vaporwave and aesthetics
      ------------------------

      this "essay" has no structural flow and is a messy improvisation from
      my stream of consciousness, so get one of those styrofoam (ugh!) solo
      cups with that ubiquitously jazzy 90's pattern, pour yourself a cup of
      cofe or whatever you use to sustain yourself, and buckle up.


      human thought is all garbage
      it can be argued that nothing, or barely anything, is original. all products
      of human thought -- art, science, philosophy, language -- was created from
      something else after someone combined it with other preexisting things and then
      added some creative (but still "inspired," which is to say, unoriginal) touches.
      thus, it's pretty naive to claim that any idea you came up with is truly your own:
      we're all psionic scavengers picking from the garbage heap of human history.

      this is pretty obvious in music, especially in genres that feature lots of sampling.
      vaporwave is known for its heavy use of samples, but that certainly doesn't make
      it inauthentic, as much as the word "authentic" really has meaning in light of the
      previous paragraph. where was I going with this?


      vaporwave as satire
      when you think of satire, you might think of something like the movie Brazil
      that you laugh a lot when watching, but you only want to see it once because once
      it's over you're left with the feeling of being in a 1970's hotel bathroom even though
      you just want to get on with your life. but satire is a really nebulous term, and can
      apply to things like the book 1984, which you might not think is satirical. satire can
      be legitimately groovy and enjoyable while still holding a message. in the revered Saint
      Pepsi song Enjoy Yourself, for example, the juxtaposition of the looped lyrics with the
      lyrics of the original sample make it seem like Saint Pepsi is messing around with the
      original artist, treating the 80's exuberance as something to be ironically played with
      in our spooky modern era.

      there are more obvious satirical elements, too, if you look at the genre as a whole: the
      ironic usage of company logos and references to bygone technology (sometimes more than
      technology, in the case of News At 11) mocks the spirit of eager capitalism and shallow
      corporate culture that led us to where we are today.

      when the "obviously recycled" aspect of vaporwave comes into play, then it could be said that
      vaporwave critiques our preconceptions about taste. when you catch yourself bopping out
      to a messy mix of samples put together by some random person on the internet, often composed
      of old music that nobody would otherwise want to listen to anymore, a moment of self-awareness
      can break down the smoke-and-mirrors performance of money, professionalism, and celebrity that
      often is seen to give mainstream music its credibility.


      aesthetics
      much has been said about of aesthetics. how is it really pronounced? when should the
      "ae" part be fused into a single letter, if ever at all?

      an aesthetic (visual, musical, or otherwise) often provokes a feeling within the viewer. how
      often have you seen those youtube comments that say something along the lines of "wow, this makes
      me feel memories of a time before I existed?" aesthetics are experiences, and experiences
      can be powerful.

      but what defines an aesthetic? aesthetics are given a shape by a design philosophy that dictates
      what the aesthetic can and cannot include. some of the philosophy behind the vaporwave aesthetic
      might include "lo-fi is good, and also dated imagery from the 80's and 90's." this might just
      sound like a description rather than a philosophy, but I think there's still an implicit philosophical
      element to aesthetics; the judgements that determine what is and isn't part of an aesthetic
      can often be extrapolated as value judgements, at least within the domain of the aesthetic experience.
      by saying "pepsi logos are good, but modern technology is bad," the aesthetic of vaporwave
      embodies (unsurprisingly) a philosophy of 80's and 90's techno-corporatism. since this is a
      totally ironic philosophy, the philosophy itself is satire. but what about when aesthetic philosophies
      are used in a real, definitely-not-joking way?

      for example, brutalist architecture is common in the totalitarian countries of recent history,
      partly because that aesthetic communicates order and subservience to power. a further modification
      to this "look" is seen in fascist aesthetics, which augment the totalitarian aesthetic with more
      aggressive elements. what makes these aesthetics even more disturbing is how they were forced
      upon the public and made omnipresent.


      oh no, stop it, I just wanted to read about vaporwave
      have you ever looked at apple's UIs and thought, "this looks really unfriendly and obtuse?"
      have you ever looked at google's material design and thought, "this looks like trash, I
      thought google was supposed to be full of geniuses, why are they trying to spread this
      garbage aesthetic?"
      have you ever looked at microsoft's UIs and thought, "funny how these fonts were engineered
      to cause me direct psychological pain?"