@@suzygirl1843 deserts and dry land are part of the world biome. To deny the role of ‘useless’ land shows a lack of understanding of how any of the land works. Learn the land. Respect the land.
Hmm, for a could you guys do a video next for the character of Peter Pan??? There have been many different adaptions and characteristics that have made him a lasting character
Cottagecore may be unrealistic but it’s also unrealistic to work 80-hour work weeks without getting depressed or burnt out. I prefer slow-living city life.
It's all about balance with this type of stuff. Sure you might work 80 hrs. a day and get paid 10 fold, but it will affect your physical/ mental health. Therefore loosing your work ethic, Therefore loosing money. But if you live in a cottage, you cannot live without some form of a hustle to pay for electricity, water depending on where you live and food (also depends on where you live). Because no matter how much you want to escape society or the government, that cottage and property is still on the grounds of that country. So all of the country decisions and laws still affect you. So if you do decide to live either lifestyle, just remember to balance out your day. If you are passionate about a project, pursue it. But don't over work just to get quick results. And if you want to live a simple lifestyle, implement a project to make income while also doing what you love so it doesn't feel like a chore. The two lifestyle's can learn a lot from eachother and I hope you do so too.
Drugs. The answer to working 80 hour work weeks is drugs. The secret sauce, haha. I'm sure all those hardcore guys like Musk are either lying or they push their bodies/minds to the limits using all types of substances.
@@RMNTZ 100%, Wallstreet is infamous for drugs. Hong Kong is infamous for drugs. London is infamous for drugs. All these places are known for their drug consumption. You can't work that much without the assistance of drugs. Countless studies prove this too -the mind and body just can't do it. Period.
No one who enjoys this aesthetic is saying that working at a farm is easy. It’s more like fantasizing about taking a vacation in the countryside and being more in contact with nature. Which is a great form of escapism when you know you can’t afford doing that.
Literally, cottage core aesthetic has nothing to do with being a farmer. On the contrary it is being idle in nature lmao I don't know why people just keep missing the point
@@misabellegorge9359 Yes, it's more about being landed aristocracy lol Relaxing the country rather than laboring in it, and without doing anything so coarse as getting covered in mud and animal droppings. Don't get me wrong, I love the aesthetic, and may or may not own my fair share of prairie dresses. But that doesn't mean I can't poke gentle, good-natured, fun at myself and those like me.
I’m really glad you commented this. I grew up on a farm but I definitely don’t see cottagecore as minimizing farming. It’s more of a lifestyle approach, slow paced and enjoying the little things. It’s more of an ideal that it is an actual desire to abandon modern life
I think the point of cottagecore is enjoying slow-paced life, being content, and appreciate what already exist. Living in a big city and internet, bombarded with ads and information makes me feel anxious and left out.
You can still live the "cottagecore" with the combination of city life. Choose a place that's a lil far from the city.There will be some calmer section of the city. Don't get/rent these flashy appartments but a normal house with access to terrace & a friendly neighborhood. Delete all social media. Yeah it's scary to think of but very very possible. Reduce screentime. Do only things that you enjoy. If fear is the motive behind your action then just abandon it. Stayin off social media will slowly erase out 90% bullshit in your life. Everything online preys on our fear. We're constantly in a state of fear and anxiety. Get rid off that..be content with what you have & only do things that you enjoy. You don't have to move to a farm for this. Life can be made beautiful wherever you are!! I wrote this as an advice to myself too :)
@@deepeka134 The problem is most of the people under 35 can't afford nothing on their own, its always with a partner or with roomates... it's difficult to have your cottagecore aesthetic in a place where the landlord doesn't allow you to touch his things and where you must be sharing everything...
Yes indeed, it's escaping to a more simpler world. Life can be so chaotic and there are a million things we can't control. We are craving to these simpler times, but also at the same time romanticising them, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that.
@@SlayerNinaFriki I think, the point is back to basics principle, not just aesthetics. It reminds me of Marie Kondo's spiritual minimalism. Making priorities straight. I mean, information we get from medias can swallow us whole, making us we want something, while actually we don't need it or not even in our priority.
@@SlayerNinaFriki I think this is why so many are going the tiny home route. You can live driving distance to the city on a rural suburban piece of land. It's been happening where I live for several years now. I feel so badly for younger people because it seems so hard now to get on the housing ladder.
