Are Tumblr Aesthetics in Danger? Signs point to yes.
A lot is being lost in the wake of Tumblr’s prolonged death, including ad revenue, access to unique queer spaces and the creation of niche online communities. Yet I have seen few articles related to the infamous blue site’s demise address what was once one of my favorite aspects of blog creation—the death of the aesthetic blog, and the aesthetics born out of Tumblr’s emphasis on blog curation.
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Far be it from me to imply that Tumblr created the concept of aesthetic, but it’s hard for me as a long-time user to deny that Tumblr didn’t shape that concept into something so unique, so unanimous with the site, that it defines my very memories of blogging. Tumblr blogs dedicated to shaping a blog based entirely around one type of photo, or color of photo, or even a genre born from the platform’s community, are about as “Tumblr” as it gets.
So where does Tumblr’s recent NSFW ban leave them? Many of these blogs are not inherently NSFW—though many of them might include aspects of nudity and sex, depending on the content of their aesthetic—but that does not stop their images from being falsely flagged, or blogs from being mass deleted. Instagram seems like the natural successor, but it wholly neglects the curation aspect of Tumblr’s aesthetic blogs—unless you flat-out steal content from other posters (not to say that many current aesthetic blogs don’t already do this, but at least Tumblr gives you a way of “reblogging,” whereas Instagram solely relies on original posts). Snapchat is temporary, Pinterest relies almost solely on uncredited content, nobody uses Pillowfort, and Twitter pages can’t be customized the way that Tumblr blogs can be.
If the concept of aesthetic blogging is new to you, or has you scratching your head, I would like to offer one of my previous articles as an example of how impactful aesthetic can be. In writing “Seven Homes That Are Actually Just Children’s Playsets but I Need to Live in For my Wellbeing, Now,” I almost exclusively surfed the Tumblr tag “kidcore” for potential images. Defined by Urban Dictionary as “a type of aesthetic that tackles the theme of bright colors, childish themes, and[/or] the 90’s,” kidcore blogs curate pages worthy of eye-bleedingly bright colors, stuffed animals, and other themes that make one feel as if they’ve returned to a younger age in their lives. My main point in “Seven Homes” was the intensity of comfort each of the photos listed made me feel – as if I could live in them forever, and be content.
And to a certain extent, this is the goal of the aesthetic blog. They are collections of images that seek to invite their viewer into a unique world that is defined wholly by the aesthetic. One gets the feeling of traversing Vegas on a cold windy night if they click on something like “Brightasfuckk,” or that they’re back to the days of “XD” emotes and skunk-streaks in hair in the scencore tag. Indeed, a whole family of “core” aesthetics exist on Tumblr, with any word imaginable being tacked onto the front to encapsulate a range of emotions that images can evoke: cottagecore for comfortable images of simple living, arcadecore for images of or evoke feelings associated with modern and retro arcades alike, dirtcore for nature and browns. While many of these blogs create their own content to match with their chosen aesthetic, many also rely on one another to reblog content, thus curating a fuller, more dedicated blog that exists as a shrine to the particular mood they are attempting to evoke. Where else on the internet does one find that? I’m hard-pressed to think of another place.
Sleep well, Tumblr. I look forward to finding your perfectly curated energies reborn elsewhere on the web.
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