This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Alayna Thomas. Find her on Instagram at @ratatoolie. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.

Zillennials have a surreal sense of humor. This evidenced in the popularity of TV Shows and movies from our era, such as Adventure Time, or Everything Everywhere All at Once. There is a nonstop shortage of random videos and photo slideshows online that tickle our collective funny bone. But it turns out that this trend of making spectacles and memes out of random videos spur whole communities. We recently covered FlopTok, a TikTok community with its own ‘government’, lore, and figureheads. However, there is another movement that came out of the similar origins of FlopTok, aptly named NicheTok. NicheTok also birthed the slightly more known CoreCore, with many of the same editing styles used by both communities.

Sorry, that’s a lot of words that I just threw at you. However, I think it’s important to see how people view and receive NicheTok and CoreCore videos. Many have noted the similarities between NicheTok/CoreCore and Dada/Dadaism, a European art movement that started in the 1910’s.

Even before I started researching, I noted similarities between CoreCore and Dada. But, I would like to further explore these similarities. Both CoreCore and Dada emerged as reactionary movements to the events of their eras. The TikTok above says that Dada is a modernist movement, and it is, but I would also argue that Dada is the start of surrealism and postmodernism art. Likewise, CoreCore is post-modern but it’s so out there that I would say that it’s verging on post-post modern. Lastly, CoreCore sparked controversy, like Dada, with many people dubbing it as ‘fake deep’. So, let’s take a look at CoreCore and how we can use past movements to look at current moments.

The Beginnings of CoreCore

As I mentioned earlier, CoreCore came out of NicheTok. NicheTok are TikToks that are absurd complications of pictures, video, and audio. The memes are supposed to be niche; you’d only find it funny if you have an incredibly high screentime. Essentially, it is TikTok’s version of YouTube Poop videos. This started to kick off in 2021.

Around 2022, many NicheTok videos started having messages in them. All the videos and pictures in a compilation may be related to a topic such as depression or climate change. Separately, these clips may make little to no sense out of context, but together, it creates commentary. This is what became CoreCore. The idea of having all the media clips in a video relating to a central topic or theme is what separates it from NicheTok. However, this distinction is not that important because people use the two concepts to refer to all of these videos. But, there is a difference.

The name CoreCore refers to the suffix -core. TikTok has an affinity for using that suffix for microtrends: hopecore, kidcore, goblincore. You get the gist. CoreCore is the core to end all cores. Now, I know you’re wondering: how does this relate to a 1900’s art movement?

Dada

Dada or Dadaism was a multimedia art movement that started in the late 1910’s as a response to World War I. Many artists were disillusioned with modernism and post enlightenment thinking due to the war. How could we be so modern and prosperous if we are creating weapons for mass destruction? How are we so enlightened but corrupt?

Artists sought to make meaning of this madness. There were Dadaist writers, who made use of whimsical, nonsensical language and used nonlinear storytelling. Visual artists would make collages and forge a new meaning out of others’ works. Still, other artists would do provocative, avant garde live performances. This exemplifies how loose Dada was as a movement. There were hubs for artists around the world in places like New York City, Paris, and Tokyo.

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain is probably one of the most infamous works or art from this era. All the piece consists of is a urinal that Duchamp bought and anonymously signed in Manhattan. His explanation was that the urinal was lifted to the level of being a piece of art because he, an artist, said so. This encapsulates the spirit of Dada. Artists were challenging the very process of creating art.

Reactionary Movements

Mentioned above, Dada was a reaction to World War I. It was born out of people distrusting (Western) governments and science, seeing the destruction it can cause. So, what is CoreCore a reaction to?

CoreCore is a reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of us younger adults became disillusioned with our governments and our communities. We saw millions of people die and millions more develop health issues due to the slow response by many governments. We saw people get sucked into misinformation about the disease and vaccine. We are living in an era where we thought a pandemic on this scale wouldn’t happen.

CoreCore also has strong commentaries on mental health, namely depression and anxiety, and global warming. Many feel despair and nihilistic about the outlook of our planet. Others have a more absurdist perspective on what is happening, telling us to live life to the fullest regardless of the world burning; plastic is already in our bloodstream.

Is CoreCore Even Saying Anything Important Anyway?

This is what I would consider to be one of the most striking similarities between CoreCore and Dada: the reception. It’s incredibly divisive. 

When Duchamp submitted Fountain for an art competition, it was rejected. Even today this work is hotly contested. Many say that they could create Fountain themselves or that Dada artists weren’t saying anything important. 

Many argue the same about CoreCore. One writer described the videos as ‘we live in a society’. And I understand why they feel that way. However, I do not think that trying to convey a clear message to the audience is always the point of CoreCore.

I think that CoreCore wants to be provocative, similar to Dada. But, instead of challenging what the process of art is, I think these videos challenge virality. Think about some of the earliest viral videos on the internet: “Charlie Bit My Finger”, “Chocolate Rain”, “Leave Britney Alone”. These were actual videos with a beginning, middle, and end. Compare those with a CoreCore compilation.

Indicating Changing Times

This is where I may be a bit out of the box, but I believe that CoreCore shows our changing sensibilities, just like Dada did. 

Although Dada is considered a modernist art movement, I believe it signaled the end of modernism and beginning of postmodern thinking. If Modernism is focused on the optimistic thinking of going into the industrialized world and Post-modernism is concerned with the contradictions and destruction that our quest brings, Dadaism is the bridge between the two. Dada gave way to the surrealist, absurdist, and postmodern art and philosophy movements that still impact us today.

CoreCore shows the shift from postmodern to Post-postmodern. Some have argued that we have started being post-postmodern since the 1990’s, so we are technically in the early stages and there is no concrete definition. But, I would say that Post-postmodern is concerned with the impact of the internet, AI, and consumerism on our post-modern ways of thought. Algorithms are rewiring our brains. What does it mean to scroll through a social media app and in the span of 2 minutes you see graphic videos of amputee children, someone trying to sell you a water bottle, and a cute puppy? Is it really amazing to have access to all of this information?

Only in the future will we be able to truly compare Dada and CoreCore to see how the latter has impacted culture. For right now, I’d say history is not repeating itself, but it sure is rhyming.

What do you think? Do you watch NicheTok/CoreCore videos? Do you think they’re saying anything important? Is it just another internet trend? Let us know in the comments!

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