Art will reflect this.
Yeah and then 10 new wars start over who/what the “true source” is hahaha.
I mean, the Luddites weren't wrong. The textile machines did, in fact, take their jobs, and now we have cheaply made fabrics and clothing.
Indeed. The luddites also noted how mechanisation resulted in lower quality products.
Yup, hate it when AI bros say that Luddites were overreacting and then simultaneously forgot about Shein and TEMU.
Coincidentally enough there is a resurgence of modern luddites in recent years, they self identify as neo-luddites, or new luddites, check out “this machine kills” podcast if you want to get more into it.
And now jeans made with vintage selvedge looms are luxury products selling for $300. Everything changes but somehow mostly stays the same. The threat of mass unemployment due to automation has been under-delivering for 300 years.
@@DeflatingAtheism that’s not true, custom attire has always been expensive even back in the day, but 300 dollar jeans would still make sense back then as you would probably only have a few staple pieces that last for years and you would wear them until they fell apart. That was the mode for most of history. But it’s still very true that automation has been taking jobs in fashion as people in the West don’t go to tailors anymore (big surprise as an Asian tbh) and garment manufacturing isn’t 100% automated yet as sweatshop workers are the ones to piece together the patterns and sew them with the machines.
The more AI creeps into the creative spaces, I think there will likely be a backlash that might somewhat resemble the 19th century concept of humanism. If AI is destined to outdo us in most intellectual pursuits, our only respite is in pure creativity. As a child of the 70s, I can look back on that era as something of a Romantic period. Great hopefulness in reaction to - and combatting - the collapse of hippie idealism and the new cynicism; all mixed with plenty of narcissism and hedonism. A period that produced a lot of astounding beauty in music, arts, literature, film, etc., but that was also ultimately very self-serving and inward. Honestly, it all looks kind of lovely to me from my vantage point now. Is it time to go back to penning ultra shiny powerpop gems with gory lyrics? Perhaps!
The comparison to the ‘70s is spot on, particularly with regard to the proliferation of the New Age movement & its neopagan ilk. Your use of the word “narcissism” is also spot on.
I think there’s a lot of good to be found in the humanism of the ‘70s-although, aesthetically speaking, I’m more of an ‘80s gal myself-so we needn’t dispense with all of it, but you’re right, some careful sifting is in order.
Its cringe
I'm kind of hoping this new romanticism mixes more with Leftist anti-humanism and the environmentalist movement that's grown since the turn of the millennium. We don't need to return to the idea that humans are some exceptional creatures which can never be replaced, that idea is still a harmful one.
Something ive noticed with AI is theres a sort of chain reaction going on im not sure what the end result will be, people are more skeptical of digital images due to AI so they look for the patterns and signs that AI has, but even further the more these quirks are expected the more we expect them... over expecting reality, ive seen now and then people misinterpreting photos in ways that only make sense when your first thought is whether something is AI or not, like instead of seeing one animal standing behind another thinking it is some strange merging or the two that an AI might do just cause the shapes were connected. This can lead to some very surreal results.
Personally i think aside from creativity what AI is really missing is thoughtfulness, i mean it can make some insane surreal things that before one might have considered very creative, but whats really lacking is something tailored specifically to an idea yeah it can give you some random answer to your problem but it cant work out the details its not going to check for consistency and referencing back to context, it doesnt know the internal structure of things, it doesnt know anything its just replicating the appearance of things that appear to have intention behind them. If theres going to be a movement in response i think it will have to be very personal and clear in the choices that were made(i hesitate to say very intentional or meaningful as that can be a lot of pressure)
The threat of AI in art is not that it will replace human genius at its loftiest heights, but rather that it will kick the legs out of the entry level. Actually, that’s already happened, but the question now is how humans will respond. No one becomes a great artist without going through an apprenticeship or juvenalia stag, and I’m not sure how much patience people are going to have for apprentice-level art when everything can be done faster and cheaper with AI.
no one really makes art alone. whatever diverse perspective an author may filter it through, art is also a product of the collective unconscious, and once released into the world contributes to a societal conversation which transcends time, and as such, belongs to all of us
this is such a beautiful and poetic take 💗
@@carlyk756 thanks, that's just how i feel about it
Did you mean our experience isn't unique and instead universal?
Well said
Wish I'd said that!
Nice video! I would add that romanticism was a predominantly Germanic movement, in England it was way smaller and consisted of a few artists we today classify as a group. In Germany the movement had massive influence on every aspect of life: philosophy, art, architecture, politics, even medicine. I think that the most important of these was philosophy, that's what missing from our era, if a romantic philosophy was about to emerge (which is pretty possible tbh) a new romanticism could be established and not end up as just fashion. There are signs of that happening, we just have to wait and see
In the spaces I’m in, the philosophy sounds kinda romantic. It’s all about Doing Whatever the Fuck you Want because the world is big and awesome so you gotta see its full potential. There’s also a whole thing of reverting to tangible/physical media such as letters, records, or film cameras because they feel more personal and human in a way.
