Visual essay on the new romantic era.from @artificial.isabel

Themes

• cultural criticism
• romanticism vs rationalism
• anti-tech sentiment
• individualism
• return to passion

Techniques

• digital collage
• typographic design
• visual metaphor
• comparative analysis

Trends

• new romantics
• digital detox
• main character syndrome
• anti-AI art

Post caption

more notes on romanticism (extended aesthetic edition). should i start a substack? #newromantics #arthistory #trends #worldbuilding #cultureshift

Text overlays

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  Signs of a New Romantic Era

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  and the return of passion

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  The Lady of Shalott, John William Waterhouse

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  The Culture is Shifting

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  out chronically online brainrot microtrends doomscrolling ai slop false authenticity nonchalance

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  in IRL worldbuilding personal style substack craft creative fiction passion

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  Big Tech is Out

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  In the 1600s, the West entered it's Enlightenment era and Rationalist thinking had a chokehold on society. Reason and logic overcame mysticism. The industrial revolution brought about mass job instability. The world was becoming more efficient and rational, yet the people yearned for more; to feel human again. We are going through a comparable explosion of technological advancement. And with the disillusionment of modern rationalist myths (hustle culture, STEM salvation), tech flops (NFTs, the metaverse, VR, chatgpt ghibli, Elon), we're also facing a skepticism towards its promise of progress. Our lives are exponentially more connected and convenient, yet feel emptier than ever before.

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  The Villains Then Mass industrialisation Pollution, deforestation, urban sprawl Machines replacing skilled labor Efficiency over artistry The Machine Age

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  The Villains Now Big tech and the technocrats Surveillance capitalism and data mining Generative AI slop Content over creativity The Algorithmic Age

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  “My kid could have AIed this.”

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  Romance is In

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  In the late 18th century, Romanticism arose in response. It was an artistic movement that rejected the cold rationalism of modernity and reclaiming what made people human- our feelings. Artists glorified the individual experience, intensity of passion, intuition, and our place in nature.

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  “Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling”.

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  Romanticism Then A Return to Nature New era of poetry and music as a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Hemans, Wagner, Beethoven, Berlioz Gothic, Horror, The Sublime Medieval Nostalgia The Occult Frankenstein and the birth of sci-fi Luddites burning factories etc.

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  Romanticism Now Touch Grass New era of unapologetic personality and storytelling in music Kendrick Lamar, Chapell Roan, Tyler the Creator, Charli xcx, Body horror, Dark Academia, Magic Realism Analogue Nostalgia Astrology, Tarot Sci-fi resurgence (Severance, Dune) Digital Detox, Brick your phone etc.

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  “wanna grab a drink?”

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  O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green, Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth! O for a beaker full of the warm South, Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stained mouth; That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

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  Main Character Syndrome

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  The way we tie an artist to their work now is arguably a legacy of the Romantic movement. In previous eras, art generally was about formal beauty, and depicted the grand narratives of society. Romantics popularised the idea that art should be an expression the individual’s subjective experience of the world. We’re seeing a return to individuality now. Blandness is over, creativity is back. Micro trends are low status, and everyone on the internet is finding their personal brand. It’s a slippery slope. Placing excessive importance on the subjective experience at best manifests in insufferable pick me personalities and main character syndrome. But 200 years ago its darker side gave rise to anti intellectualism, scientific distrust, nationalism, and even fascism.

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  The Cultural Pendulum

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  Classics / Romantics Ethos / Ego Apollo / Dionysus Each era attempts to retaliate against the hubris of the last. The pendulum has swung. Cynicism is out. Romance is back.

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  Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life.

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  But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.