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sunnysam-my · 2 months

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Dark Academia is a subculture and it isn't problematic, just misunderstood.

I am so tired of people that aren't a part of this community shitting on dark academia literally any time it gains popularity again, claiming that it's pretentious, elitist and racist. It's not problematic, at least not in a way most people criticise it for.

What all of those people don't seems to understand is that there's the dark academia aesthetic and there is the dark academia the subculture. Even when they do understand they still put people who are only interested in the fashion and overall vibe together with people who are dark academia.

Why is dark academia a subculture?

First let's start with what even subculture is?

It's a cultural group within a larger culture, often sharing a collection of values, beliefs, rituals and traditions. Despite what many believes, it doesn't have to have any connection to music, like Star Trek and Star Wars fans, but there's no need for having a shared fandom at all, like the gays, bikers and youth.

Participation in the dark academia subculture is not limited to following a specific set of fashion. It suggest preferred activities, hobbies, philosophies and lifestyles. The focus is on reading and expanding one’s horizons, on becaming the best version of oneself no matter the cost, especially by engaging in classical literature, history, foreign languages, mythology, art and philosophy. On top of that DA is actually connected to certain music (classical and neoclassical) and fandoms.

The (incorrect) criticisms:

1. One of the more common criticisms of dark academia is that of its superficiality and pretentiousness – that it is more a fetishisation of intellectual life than real intellectual life. "Instead of being a reading society, it's a Dead Poets Society cosplay." This is just simply untrue. Yes, there are people who are purely here for the aesthetic and vibes, but they aren't part of the subculture. People who are genuinely part of this community do read all those books, write poetry, journal e.t.c regularly and try to be well educated.

2. The money issue. Now this is where it gets funny. Dark academia is often called classist and racist because of it's "idealised vision of the academic lifestyle in which the money is simply there". Obviously in places where higher education is strictly financially driven studying is a bitch. Nowadays there are even a lot of doctors who are homeless, especially in US. But DA is mainly a European thing, and in a lot of EU countries studying isn't that expensive, it's not cheap either (books costs a lot and not working doesn't help), but you don't need to pay for a good education, you need to study hard and compete with others to get good education.

This however is not a dark academia problem. It's a harsh reality. One that we need to fight with. Getting higher education shouldn't make you get into a debt. It shouldn't make you sacrifice social life for studying all your life only to end on the streets.

3. "Eurocentric obsession". This is so dumb I don't even know to say. How can you possibly call people, mostly from Europe, problematic for being fascinated by Europe's history, it's past culture, Greek mythology, mostly European philosophers (but American too), Latin that is still fucking taught at many schools here, etc. All of things are taught in schools here. There is nothing wrong with you being obsessed with Asian royalty and making it part of your personality, but God forbid, you, a white person, are obsessed with the best parts of your history and culture 🙄.

4. Another criticism of dark academia is that it encourages unhealthy behaviour, both physically (caffeine overconsumption, smoking, drugs) and mentally (perfectionist, constant competition). The pursuit of perfection comes at a price. The entire idea of DA is to study as hard as possible so you can reach enlighten. It's workaholism, except it's school, not work. Now this is why I think dark academia isn't problematic in a way people think, but is misunderstood.

A melancholic comforting dream

It's easy to understand why people think DA is unhealthy or fake. Nights spent studying, writing essays for hours on end, drowning in books and writing excessive notes. For many this sounds like a nightmare, but dark academia romanticise it. It see it as the true joy of university life. At the same time there's taking joy in reflecting on what is irretrievably lost, pessimistic and melancholic.

In reality most people in this community are overworked neurodivergent, usually twice exceptional, youth who struggles mentally. So many people are twice exceptional and it's very obvious. The hyperfixetions, the love for linguistics and humanities, the hate of math.

For many Dark Academia is a coping method.

Staples of dark academia fiction explore intellectualism, classic literature and self-discovery, but also the struggle of fighting for your identity, the way humans are shaped by their trauma, the way they destroy themselves to be better. The word "dark" in Dark Academia is primarily about those dark sides of the human nature, not just the dark colours of the DA aesthetic.

If you think that Dead Poets Society romanticised suicide or Kill Your Darlings academicly motivated drug use then you're the crazy one here. People loved those movies, because of how relatable they were, even the suffering.

Studying is a bitch. If you make it fun then you are less depressed about the fact that you don't have the choice to not study all night. It's not just nostalgia for what you haven't experienced, but what you have to endure all your youth. Some people are forced to study to be the very best and sacrifice their (social) lives, because the system is so broken, but if you can make it into your own, comforting, time - it's better. Sure, the movies and books have lots of harmful copying mechanism, but irl (or in this case online) this community encourages healthy methods like reading, making art, journaling, acting etc.