Yes, it was big in Germany,Goethe is great! but there were English and French philosophers and artists. Swiss philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau. It was a Western European movement with people influencing each other
On the Germanic emphasis: There's been a new fascination with the etymology roots of words in books by fantasy writers. Higher amounts of Germanic words (in English books) seem linked to a greater enjoyment of prose (for most, not all) as opposed to books with more Latinate words.
I'm going to further study any links between Germanic vs. Latin/Anglo/American ways of approaching life and culture. It seems like "something Germanic" might be a seed (the seed?) for an Authentic Intelligence era
@@st4r_eats_molten_plastic "So much to do, so much to see, so what's wrong with taking the back street? You'll never know if you don't go. You'll never shine if you don't glow"
(I'm sorry for this, but All Star by Smash Mouth was a foundational pillar of a romantic ideal in my adolescence. I had to do it)
I think that Metamodernism fits being the philosophy of this New Romanticism.
really enjoyed this. I'm requesting your future videos might end with 10 or so seconds of music, silence, or really anything so that the final thoughts can resonate with the viewer uninterrupted (by post-video ads which of course start off instantly blaring their corporate narratives immediately to beg people to consume something and thus completely breaks the "internalization reflection period" of your videos' examining!) Thank you for your work and rigored speculation!
Great point! I will keep this in mind for my own video work as well. 🙏🙏
Yes! I was very thrown off of the message with the sudden blaring ad interruptions. Really hurt the absorption of the material. On several occasions.
@@north_star_yt I hear ya. Though to be honest, this is how RUclips pays out its creators. I do think there is the option to tell RUclips what points are appropriate in the video for ads though. In videos I’ve done that were guided meditations I have told it not to put ads in the middle area-that would kill the mood as you can imagine!
"I like to think that we can create art that is better than we are." Is a fantastic quote! Loved the video all around.
What an absolutely delightful essay. As a working artist with a split amount of time in online and offline art spaces and a lot of opinions on both, who comes from working artist parents who had VERY different experiences in the industry, it’s very illuminating to see what I’m experiencing laid out so succintly. It’s all so harrowing and thrilling and hopeful at once, it feels like we’re approaching the swell of a wave or perhaps dam is ready to break and soon fresh inspiration will just come pouring through in all creative industries, I even think it’s already starting to happen in indie spaces and on a small scale in certain bubbles of culture. Leaving this vid more optimistic than I was before about it all. Thank you!
(edited for grammar errors lol)
What a lovely reflection. I certainly hope a new "Romantic" period develops, especially in the cinematic field, which has been corporatized and relegated to the bin of sterilized, unimaginative mediocrity, at best.
Nosferatu remake is a great example of a film swing in the opposite direction
I wanted to tell you about Nosferatu, the visually sumptuous masterpiece, but someone beat me to it.
Romanticism is a great passion of mine, so I want to share a few thoughts about it here.
Its core components
- Exaltation of the Sublime and Beautiful
- Expression of intense emotions and experiences
- Inspiration from Nature
- an intense and adventurous outlook on life
Listen to the Romantic Composers: Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Scriabin, Schumann, Verdi, Wagner, Mahler etc... Their work is the evolution of the Romantic Writers, and took place after the era of Romantic Literature, often inspired by Romantic Writers. Here are a few essential pieces I recommend: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2, Chopin's Nocturnes, Liszt's Dante Sonata, Tchaikovsky Symphony 6.
To understand their music, is to understand the meaning of Romanticism from a gut level.
The next artistic movement is emerging organically in response to oversaturation burnout and rejection of 2010's Minimalism. Perhaps it will take some concepts from Romanticism, but it really feels like uncharted territory. This next movement will be quite unique, and will move away from the superficial, and toward things of substance. Society is simply burned out of minimalism, and like an immune response, has recognized it and will soon demand a reversal of the basic minimalistic design of the last half century, opting instead for things more Beautiful.
To add to this. I'd also recommend Bruckner, Wetz, Franz Schmidt, and Franz Schrecker.
I would also recommend more "Romantic-tempered" conductors such as Furtwangler, Celibidache, or Bruno Walter, perhaps even Otto Klemperer too. (Who himself, vehemiently and aggressively denied that he was a romantic conducter, but, for crying out loud, listen to his Mozart, or Bach, and compare it with today's interpretations, tell me that is not romantic!!!)
If you want "Romantic" pianists, I was recommended Alfred Cortot, Artur Schnabel, Josef Hofmann, Horowitz, Frederic Lamond, or pretty much any classical pianist born in the 19th century that have recordings!
referring to 2006 as “early internet” makes me feel ready for the grave
Yeah, I was online in the early 90s. 2006 doesn't seem like "early internet" to me.
comments like this reveal the age of the commenter, and can be helpful in crafting the response. This person is clearly gen z or perhaps milennial.
It's more like the early modern internet. The early internet was usenet and the like.
maybe “early social internet” would be more appropriate? to describe the myspace/facebook/websites with comment sections/forum posts era
I was born that year!