I think people are wrong in assuming this aesthetic is about dropping everything to go make a living in a farm. It’s more about escapism, sometimes just looking at a few pictures on Pinterest or putting on a cottagecore soundtrack is enough to make people relax for a few minutes of their busy day. It’s more like taking a few days off in the countryside rather than living there for an indeterminate period of time
You're so right. Not many people are actually going out in a meadow to have tea. They're looking at pictures of someone doing those things. It's an escape.
@@thesamiverse I think the pandemic has completely shifted people's definition of a vacation. It's no longer going to some overbuilt beachfront community that's become more investment than vacation, and it's no longer trekking into the city to that last abandoned rail line either. Now, it's going into the countryside, having a small, ahem, cottage, to facilitate getting a bit dirty, to in a weird way, get away from the cleanliness and sunbathed nature of modern life.
Yea I think people read into it a little too much. I've always seen it as escapism and other people that I've talked to do to. It being so related to online spaces is a good thing because everyone can experience it - it carries a big part of art, music and games with it. I think for many it's more of an inspiration that is different to usual loud city life. I wouldn't think many people actually deem it to be very realistic, it reminds me a lot of fairytales and is therefore also connected to a lot of nostalgia :). Any movement that sheds light on appreciating nature is a good movement in my eyes anyways
basically. The Romantics were also highly critical of industrialization, and wanted to live near nature. Cottagecore is a resurgence of this, like you say. The Romantic poets all came from upper class families as well.
my family lives in a farm and i need to say, people think that living in a farm it’s all cute and playing with animals, picking strawberries etc. no, it’s waking up 5am to get milk and fed the animals
The greatest irony: it's a life literally impossible to retain unless you, or *most* usually your parents, hustled. Very hard to pay the mortgage of a cottage and the surrounding lands by collecting berries whenever you wanted...
You can buy land and make your own house which is way less than buying a premade one, life is surprisingly less expensive the more you get away from the premade shit. The only thing to worry about is the bills in your house BUT if you decided to make a bus your house it would be less expensive if you are worried about money!
It's amusing: Cottagecore has become such a phenomenon that it's become apart of consumer culture. I went into Bloomingdale's (don't @ me I'm a shopaholic) and saw displays for the Cottagecore aesthetic. It's kind of ironic
Eh, it's always been a thing. Marie Antoinette specifically had a whole village built for her and her daughter to basically cosplay asn peasants but still had servant running around to make sure she never actually had to garden/slaughter animals/clean/maintain the agriculture/care for the animals/etc. Same thing, people who have never had to actually live and work on a farm or maintain a home romanticizing that life without thinking of the hardships. Bit that's the point, it's all unattainable escapism to keep up going in life. As much as Marie was the most privileged person at the time second only to the king, she was still stuck in an undesirable and rather depressing situation when it came to her marriage. I can see why she would also want a little escape of her own.
There was a video or something about how Cottagecore is like neoimperialism because it's just city kids moving to uninhabited/undeveloped land for their own personal motives.
@@zeechops401Wrong. She didn’t enjoy palace life, and her husband gifted her a cottage, Petite Trianon, that she was led to believe was peasant life. She didn’t know. People need to stop acting like she was an insane, out of touch bitch who shit on the peasants. She was an unknowing victim of her position, not the cause of it.
As someone who has experienced burn out due to excessive work during the pandemic, cottagecore was a relief for me. It's not about roaming around in fields dressed in flowy dresses and picking berries. It's about being grateful for what nature offers you and taking a more slow paced life. Ever since I joined the movement, I decided to cut back a bit on work and I started to do things I enjoy, like hiking and spending sometime with nature around me.
i will be me so so soon. i'll get bites of it while i pursue my degree in the city, but i def wanna do it for at least a year after i graduate. im craving it sm, the whole idea of nature healing and creativity. it's what we are truly made for
That's what cottage core really is about! I'm currently trying to integrate activities like reading, embroidery or crochet and stop using my phone so much because this habit doesn't make me feel good. And I really think having a view for the beauty of nature and geatitude for that is one key to happiness 🤍
They make it seem so peaceful. As an African most of the kids I know usually get sent back to our rural homes as punishment or to get us back in touch with our roots so we can appreciate the hard work our parents did to allow the lives we live in cities or suburbs. But, eventually when you do get older you crave and enjoy spending time there. I'm 30 now and I try to spend my vacations at my rural home.
@@jonatanaquino8279 depends, my family is from a rural area in Central Mexico and some people do work hard and some live peaceful lives with not much to do.