I do think there's a lot of to talk about when it comes to, for example, sexism, and I do agree DA needs more diversity than just white cis man, but like I said, it's not problematic in a way most people criticise it for.

#dark aesthetic #dark academia #dark acadamia aesthetic #dark academism #subculture #dark academia subculture #mental health #relatable #autism #adhd problems #problematic #coping mechanism #light academia #chaotic academia #dead poets society #kill your darlings #neurodivergent #intellectualism

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underground-stars · 2 months

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support me!

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spookysalem13 · 5 days

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Never apologize for things that aren't your fault, for reasons that don't require an apology.

Save your precious energy. You're kings, queens, God's and goddess. Don't weigh yourself down by people pleasing.

I need to take my own advice on this one.

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autodesconocimiento · 5 days

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#dark goth #goth aesthetic #goth #dark gothic aesthetic #80s goth #goth subculture #goth rock #dark gothic #goth music #dark style #dark academia #deathrock #deathrocker #gothgoth #goth goth #gothic rock #goth subculture music #collage

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dyslexicandakeyboard · 5 months

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as soon as people stopped calling things like emo and punk subcultures (the ideals and concepts along with fashion done by people that are grunge, punk, emo etc etc) and dubbed them an aesthetic (making these subcultures ideals meaningless and focused on how ones looks while destroying the actual purpose of these subcultures) lead to the destruction of both the actual fashion of these subcultures and the culture within them.

#the bisexual one #personal opinions #obviously grunge and punk already were going down hill #but things like preppy and the dark academia subcultures are clear examples of this #like literally why

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make-death-proud-to-takeus · 10 months

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not to be old and cranky but it all went to shit when dark academia went from subculture to mainstream and really became just a shallow aesthetic.

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beneaththegildedmoon · 3 months

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Look, maybe if I had read it by itself and not interleaved with the other books im reading atm it would have fared better, but y'all had me convinced The Secret History was some modern classic and I will not forgive you for it

#i know babel was published long afterwards but i just keep reading sections and thinking “Babel did this so much better”#its giving Catcher in the Rye if the pov character was even more insufferable #its giving the Steven Moffat school of writing intelligent characters #and honestly worse than the piss-poor attempt at some kind of commentary is that its so fucking BORING #a solid 70% of the book is just richard & the gang talking inanely about classics with the air of people who have literally never read them #and the other 30% is stilted dialogue about how woefully difficult it is to cover up the murders they did #and i understand that their insufferability is part of the loosely-defined point but thats not made well enough to justify all this #your characters can be boring assholes or your plot can move at a snail's pace but for the love of all the gods dont do both #the only thing running through my head the whole time is how little investment i have in anything thats happening in this stupid book #how did *this* become the inciting incident for the dark academia aesthetic/subculture??#how did this jumble of meandering run-on sentences masquerading as a novel become such a Tumblr darling that dozens of you recommended it??#i feel cheated tbh #cant believe i wasted so much time on this but i genuinely believed it must get good at some point

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philosopunk · 6 months

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I'm relatively new to Tumblr -- and by extension Studyblr -- but so far I am seeing the "punk academia aesthetics" be nothing more than just a darker shade of the Academia aesthetic I see. Am I blind or is there a lot of focus on the "things that make me feel punk academia" and the moodboards and aesthetics rather than the actual philosophy and social political discussion of it?

Some of you have to truly delve into the subculture and its philosophy to understand why you are fundamentally missing the mark, in my opinion. Or maybe I need to see more blogs...

But what do I know...

#punk academia #bibliopunk #what the hells is this new subculture? I am here to find out #but I am not enjoying what I am seeing so far #I probably had a preconception of what it was that was too high or specific for the people to reach so that is my bad #dark academia #is not the same as punk academia -- or what I feel should be #but WHATEVER #diary entry

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ivyppoison · 3 months

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i swear i have tens of aesthetics now

#txt.#ik you shouldn’t conform to specific things #but my interests are broad #like i love coquette but i also love the goth & punk subcultures. ( specifically the fashion )#i love the music sm #i’m also alt left so <3 #i love the office siren / bayonetta aesthetic but i also love dark academia #i love y2k fashion too #and it’s driving me insane

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browwnwworld · 1 year

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dark academia is both an aesthetic and subculture that is primarily focused on higher education, the arts, calligraphy, museums, writing/reading, and shadowy classic Greek and Gothic architecture. the subculture focuses primarily on studying classic literature, ancient art, and “high-brow” liberal arts topics.