You have a very fair point. I'm an artist and a writer and I've noticed that escapist, romantic, and natural themes are the most popular and sell best lately. Our heavily technology laden society is likely what gave rise to trends like cottagecore.
I work in tech, and it is amazing how many people who work in my industry end up veering towards these romantic ideals as a contrast to the cynical consumerism and disposability of labor that has taken over the tech industry. I think we are already seeing a lot of this mindset in movements like history-bounding, cottagecore, permaculture, foraging, homesteading, and “right to repair”- ones that shun the disposability of modern consumerism, value the home-made and hand-made, and that convey a desire to detach oneself from at least some of the dependency on multinational monopoly capitalism.
Luigi is a romantic hero
luigi numba one!
FR
incorrect
Amen
All I know is if Luigis start attacking people for political beliefs, it won't be anything like this one incident. It'll be both ways and one side is FAR more capable than the other. That is all 😊
This video was incredibly inspiring as an artist and animator. There's so much pessimism in art culture right now (I've let it affect me too) but this take on things was really refreshing. Wow. Didn't expect this to help my art block so much
For years I've felt like we were living during the Bonfire of the Vanities, and with any luck we might just get a Renaissance, so I think you're spot on. I just hope we can get past our now literally-shorter-than-a-goldfish attention span.
After gen X is gone, that’s going to be a real trick. Millennials and younger seem to think “TL;DR” is a legitimate reply to a serious conversation.
My mom was a teacher for decades, then went into education at the state level. All her friends who were in education have said it’s literally impossible to even get a class of younger people to read a whole book. Teachers aren’t paid well and are abandoning education, because many young people simply can’t bring themselves to care about anything but quick fix social media highs. Twitter and social media have really messed with the ability of people to pay attention.
@@sub-jec-tiv Yes, I've met the communications majors that don't know how to talk. Whatever happens would be different and might just have to start with bad poetry. The first renaissance began without a lot of readers. I've seen news go from papers, to TV, to the net and people have gotten a shorter attention spans with every step of "progress."
@@sub-jec-tiv I totally agree with you. So listen to what we have to say and don't give into the temptation to trash talk us the way everyone else does with other generations. We have something to important to show you.
PLEASE. I’m yearning for this.
Currently taking a seminar on Romanticism, and this question has been swirling around in my head. Great video!
Having recently taken a class on German romanticism and entering a period of fascination with occultism, magic, etc, I freaking hope so. We’ve sapped the mystery and magic from the world and we’re only now realizing what we’ve lost
This is a fucking gorgeous essay and I am seated. I admit to being particularly passionate about the subject matter. So, that helps. But my RUclips watch history is basically an even split between comedy, commentary, and video essays. And this is the most beautifully written ones I've watched in a while.
I really look forward to hearing what else you have to say!
I watched this video a couple days ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it. I think your observations are astute and right on the money. I have felt the same myself, but not with such clarity. Thanks for making this!
I was born in the early 2000s.
Every day, at increasing magnitudes, I feel an extremely strong pull towards ditching all social media, as well as me having sworn that I will never use/create AI generated photos or videos again.
I also dream of either owning a home somewhere that nature is abundant and without smart technologies. If it had any smart features, I would ensure they do not access the WWW or really any connectivity besides *maybe* Bluetooth.
If I had a robot "assistant" or "friend", and I am almost certain I will given that I am still very young, I would do everything in my power to move every functionality that it has *offline*, so it does not turn into a brick, and so it does not jeopardize my privacy.
I am a huge believer in the tech optimism of the late 90s, and I want to make sure that my future has the same naturalistic, simplistic style I was always promised (you may know it as Frutiger Aero or Y2K Futurism). But that starts with me ditching social media, and all app clutter, even if it does not happen now, I will make absolutely sure that I do it before moving into my first house.
something I find very interesting about the romantic era in music is that from when it started with Beethoven to when it ended with Mahler, it was a consistent crescendo of works of music becoming more and more grand and profound to the point that Mahler wrote a symphony that called for over a thousand musicians.
Indeed, and perhaps the quintissential "Romantic" musical work, might be the "Der Ring Des Nibelungen", by Richard Wagner, (Who with Liszt, dialed up Romanticism in music into overdrive) which was largely a critique against the industrialisation of Europe.
I said something similar, about how Romanticism seems to have lingered in the Classical music scene right up until the 1920's at least, with composers like Gustav Mahler, Franz Schmidt, Richard Wetz, Walter Braunfels, Giacomo Puccini, Hans Pfitzner, Franz Schrecker, Richard Strauss, Korngold, etc...
I believe it has been said that other genres that were developing at the time, like Neoclassical was a result of pushback against the excesses of overheated Late-Romanticism.
Nevertheless, in regards to this video, it has been discussed in some circles, that there seems to be a resurgence in popularity of the works of Gustav Mahler, and "Romantic" conductors such as Wilhelm Furtwangler, who is now overshadowing Toscanini, who was more autocratic and perfectionistic. Furtwangler believed that music held within it a transcendental truth, and emphasized musicality and expression over technical accuracy, believing that perfectionistic conductors missed the forest for the trees.