I feel like Anne with an E is one of the most cottage core show with it's immaculate writing and oscar worthy cinematography, it would've blended well with the video I was surprised to not see clips of the show Edit: Whoever liked my comment is such a kindred spirit
@@Arterismos I thought it was the CBC network that ultimately put Anne with an E into that premature cancelation because they weren't happy with the rating it go when it finally aired on the network; despite it premiering on Netflix BEFORE it aired on TV making the TV airing seem less important to tune in on when it was available via streaming.
The irony is the whole essence of cottage core is around peacefulness or relaxation, but some of these people are probably stressing out over taking the perfect instagram-able photo/ video
You'll also find that there aren’t that many men in cottagecore. Probably because living on a farm or in the woods for men (especially if they're married) means nonstop work. Cottagecore women get to lounge around baking and picking flowers while cottagecore men get to work on the farm, plow fields, feed the animals, hunt, and collect wood all day every day. Not a very fair lifestyle.
@@halfdemonprince But in truth all our ancestors who were farmers - both men and women - worked hard on the fields until their back was broken. (That was the main work for any gender. Don't let the 50s gender roles fool you. And even in the 50s both my grandparents who were farmers worked in the fields.) On the other hand they surely didn't feel the harsh unhealthy hectic time pressure of the "modern times". They lived with the seosons and didn't work night shifts...
Yup. It's a pyramid scheme, those who are not wealthy can only thrive in cottagecore because they're selling the idea of it to other people who can't live it
This. I grew up in the country. It's beautiful to look at, but god damn is it a pain in the ass. I live in the city now and OMG IT'S SO GREAT. I haven't seen a mosquito in YEARS. Like yeah I like to bake bread now and then, but I need google to help me find a recipe and to ask for advice for how to fix it when i undoubtedly muck it up. 😅
See I grow a lot of citronella and plan to get solar panels so I'm ready. I spend most of my time in the woods already 😅 Edit: admittedly I'm not the cottagecore aesthetic demographic. I'm actually just a forest girl
@@kyratompsett4409 yes! And if you're in the eastern US, there's a shrub called Eastern spicebush that smells incredible and has similar insect repellent properties. You'll find it everywhere; just smell the leaves and you'll know :) I use the leaves and juice from the berries to keep mosquitoes away
That's what cottagecore actually is, I think the take just wanted to make an entertaining and thought-provoking video, but most people who say they like cottagecore just mean the aesthetic.
@@freshlybaked82 same hahaha i've worked on a farm and i hated how much work it was but i loveee the cottagecore aesthetic and romanticizing simple things like that, i think it's wholesome.
It's hard to live a cottagecore life nowadays, but that doesn't mean we can't take some elements from it and add into our daily lives. For me, cottagecore is about appreciating the small things that make life be worth living. Like, the flowers you saw on your way to work or drinking a warm coffee in a cold day.
I love cottagecore! Obviously, I currently do not live in the country home of my dreams, but I have adapted the aesthetic to where I live. Romanticize my life, more mindfulness, slow down, enjoy the little things like watering my plants, and add more greenery.
This is the perfect way to embrace cottagecore or really any aesthetic. Make the lifestyle changes that you can, when you can. Don't be scared to modify the ideal to better fit your current reality and inclinations. And mostly, be grateful for what you have. Don't worry that your life don't mirror some influencer on social media. If what you do makes you content, then you are already living your best life.
I value the aesthstic as a valiant attempt to incorporate elements of rural living and quiet, reflective activity into our miserable 21st century lives. And I'm all for it. ❤
This is probably the most level-headed take in the whole comments section. There are folks harping on how unrealistic it is and that is the point-- most aesthetics are fueled by idealistic escapism, not focusing on drab and depressing real circumstances. Cottagecore is like a snowglobe or isolated idea of the idyllic, not people actually wanting to run to countrysides to struggle or go into debt.
It also seems hard for people to understand that other's genuinely enjoy the quiet living. I personally find the performance of all very silly and goofy, but to each their own. I grew up in this kind of life and I hate it lol to me big cities are so vibrant and exciting and there's so much opportunity. I can see how someone who grew up in the city can find value in this kind of lifestyle, even though it's so far from reality, in my opinion.
I see it as a rejection of owning your life by pretending you didn’t make the choices that are “making you miserable.” What makes people miserable is them and we bring our brains with us everywhere.
