Dark Academia: Must admit, when I first heard the term, I thought it was some cool category for "the dark arts" if you like. Wiccan research publications and as such. When I gave it a bit of actual thought, I inferred it meant independent academic publications outside of journals (blasphemy!) (glorious!); or a reference to how a large portion of the "Dark Net" is allegedly filled with research papers. . . Well. Turns out I was thinking too—well, not literally—realistically.
Dark academia is not a literary category or genre (though it does lend itself to one). It's a subculture built on this idealisation of higher-educational institutions, artistic human intellectuality and this Autumn aesthetic entrenched in gothic architecture and Oxford fashion. (Ivy League, that is. Not the Australian fashion brand).
It is the latest notch in the canon that brought us Mall Goths and Scene Girls. One that Wikipedia credits Tumblr for originating in 2015 with their aged-up mood boards of Harry Potter. I would argue, however, this romanticised vision of rainy days, intellectual discovery, and feminine comforts is just the matured and contemporary evolution of our everlasting escapist desires to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast; Or, an acknowledgment of our wish for credible and safe spaces that celebrate knowledge, female agency, and realistic and artistic beauty.
A foreign idea in today's modern world, unfortunately.
I would go so far to say that Dark Academia, as an umbrella term for any media with a cerebral mood and strong themes of artistic and intellectual merit, is just the next development in the greater Postmodern Romanticism movement we are experiencing. (Not to be confused with the art style Neo-Romanticism).
As I understand it, the original European Romantic Era (1798 - 1837) focused on elevating the common to sublime and seeking individualistic pathways of self-expression. It was a response to the Age of Enlightenment that saw the human condition intellectualised and its experience depicted by naturalism and realism. Both movements aimed to explore intrinsic truths of life, but where the Romantics sought to heighten and transcend the individual journey by capturing its emotion and beauty, the 'Enlightened' were disillusioned, entrenched in reason, and set on recording the tangible mundane through their new lenses of liberalism, socialism, and neoclassicism.
And then the first Industrial Revolution Ended (1760 - 1840), the Second began (1850/70 - 1914), and it all bookended with World War One and Two.
Today, we find ourselves once more amidst a Industrial Revolution: The Fourth. The threat of a Third World War on our heels. And global wealth hoarded by a population less than Scotland.
(Seriously, there are less than 3,000 Billionaires in the world with a combined wealth of $15trillion). (Though I guess that's nothing against Vanguard and Blackrock—who are majority shareholders of each other—and control a combined $20trillion in assets).
It is not surprising in an era of such global civil distress and anti-intellectualism, that many of us are craving the aesthetic of the Enlightened and Romantics. That we are emulating a contemporary aesthetic of their beliefs and practices.
In a way, it is performative. Wish fulfillment.
On the other, it's a rebellion against propaganda fed to us from the 1950s Nuclear Family ideals to modern grey-washed intangible sludge of "Hollywood realism".
I haven't the research to really go further. But I think Dark Academia is about millennial dis-cognisance: as we clash with who we thought we'd be, who we were promised to be, who we wanted and needed to be, and the disillusionment of what the world has actually offered us.
For so many of us, our inner child is still dreaming of that large library, of that magical acceptance letter; of being part of institutions that nurtured our intelligence and agency; of being apart of societies with leaders that we had reason to respect and trust. Of having structure and meaning to our lives that actually enabled our best selves.
Instead the world burns around us.
We can hope a new age of Enlightenment and Romanticism is upon us. But unless we take this aesthetic and actually do something with it, well. I don't know.
Maybe it is all just another fantasy subgenre after all.
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