There were quite a few "Romantic" conductors such as Bruno Walter, Celibidache, and right now, I believe Daniel Barenboim is in the "romantic" camp. These conductors seem to be quite popular, in fact, this is just a hunch by myself, I have no evidence to back this up, but.... I believe that these conductors will overshadow the perfectionistic and autocratic conductors in the long run.
Not even going to lie, this is the first GOOD (let alone actually amazing) video essay I have seen in YEARS. THANK YOU. KEEP MAKING VIDEOS.
i don't think so. the way art movements work these days with the internet is so different from how they did back then that it just doesn't make sense to say we'll enter a "romantic era" anymore
also, gotta point out, the bad corporate art being produced these days isn't bad because of technology, they're bad because capitalism incentivises corporations to produce whatever is the most profitable, which isn't necessarily the best art.
I feel like if we do have a new romantic era, it will mostly be on the internet or in art spaces. People in power likely won’t be influenced, but the internet culture sure as hell will be!
@@st4r_eats_molten_plastic So basically it will just be another fleeting social media "aesthetic" and "vibe".
@@coolida23511 nuh uh (I never got over weirdcore and am still pretending it's cool)
This return of romantic thinking is something I’ve been pondering for these last few years.
While I’ve always thought it can be largely good, with people being willing to open up to more abstract concepts, I do worry about how it will affect people’s willingness to think rationality or logically. Challenging a person’s personal imagination of how the world is has now become a rare skill. There is a danger that we become even more isolated as we all move down rabbit holes that seems increasingly nonsensical to those by our side.
Even just when it comes to media, a lot of realism is dismissed less as a hinders to story telling but rather because many authors don’t care to learn how something works in reality when adding it to a story. A concept beauty in this imagined way is preferable to finding the beauty within a complex reality.
Im struggling to find the words to express what I mean. But this video did an excellent job.
Thank you for drawing attention to this. No matter what the future holds, at least it will be interesting.
interesting that youre already finding detractions in something that hasn't happened yet haha, what do you mean by "Challenging a person’s personal imagination of how the world is has now become a rare skill."?
I suggest you venture into modern tumblr if you want to see what this new era of romanticism is steering towards. in my experience, since it's inception, tumblr has consistently been a great predictor of culture and this new romantic mindset has been growing over there for the past five or so years already. posts about sincerity over irony, people encouraging each other to change mindsets and search for community, engage in hobbies, go outside. but most importantly, it has born a slow-forming culture of being unapologetic about one's art. things like, "make bad art" or "write 'problematic' characters" have been sentiments that have been steadily forming from tumblr and have finally started to disseminate onto other social media.platforms. even on a matter of taste, tumblr has somewhat steered away from franchises and IP, and instead embraced the mid-budget and the critically unacclaimed. it's not romanticism like it was in The Romantic Period, but I think it's rather what modern romanticism is going to look like when scholars are looking back in 50 years. for the past few years, I've actually been expecting that pendulum switch you mentioned, and tumblr has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to these kinds of things. lately, the only other social media I think has finally come to dethrone tumblr as the early adapter of culture/subculture might actually be tiktok, but it's still too early to tell.
all of this.
TikTok still has its astroturfing and attention span problems in being the new media centralizer, but it _does_ have the user base and effective reach.
lol
THATS WHAT IM SAYIN LIKE‼️‼️‼️ And methinks the tiktok people who are also following this pattern are ALSO on tumblr and are spreading the ideas across The Interwebs. Just a theory!!!!
4chan does the same thing, in different ways
great video! one thing i wonder is if a new artistic movement from is possible in the medium of film. Big studios with big pockets have a lot more control over media than up-and-comers with brilliant ideas. I really hope that we see an artistic revolution, doing away with the bare minimum being widely accepted.
Lovely ❤❤❤ yes, I feel even if we are immersed in tecnology we need to connect more with nature and beauty, teach kids more the basics and classics.
One thing about Romanticism that I think might even be helpful to revisit, is the idea of nature as 'the sublime'. I always enjoyed that artistic approach towards something that is ubiquitous and beautiful and a fact of life for all of us, that we ultimately have so little control over.
'See?!' fells like a timely Romantic answer to our current 'find out' stage, after a long time of fucking around with nature.
It will ultimately have to progress from that initial stage to be helpful, but I do think regaining an awareness about humanity being only one part of a larger puzzle could be a step towards something beautiful.
Romanticism's emphasis on the irrational and the inner self can contribute to a sense of nihilism. By isolating individuals within their own minds and detaching them from shared, rational structures of meaning, it may inadvertently deepen the very crises of meaning it aims to resolve.
ive read critics about the romanticism art movement in literature and poetry from the 1800-1900 and the critics says the exact same things as your comment. This is not a reproach or anything, I just wanted to share it because i find it very interesting how the idea for this return to the self and the worries about it are still very relevant to this day
Just watched Nosferatu and this video is exactly what I needed for closure.