This is exactly it I've always wanted to run off and grow my own food as long as i can remember but i can't because of capitalist hellscape soooo i have my pretty dresses sometimes bake and have some veggies growing outside my front door.
Beatrix Potters and her books also have an impact on cottage core. Potter was a Victorian children’s book author and illustrator who created characters like Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle Duck. She owned a farm in the Lake District and was inspired by her home and the landscapes around her for her stories. The og cottage core queen!
For me she IS cottagecore personified! I remember Easter time a few years ago when I really got into a similar type of aesthetic, and I looked into her for inspiration!
The Peter Rabbit movie (2018) has "Bea", a young artist/painter, who is staying in a cottage in the country. It's a bit of an updated version of Beatrix Potter that I enjoyed very much. If you like Beatrix Potter and/or Cottagecore, I suggest you check it out.
For some it’s an aesthetic but for others it’s real life. I’ve worked with communities living in villages in Asia. Believe me, it’s everything but romantic. Hard work and always a risk of violence and being abused.
Wow, that’s sad. I think cottage core (for me) means you want a safe place to retreat to, but farming is another thing. If you farm foe yourself to supplement your groceries (from your local market) and have wifi, indoor plumbing, it’s nice. But the fact is if I had to farm and wake up everyday at 5am to milk the cow, I wouldn’t have a cow. I’d buy oat milk at the store.
And since when is it about living as a farmer in a tiny village in Asia? Or being a farmer in any way? Nobody is comparing a small vegetable garden with some rabbits and cats in a small house in a village in the west to that???
Tila vds One of the concepts of cottagecore is about escaping the city in order to live a slow-paced life in the province/countryside. Original commenter is basically pointing out an example of expectation vs reality of cottagecore. At least, if there will be people who are going to keep an image of cottagecore in the long term. realistically, the farmers are the ones who live in those places, working day & night to sustain themselves. Yet their lives are not considered aesthetic to many people.
@@corycianangel6321 which is fair but also not the point of cottagecore. cottagecore and farming are the same in the way that a housecat and a tiger are. both are felines and both can have orange stripy coats and both can live in the wild but they are fundamentally and socially and expressively different things and equating them out is overly reductionist and unhelpful. cottagecore is having time by yourself away from ugly reality that wants something from you at all times and is actively trying to take away your choices and sense of self. reality is communal and rigid and lacking in grace. cottagecore is the imaginings of having time and grace and a sense of self(and a notable part of it is being by yourself and not being obligated to do something harmful to yourself) while being beautiful without others being there to challenge it
I'm from a small town and moved to the city to continue studying. It amazes me how fascinating my friends find that we buy fresh vegetables and drink raw milk
Same 👀 Once I told them that I hated when my mom made me “look for” the milk to boil (fresh and raw) at 6am. They where like: sooo cooooool And I was like: what? Seriously?? Why??? 💀😅🥸
It's because you live a diffferent lifestyle than they do, idk why that's so hard to understand why people would find your experience different from theirs. Depending on where you live, milk is not always fresh and may even have artificial things put in it to make it last longer, vitamins that aren't naturally in milk, or add color etc.; same thing with vegetables.
@@dreamyanon5151 Hard agree. People will always find different lifestyles interesting. The kids that OP met probably never had the experience of having to fetch raw milk. Maybe their parents asked them to go pick up some milk but in the suburbs/city, that's just a ride to the grocery store.
I was born in Romania and lived in a farm; I must admit it’s hard work: gardening, harvesting, milking cows, feeding the animals, cleaning after the animals. You also get no guarantee of crops because it might rain to much or not rain at all. Kids have fun tho: petting the animals, exploring, eating healthy. So it’s hard work for the adults and fun for kids.
Seeing the cottage core trend was strange for me, because of someone whose father grew up in a small village in rural India he told me first hand stories of how tough it is to live in rural areas! I think the idea of living in beautiful rural pastoral areas sounds nice, but in reality it's very very difficult to sustain.
People who like cottagecore (like myself) are not thinking living on a farm is easy or planing to even live in a farm it's an aesthetic i literally just like the look
I think it is harking back to the European unease with the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cottagers only had a small amount of land, which they often supplemented by working for the landlord in some way or providing an additional craft service they could sell, hence the emphasis on craft here. You are right though, it was really quite tough financially, inheritance and family obligations were much more important because self sufficiency was difficult. More and more people moved to the city or formed larger farms because it was easier and more reliable to work together in that way, but it brought a lot more illness and pollution due to overcrowding. Of course, artists and people like that questioned what was going on and glamourised cottages and the old way of life.