Please continue creating content. You're a breath of fresh air!
tilda swinton can lead us
I'm so fucking ready
Our arch angel Gabriel
without having watched the video yet, already yes
HAHAHA
Love her!
Girl, thank you for this essay! So thoughtful and relevant.
very nice video. i look forward to more nebulous predictions
“there is so much to imagine” - love this!
ate down i fear. subscribing to you, queen
This is a really well put together video that reflects history repeating itself for both “good” and “bad” definitely a lot to reflect on
Not only is this video incredibly interesting, but you have a very nice narrator voice.
Towards the end of the 90s, I read a quote from Tom Araya of Slayer in a magazine that was something to the effect of “I don’t believe in God or the Devil but I sing about both.”
Never forgot this as it was an interesting statement on creativity and separation of art from the artist, especially as I perhaps thought Slayer meant what they sang about up until then. (This quote made me like them more.)
PS: Great, smart, and interesting video! Subscribed. Happy New Year! 😊
Great video, very inspirational. I looked Romanticism up again after a long time of not interacting with it and most of the thoughts I had about it were covered here. I truly believe in that if we want to manifest Romanticism today, we should personally should live it.
i had the same thought a couple years ago, its always a cycle of romanticism and classicism and now days looks like a new period of romanticism indeed, very nice video!
This is a very well put together video, and it really makes you think about our present world and contrast it with the past.
I got recomended this video and wasn't planning on watching it fully but soon got enticed in. I love the way you speak and the wide range of sources and knowledge you brought. This is a really intresting discussion that I am sure to bring up soon in dinner table talks and to ponder on myself. I think of myself as a romantic in many ways and this video makes me rethink what that actually means for me.
I also wanted to say that I was really moved by your phrase "I'd like to think we can make art better than we are"... I don't know, but that touched something in me, like a nice breeze! So thank you for that, and thank you for this video! Know that it is appreciated :)
The quote at the end really reflects how I feel about art and the power of art and seeing more of that sentiment really makes me hopeful. Great video!
I've noticed "future-medivel" becoming a very popular trend in graphic design
Thank you for sharing this, and being so thoughtful and thorough. Wonderfully inspiring work.
I'll take Wordsworth, Liszt, Caspar David Friedrich, the Bronte sisters, Mary Shelley and the like every day of the week.
you have the most soothing voice and i really loved this video !!! can't wait for more to come
Im a musician and a writer. I swear ive been feeling for the past couple years... People are wanting a return to the soul. To Earth. To nature. To source. People are starting to want real art again.
Keep on making videos like this.. this is really good.
A brilliant and inspiring piece, thank you . Of which reflects of how we are now, technology actually taking us backwards , and how more importantly what we can really be, how we can see the truth and beauty of nature, and how we can really be whom we want to be, purely through expression , of how we feel, regardless of what we see and hear. Please keep your light burning bright, for others to learn and follow . Kindest regards neoklis
Fantastic video. One of my favourites I’ve ever seen!
Hi Kate! I really liked this video, very happy to be recommended your channel :)
I am history MA student, studying intellectual history, specifically as it relates to gender and Jews in Europe. I deal with romanticism quite a bit, though I'm no specialist, but, if you will permit me, I'd like to share some thoughts that might add to the points in your video.
As you mention, romanticism was highly individualistic. Even if it contrasted itself with the enlightenments focus on rationalist materialism, it was still a child of Renaissance humanism, that is an ideology which placed humans, and specifically the 'individual' (defined as male) at the centre of the world. While the enlightenment stressed scientific mastery over nature, romanticism stressed solitude in nature as a way of looking inwards, emphasizing inner contemplative cultivation (not dissimilar to the enlightenment's stress on inner individual reasoning versus blind obeying 9f authority). Still, man was understood as being above nature. What was acknowledged was an civilised higher nature or irrationalism, that is emotion, sensibility, particularism. These were natural forces (though it was believed they could be cultivated through exposure to the arts), yet they nevertheless distinguished man from the rest of the animal kingdom, because only came into fruition when man reached a certain level of civilisation - this is connected to Hegel's theory of history. This means that there simulationeously exists 2 highly contradictory strands within romantic thought: 1) people can embrace romantic culture, in German Bildung, and cultivate their individual personality; 2) there exists within each individual a fixed 'nature' in terms of gender, race, nation - this is what I mean when I say particularism, though it is often called relativism in romantic thought. This is why Romanticism was so important in solidifying the cult of domesticity and the idea of 'the angel of the house' in the nineteenth century. Women's nature was fixed in romantic thought, they were supposed to be in touch with their emotions but not establish powerful creative abilities, but rather to be invested the lives of the men around them. The romantic woman facilitated the romantic man's 'genius' by promoting civilisation and the arts, she however was not supposed to be a genius herself. Particularism is also why Romanticism is so important for the development of nationalism in Europe. This is true across the board, from Italy to Ireland to the Balkans. Within German Romanticism, this of course means a identification of a special German 'nature' or essence, that makes someone German (this essence often centres around romantic ideals) and a connection to the German land, in the most literal sense. The most terrible manifestation of this idea can be seen in the Nazi's ideology of Blut und Boden (Blood and Soil).