@@roslyngordon4596 exactly . It’s a hobby, not a political movement . Can’t we just have one day where we remain unscathed from global pressure ? Everything is so politicized , as of late. . It is insufferable the way people constantly complain- even about something so wholesome ....I have only just heard about cottage core a few days ago , but reading all these cynics online , makes me realize; that if I ever engage in cottagecore, it will be more or less concealed. I think privacy is a major part of the aesthetic, anyhow. Plus I grew up in Canada and many of my friends had cottages. They weren’t luddites, nor trying to make a political stand .... they swam in lakes, wore comfy knitted sweaters , sipped on tea on the porch, hiked through the surrounding forest ,had barbecues with neighbors , campires , picked flowers .... it ain’t that complicated
The thing with this particular aesthetic is that it is supposed to seem natural, genuine and casual (imo maybe i'm wrong lol) but it ended up looking fake af to me
The spectacle of mindfullness and wellness corrupt all genuine interest and movement when they enter in contact with social media and pop culture :/ I don't think it's you the fakeness is real it's part of the culture of the "authentic" self portrait
Yeah, I get the same sense - and I know not *everyone* is serious when they say they want to live in a quaint cabin in the middle of nowhere, but there are those who are, and they don’t seem to have a clue how unromantic and toilsome that lifestyle would actually be. Similar to van life, people don’t think of the more unsavory aspects...I highly doubt these people are willing to shovel the manure of their cute little farm animals (footing the bill for their food and upkeep, not to mention) or spend hours in the heat tending to crops. But again, not everyone means this seriously, and I think it’s great if people are baking more or taking up knitting, as long as they manage their expectations of what living fully 🍓cottagecore🍓 would actually entail.
@@imaginingdefeat yess, my grandma lives in a country place / village and i go there every summer; OMG it sucks, so many bugs, even scorpions, everything smells like poop, nothing to buy, close minded people, hard work to earn little money, did i mention BUGS? And yeah no one looks cute as in these tik toks, no strawberry dresses, people mostly wear oversized t shirts, oversized sweats, old clothes etc (no shame in that, i wear that and i live in big town), wearing a dress in the field is so unrealistic, what if u walk in cow's poop? People there wear that kind of dresses for sunday church (even if then)
The paradox of cottage core, I think, is best epitomized by Taylor Swift’s folklore album. When she was playing at the Grammy’s, I was mesmerized - sharply pulled back into nostalgic memories of my childhood, playing her first folksy albums on my IPod Touch. But my mom just scoffed, and when I asked her why, she responded with, “It’s just not the same. She’s so made-up, so meticulous; a whimsical forest set made of CGI? A recording studio racking in millions of dollars in profit? It’s not real.” And there’s something almost ironic about the capitalization and monetization of a traditionally “anti-capitalist” movement. Taylor Swift made Folklore for money - there’s nothing inherently wrong with that - but it undermines the very purpose of the moment by aestheticizing “simple” life to distract us from the unending reality that, no matter how much we may hate and scorn the system, we are completely dependent on it. Our aspirations are exactly like the transformation between pre-famous Taylor Swift and post-famous Taylor Swift. We just don’t know it yet. Everything young people aspire towards tends to be corrupted or manipulated at some point anyways. Even if TS didn’t make the album for money, or strived to achieve a balance between artistic creation and sustainable profit (as all artists do), the fact of the matter is that the system (ie the Grammy’s) saw the popularity of her alternative style, and decided to reintroduce it into the capitalistic control via the performance. And how could she say no? It’s a lot of money, and no one person could ever really escape an inescapable design. People are too tempted by the opportunity to live a carefree life to really revert our society completely. The people that truly live “cottage core” lives are too busy trying to make a living in the system which dooms their financial independence (unless they own massive plots of land) and steps in with government subsidies.
For many online, it provides an escapism. We work 60-80 hour weeks in cramped, over-sprawling cities. We get on our devices, and we are transported to a "simpler" space. One where you have time to indulge in your artistic pursuits. One where you have time to take in nature, that for many of us is unaccessible in our day-to-day lives. You watch people bake, and you're hit by the nostalgia of your grandma. It's rural but with rose-tinted glasses. No sweaty afternoons in the sun working the garden. No dealing with the bugs that are in the countryside. Just flowery dresses, fresh-picked fruits, and book reading.
THIS, exactly what I thought. For all I can roll my eyes at it, knowing what rural/farming reality is and at 'influencers' peddling aesthetic for clout, at the end of the day I just can't begrudge stressed, tired, and overworked people a fantasy of a simple day-by-day existence of flowers and fruit and green spaces.
@@gitlashooster2179 yes... if you live in a rural area or small time, most poorer people live in urban centers with no rolling hills or redwood trails.
@@jessdemott6777 That's true and it depends on the city. I live in LA and I have to drive to the trails and some are far away but once you're there it's definitely worth the trip. Places like New York, maybe not so much. Nature doesn't discriminate. You just have to take the time to find it. Farming though, not for me. That's not realistic for most people I don't think.
@@gitlashooster2179 doesn't realize that hiking trails, especially secluded ones, can be hard to get to for some people. Not everyone has a reliable carbon-spewing car to drive to a trailhead.
I love cottage core, but I love it for what it is, an aesthetic. It's not a lifestyle, and the way people look in a beautifull flower field is temporary, just like the flowers. I still love it, even though it just captures a moment
I think all this cottagecore, if it really makes us evaluate our lives and how exist within the world, can be a truly lifechanging thing. During the past year, I've learned many things about being sustainable and relying on my local communities. Even though I live in the city right now, I go foraging, I buy from local sources, I try to ground myself in this current environment. Yes maybe it's a bit weird learning this from tiktoks and youtube videos, but if it gets us where we need to be, I don't see anything wrong with it. As long as we don't let this be another thing that just commodifies the world around us, I trully believe we're witnessing the birth of something greater than us. Whatever small steps we can take to be more independent from the mainstream markets, is a good direction overall.
I don't read, I can't bake and I won't give up my video game remote. But I love tea, taking long walks in nature and Taylor Swift. Am I still invited to the Cottage Club?
As someone who grew up in the country side: All those cottage core kids would run crying as soon as they saw the first hay horse, bug or spider. But the aesthetic is nice, not gonna lie. I always wanted to live in an Emil i Lönneberga movie, so I get the sentiment 😂
I’m Colombian and live in London. Back when I lived with roomates I come back to find these two girls locked in a room shouting at me that there was a bee in the flat. A BEE. Took me like 10 minutes to locate the bee and let it out. They thought I was Bear Grills. 🤣🤣🤣 And I’m from a city. Grew up amongst buildings and smog.
I grew up in the city and I love the idea of cottage core, an idyllic life of constant spring time where I spend my time engaging in girly traditional skills. However I'm aware that in reality I would not enjoy the physical labour or the spiders. It's still a fantasy though
It's just an aesthetic, those people aren't even interested in the farm life, also because COTTAGEcore not farmcore 😂 Gotta love people gate keeping the country life, also most people just want a normal house in the country, surrounded by nature and maybe some little animals, they don't want a farm business to run.
I think cottagecore is just the goal but most of us, specially after 2020 and lockdown we are tired of massive cities where you work way too much to barely afford rent in a way too little apartment. I personally prefer living in a medium sized city / large town where I have all the commodities without the bumble and hustle.
As someone who lives in a large city, I just want to live in a cottage year round that’s en route to the city by train because A: the amount of property is 10x more affordable B: I don’t want to walk out my front door and immediately see a highway C: I don’t want my neighbor to hear me if my window is open Plus if I want to have noisy pets I won’t be anxious about it
Most people do not live in massive cities. If you take America as an example, the only really big cities are New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and maybe Houston-Fort Worth. Together they only account for less than 10% of the population. Most people live in small or mid sized cities.
@@juliet7398 A train needs to be carrying enough people to be worth running, so they will usually only go from one town to another, not anywhere close to a rural cottage.
@@krombopulos_michael I'm in Canada so we have a GO train that hits the neighbouring small towns, its pretty common for people from smaller areas not too far away to use it for a one day trip in/out of Toronto! if you live within the first few cities nearby and do your research before choosing where to live you are good.