Inward, individual spirituality as you said was a hallmark of Romanticism, but it did not originate with it. Rather the idea of being the true and final arbiter of ones salvation is an idea core to Protestantism, especially English Puritanism and German Pietism. We can think back here to Martin Luther and 'Salvation by faith alone' - true connect with the divine was supposed to be found by looking inwards towards God in oneself not an external church. Again this is not a million miles away from the enlightenment's emphasis on universal reason, Kant afterall was deeply influenced by his pietist background.
So are we in a romantic era? I think probably not, poststucturalism has unpacked a lot of the unsavoury baggage of the romantics, nationalism and individualism. With this knowledge I think there can be no progressive turn towards Romanticism, but that doesn't mean it can be used by conservative forces. Moreover, romanticism, despite its associations with pre-industrialism and simplicity, shares too much in common with ego-instrumentalist capitalist ideologies to avoid get swept up into its clutches. Arguably, you could say that the tech-bro, 'Californian ideology' we have today has its roots in the romantic hippie mindset of the 1960s, if you want to pull another example.
I think the current climate is more similar to fin de siecle decadence if you ask me, but I'm not sure if that's a good way forward either.
I really enjoyed your comment! this is actually the first time I hear of such a Masters Course, it sounds fascinating - would you be able and willing to recommend some further reading material on this subject? I have studied a bit of romantic literature within my German and French studies and would love to expand on that! Or honestly, if you have written any essays on this, I‘d love to read them too!
Such a good comment, as Julia has responded to you, I would love it if you have some book recommendations or even your own essays. Have a nice day!
Can I just add to what you already said? I'm doing a double MA in philosophy and art history so maybe I can expandon your comment.
When you said that we are probably not heading towards a new romanticism. I would say that we are most definitely not heading towards it.
I will first cover philosophy and then art (as in painting and sculpture and cinema).
Now you've already covered the poststructuralists, but they aren't the only ones:
1. Marxism is such a strong ideological force in the world right now and has been for over 100 years. Marxism and romanticism do not mix. Marxism does not allow for romanticism in its ontology. I tried a further explanation, but the entire thing with marxism is so complex I rather not in a youtube comment.
2. German idealism, which is incredibly important is the further development of enlightenment as you yourself said. It was inspired by romanticism and did inspire romantic art, but I would not call it a romantic philosophy. It is part of the enlightenment at the start and then towards the end it breaches the gap with modernism and other early 20th century thought. I mean german idealism started before and ended after romanticism. It is its own beast. And its thinkers are diverse and heavily misunderstood in the first 40 years of the 20th century.
3. As you can see I've barely covered the 19th century and there's a 100 more years to go. I'll make it quick. We can't possibly revert back to romanticism and german idealism in connection. Structuralists, post structuralists, marxism, modernism, postmodernism and much more habe shaped our collective understanding of the world so much that a return to romanticism would be a very conservative move. I don't even think an actual movement of romantics is possible in a world that is aware of existentialism and the absurd man and the social structures underpinning everything. A post freud and Wittgenstein world cannot possibly be romantic. I can maybe see some return to modernism in rejection of postmodernism but in no way can I see romanticism.
4. Romanticism as you've mentioned is rooted in Christian thought that came out of the enlightenment. Pagan, spiritual, politeistic, new age religions won't lead to romantocism. How? Same with the fact that atheism is not some niche thing in rejection of organized religion, but an actual popular standpoint.
Ok now onto art:
1. Romanticism hold this weird place where it and neo-historism kinda duck tape together baroque and post baroque art. After romanticism we had realism(which was in the period of unrest and revolution she kinda wrongly connects to romantocism). In political thought neo-historisms took over and not romanticism. Even if romantocism built the german identity I would argue other styles born out of realism contributed more. Most of the famous german paintings of romanticism are not strictly romantocism. Then we had impressionism, postimpressionism,...
2. 20th century was even more wild. We've deconstructed every single part of art. We've deconstructed art itself. And the audience is used to that. 99% of films are basically postmodern at this point. I mean the most popular art form (cinema) was born into modernism and experimentation of the 20th century. That medium can't return to romanticism even if it tried.
This video asserts something that will be repeated by people watching and it is just wrong. Like metamodernism suddenly picking up in online discussion even tho it is an empty term
Love hearing this extended feedback from those educated 👍🏻 and really liked the video.
Saw this on my feed and was instantly intrigued. I like how you present this video as more of a question, as it gives the viewer something to think about. I always like to look at the past, to get a better idea of the present (or just to feel a sense of comfort that humanity has been through similar fears before).
You continue to have an incredible ability to release videos precisely on things I've been fixating on lately. I for one would welcome a neo-romantic movement!