I feel that Cottagecore is less about living on a full-scale farm and more about escaping to a pastoral glen in the woods with a few chickens and maybe a milking goat. It's not supposed to be about the toil of the farm. It's about the sun on your skin, the cool crispness of the wind through the trees as it pulls on your hair, the way the stars reverberate in your soul with nature gently encompassing you. It's about getting your hands into the earth, to see and feel and smell the alive-ness of the plants you've nurtured to fruition. It's about baking, getting back to making your own food entirely from scratch, the scent of warm, fresh bread and roast chicken, the taste of herbs and tea and honey. It's a place where you can cry and breathe and *just be* in the certainty that you are safe and warm and loved. It's the crackle of the hearth and the snap of the coals as you sit beside the fire with a cup of cocoa by the light of an oil lamp. It isn't about making the hustle. It is a pure avoidance of all things capitalism and mandatory overtime, of workplace harassment and psychological abuse. It's about being self-sufficient, about having your own space and your own time. It's about truly reveling in the beauty of life.
I'm a new zealander and really into the whole cottagecore thing (it's pretty much how I was raised, and I'm dirt poor atm, so isn't hard), but I have to say I've never seen it as a "white" trend. My tiktok feed is covered with people of all races, ethnicities, skin colours etc, all rocking that kind of vibe. I don't know if it's because I have always tried to seek out a variety of creators, especially those who don't look like me, but I think it's important to remind everyone that they are welcome, and that it isn't just for rich, white folks. I'm glad you mentioned this issue, but I wanted to just add my voice reminding us all that everyone is welcome and loved and beautiful in these circles of online style and media.
So funny you're trying to be inclusive and woke with your "everyone is welcome in this circle". They're pointing out how much it is a privileged white trend as a CRITICISM. The white descriptor is not to prohibit others from it. Nobody needs reminding or welcoming from you to join this shitty trend.
i don't understand why the video was trying to turn it into an sjw issue. the aesthetic does come from a historically "white" period, but nobody is persecuting or excluding nonwhite people from participating today. if you're a minority and wanna do cottagecore, go ahead and live your life. nobody cares. if you want to do a historically nonwhite aesthetic, go ahead as well.
Honestly I'm so happy this is a thing. I grew up with Kiki's delivery service and Lord of the Rings (Hobbits are the ultimate cottagecore creatures) and other similar media , so cottagecore has almost a nostalgic element for me.
I enjoyed knitting and soapmaking before the cottagecore movement, and I'm sure I'll still enjoy them many years after. I don't see the need to dress up in frilly dresses to do so, but if that's your thing, enjoy it! Do what you enjoy not because everyone else is doing it, but because it genuinely gives you pleasure in life. With that said, I think it benefits everyone to have a creative outlet of some sort. It is immensely satisfying to start with nothing except a few raw materials and create something lasting and meaningful to you.
dang I was not expecting the comments section to be so ANGRY when every time I've experienced anyone's engagement with cottage it's been with an awareness that it's an overly sweet fantasy, on a similar level of realness as kawaii culture. But this kind of bitterness towards it sounds a lot like the bitterness towards most things popular among young women.
It's insane how fast Cottagecore is gaining popularity. The problem I think is how unrealistic and effortless it portrays the village life. It's very escapist to the point of becoming tone-deaf sometimes. It's something I have also been quite fascinated about (even made a video on Cottagecore myself lol).
I think people need to be reminded that cottagecore is an _aesthetic,_ not a lifestyle. Sure, it’s sustainable to the environment. But is it sustainable to yourself? Can you work hard on the fields everyday? Can you pay for the expenses of a log cabin, the materials to craft the cute projects, and for the countless books you want to read? There is a huge and important difference. Want to frolic in a field with a pretty dress for a few hours? Do it if you want, hell, let me join in! But don’t think that living in the countryside is an easy thing.
It’s an aesthetic the way that “hobo” is a fashion trend. It requires removal from a hard reality that often comes without much money, and ironically, obtaining that aesthetic takes a lot of money.
Meanwhile here in Brasil indigenous people trying to reclaim their ancestor's way of living by building their own reservations (we call them "aldeias") have to constantly deal with police forces, farmers with guns, and all sorts of anti-indigenous invaders trying to displace them from the land. I love the aesthetic of cottagecore, but we all know how reality is different. :/
Yep, in my country cottagers had their houses set on fire to evict them for bigger agricultural projects. But I think the original 19th century vibe had an element of understanding that aspect to a certain extent, people like William Morris.
My version of cottagecore includes the simplest boots, jeans and planting stuff. Feels more real, less previleged, and more sweaty! It helps to maintain a simpler lifestyle and consume less, as well as exercising without feeling like I’m throwing work away.