RAPUNZEL PFP SPOTTED!!!! I totally agree with you on the neo-romantic era thing, I would LOVE to just Feel Things and Make Stuff about it (/j I know that’s not all it was about). I just feel like it will be more of a community/society-based thing rather than an individualistic one, as I for one am TIRED of the whole “every man for himself” idea, eugh.
the soothing voice in this is beyond wonderful and adds so much to the subject. In it I felt a type of building hope for a possibile return of romantic art.
I think your video is insightful, but it misses the romantic movement state in Germany with Goethe and the fact that romantics were a larger movement across Europe
England actually got to the movement late. This is a in my opinion a myopic view of romantic literature and its effects on modernism which inherented their styles
Fantastic video! I had never seen one of yours, and it definitely convinced me to subscribe - if it wasn't for the fact that I've already read your amount of followers, I would've bet they were nearing the million, or perhaps more. The editing, choice of pictures, and overall flow of it (words & image) were very neat. Thank you for including more info in the description
I definitely believe there will be some change and/or revolution in art. How big or small it will be and how uniform it will be I bother not to quantify. But at least within myself, AI and its ability to make the most generic, cheap, easily accessible art, faster and more efficiently, something I see as a product of a capitalist society that has continually encouraged generic art from the art industry, has encouraged me to change my perspective on art. To look at the art of others and myself that I and this culture would normally look at as “unfinished” or “imperfect” or otherwise be seen as the step towards perfection, “perfection” in this case I believe is subliminally viewed as industry level art which as stated prior is the same type of art intent on producing cheap, generic, easily accessible art, that I have grown tired of. I’ve been working on accepting more the beauty of “the imperfect” in art, and I think I do so because at this point that is now the only way for me to tell if a work of art is made with some genuine artistic intentions.
It’s funny you bring up new atheists in the 2010’s on RUclips being essentially gateways to alt-right pipelines. I definitely fell into that trap at that time and sometimes now I struggle to love myself knowing I had consumed those ideas and believed those things. I would’ve been about 7 or 8 at that time, and it was about that age that I had gotten access to RUclips, and be latched onto and would continue holding onto these bad ideas into my late teens. It wasn’t until going to college where I met friends and had education that I was able to get out of such a horrid lie. It’s possible I could be excused in some regard, to what extent is a child and teenager supposed to “know better” about this? Especially if arguably this alt-right ignorance encouraged by the society. Doesn’t change the fact that I am still angry at myself for having been in that place in the first place.
But perhaps, recontextualizing my experience with my recontextualized belief on the beauty of “imperfect art.” My imperfect path in life is a living human experience, I am not some perfect AI with all of the knowledge of everything that would have prevented that. Or conversely, since AI is moreso a product of, and the maintaining of, a purpose built flawed system; perhaps “the perfect AI” would maintain some alt-right stance given that is the information it is inundated with in this system, and my “human imperfection” allows me to break away from that. That may be looking at it a little too romantically. And such an outlook should not be an excuse to ignore or glorify my imperfections, but rather to embrace that fact of myself that I had been consuming the alt-right pipeline and use the tools I now have to fight against it and to use my experience to create art that speaks to myself and others that feel the same as I do about this.
Great video! I was a huge fan of romanticism during the last years of high school, I was in art school too. Until I realized that I was following the wrong path, that my mental health was shaking and that I needed to resettle my view of the world. Since then I never dwelled into romanticism that much anymore. I abandoned the idea that the artist has to struggle to do art and other unhealthy illusions. I still love romantic art and literature but I don't feel like a romantic artist anymore and also my philosophy is very different and more calm, a little bit more thoughtful and less driven by sentiment and illusions. There is also something you forgot to mention, that romanticism is the cradle of nationalism. This is where the 20th century ideas of a motherland or a culture to protect comes from, which of course we all know what happened with these ideas...
Can traditional "eras" really exist anymore, with how fast trends are coming and going and how much information we consume every day I don't see traditional art movements being able to flourish for longer periods
This was excellent. I was thinking of something similar, but more like the flourishing of art, music, etc in monasteries during the so called Dark Ages. I have a sense right now of many people detaching & turning to nature, spirituality, crafts, & arts. Your take is fascinating.
0:14 Because VR Chat did it better... especially with, dare I say it, sexually provocative avatars : )... thank god for the recent age verification update.
My big problem with digital public spaces is always the same. When you go there it’s still people. And there’s always somebody being annoying/rude, especially when they’re anonymous. That’s why I don’t play multi-player games, and why I don’t use VR chatting apps. Wherever you go, there we are 😂
@@sub-jec-tiv my thoughts exactly. why would i play game which should help me avoid things that anger me only to anger myself with the game
What a great video. The kissick article sounds like it's straight from a Coleridge treatise on art! It has however been lambasted by lots of contemporary art critics as being too anti-identity politics - by privileging sublime experiences, we can ignore art's function as a tool to communicate the experiences of the underrepresented. It becomes easy to prioritise emotional escape over interpersonal communication.
Interesting observation! I have noticed the similarities too so i was really interested when i saw the title of the video. The romantic era made way for nationalism and imperialism so i wouldn't say resurgence of that mindset is a very good thing tho. The similarities between that time and our own actually worry me more than they excite me.
I was thinking the same thing--viewing it through a historical gaze it does not bode well
Fantastic video!
This was amazing!! I’d be interested to see how this all bleeds into the nationalist tendencies that Romanticism has historically often overlapped with
Also I’ve noticed a sort of desire to return to medievalism lately
Exactly, people forget (or don't know) that nazis were romantics
An amazing essay! Deep dive to the subject with perfect storytelling
Romanticism is my favourite era both in visual art and writing :)
This was fascinating and really put into words something I've been feeling for a while, a shift away from social media in particular. I grew up during the time when the internet and smart phones went from new, exciting, and exclusive, to ubiquitous, so I'm not surprised that the next generation has had enough of it. As a fan of original Romantic era art, I'm ready for this renaissance. Though, as you said, we need to be careful not to venture towards the irrational.
We are already seeing it. Millennial artist making romantic figurative paintings in a serious art context which would have been considered passé 10-15 years ago.
Extremely stimulating and well done! You articulated things I’ve been thinking about for some time.
your videos are so excellent!
Fantastic work. I'm glad I came across this channel.
Wake up babe, New Kate Alexandra literary interconnection with social commentary just dropped!
This was spectacular, I loved it!!! that end quote really resonated with me
For personal artistic reasons, I hope you're right about this!
there is so much creativity going on in the world, but no one will ever see it. Because art needs craft and skill, and we have tried to obliterate this side of it. Artists are not always organized and great at marketing. They do nor have time for social media and so on, because being an artist means to them to do art, not waste your time on the net. then all the wise guys will tell you , this is modern times, and if you are not willing to promote yourself like all the time, then it is on you, when you die in oblivion, and all your art work with you, no matter , how great it may be. I am not so optimistic . but thank you very much for the video...i still liked it a lot !
This gave me such a good idea for an activity with my 8th grade class next semester!! Excellent analysis 😊
I think that, in a similar vein to Romanticism, we've been on the cusp of a parallel to the Pre-Raphaelites and Arts and Crafts Movement for a few years now.
We've been on the 'cusp' ever since people started smelling the rotten stench through the floorboards of 90's/2000's mass-market consumerism. That happened in... like... 2007. If the revival manages to take root or not, probably depends on economics and politics allowing or sidelining this particular thread of values.
Very interesting video, nice tempo and editing🙌 Got me hooked!
Great essay. I agree art and Literature is prime for a Romantic-esque moment, it's pretty clear we're all tired of what the mainstream serve us, and that post-modernism has reached its peak. The overall skepticism over AI and the raising concern (and even bans, see Australia) over the use of social media by kids and teenagers are also big clues (as a parent of a toddler, I see all around me more and more awareness about it, thankfully).
I also think this all ties to a resurgence of religion, maybe even organized religion, in a big way; the popularity of New Age;that you rightly point gives clues to a hole our Western culture has that once was filled by it. The lack of meaning many people feel, I think, may make this inevitable, and the raise of right-wing religious adjacent politicians, like Trump, Bolsonaro and Milei also signal it. It's all a big soup that will spill big cultural changes, someway or another. Interesting times ahead😅
Learning history is the best way to not feel overwhelmed about how chaotic this all seems!
I’m so glad I subscribed to this channel.
I study painting at a major art school in my country with a very classical curriculum. One of my classmates is painting liminal spaces.
Dark academia, cottagecore and gothic aesthetic are quite popular, (albeit, to the horror of elder goths, not necessarily fitting into the good old goth subculture). You might dismiss these aesthetics as "internet culture", but they do influence young artists, who then go on to begin their careers in the art world.
"Romanticize your life", slow living blogs, meditations, pagan witchcraft got modernized and all... it's here, we have it.
This was so well done, just positively wonderful.
I don't want an AI secretary I want a third place.
Excellent video. Such an interesting perspective. 10/10
Eu não acredito que estejamos entrando em uma nova Era Romântica, porque, pra que isso acontecesse, a maioria das pessoas teriam que ser pessoas de mais caráter e de sensibilidade verdadeira, como no primeiro Romantismo - e não é o que a gente tem visto por aí...
Correto
Amazing video! I like the idea that witchcraft and alt right conservatism are two sides of the same reactionary coin. The only difference being is your brand of nostalgic retaliation aesthetic or not
young people, who this tech is for, are not well....and they don't have any money. I hope it turns around and we all get to just relax outside and be awkward and safe again. everything is too slick. lacking intuition.
This analysis makes me think of Nosferatu - and, by extension, Eggers's other films. It's reductive to say there's no deeper meaning to the movies he's made but, to me, they're not as allegorical or provide as much social commentary as other 'artsy' movies. A covetous vampire wreaks havoc on a couple and their friends. Two lighthouse keepers go mad, or do they? A young woman is tempted to escape her harsh frontier life by joining a coven of witches, and who can blame her?
"...when its beauty or strangeness transcends its subject." I like this quote a lot.
Great video, glad the algorithm threw it my way.