Can...I request your bibliography? Sometimes y'all mention books, authors, or academics in your videos that sound interesting. I tried searching the description box. Great video!
It's funny how there are specific girls here on youtube and instagram who make videos promoting this lifestyle/aesthetic. Yet they don't talk about how they can only live this way because they have rich parents who pay for everything. How they make tons of money by promoting a lifestyle they don't even really live. Same with these tiny home and van life people who act like poor hippies. When in reality, with a tiny home, you need to pay for land to put the house on and utilities. Most of the time, this is paid for by their parents. And no, I'm not hating. I know many of these people personally, and it's not so much a peaceful modest life. It's spending your time taking shit tons of photos to make your life appear effortless and earn as much money as possible
OMG I’ve seen tiny houses and van/RV conversions that rival the cost of my 2500sq.ft. 3-floor house with 6br, 2.5ba, triple level decks, spa, a small forest for a backyard, in the middle of Vancouver, Washington. I’ve lived in a cramped RV, and it’s NOT like you see on blogs. The people blogging are making a shit-ton of money and aren’t poor, and it’s crass for them to play-act as if they are. I don’t care about the people who aren’t trying to pretend they’re poor for clicks. The people who are honest are fine. It’s the ones who lie while concealing parental funding or conveniently never showing their apartment or house where they “take breaks” for 25 days of the month.
It's funny how there are specific girls here on youtube and instagram who make videos promoting this lifestyle/aesthetic. Yet they don't talk about how they can only live this way because they have rich parents who pay for everything. It's funny how there are specific girls here on youtube and instagram who make videos promoting this lifestyle/aesthetic. Yet they don't talk about how they can only live this way because they have rich parents who pay for everything. It's funny how there are specific girls here on youtube and instagram who make videos promoting this lifestyle/aesthetic. Yet they don't talk about how they can only live this way because they have rich parents who pay for everything. Just requoting the smartest comment here. no nbd
I love cottagecore! As a Black woman, Black people have such a deep link to nature. I feel most grounded when I'm outside when I see wildlife (like deer) to when I'm planting flowers and plants in my room.
I didn't know "cottagecore" was a thing, but I've seen similar attitudes in other cultures. My "natural-living idol" is Li Zi Qi, a Chinese woman who lives in Sichuan province, she makes her own furniture and dresses, grows, cooks, and brews her own food and drinks. She's my superhero. Another woman I love is Jonna Jinton from Sweden, she's like a real-life Elsa. And I've definitely seen similar creators from other Asian, Eastern-European, Central-Asian, and European countries. "Cottagecore" to me is the "Anglo-Saxon" version of the natural-living movement that's slowly spreading as a reaction against our fast-paced world. As a Latina, I would like to see if there are Latin women in this platform showing a similar lifestyle...
I disagree that cottagecore should prove itself to be more than frivolous. It doesn't need to be an ideology or a philosophy, just something that evokes an image familiar enough to be recognizable and new enough that people from marginalized groups can participate. Like some people are pointing out in the comments, living in a real cottage isn't always the dainty, slow, no-stress lifestyle people from urban areas may think it is. Farmers do a lot of backbreaking hard work. Yet most of cottagecore is flowers, picnics, and baking. And that's okay. It's an aesthetic, the name indicates that it is not intersted in any "substantial" rigid set of principles.Things are exactly what they appear and they don't stand for anything other than what they appear as. Cute cookies are cute, pretty flowers are pretty. And that's the charm and purpose of aesthetics in my opinion. That they set a certain mood without the commitment. No one who's into dark academia was burrying their history professor last night. It's all frivolous and that's what makes it fun.
I agree, it's sort of like playing dress-up with your life. The way I see it, a lot of these aesthetic movements of late are about infusing more of your lived experience with the visuals and activities from a "fantasy life" you may have dreamed up in your head. It feels validating to have your outward life reflect your inward feelings and interests, which I think is why so many people share it on social media. Even if you know life isn't like that all the time, it can be very fulfilling to see *yourself* in the context of your fantasies.
Exactly. And I think people are quick to call it frivolous because it's something you see mostly women doing and the things commonly associated with it like picking flowers, having picnics, and baking and wearing cozy dresses, and sewing and crafting is stuff mostly associated with women. Homemaker activities. And our society has a bad habit of denouncing anything associated with women and femininity as frivolous. So there's some inherent misogyny and bias at play here.
I think of Cottage core as an English esthetic, I don’t picture the south or antebellum. I felt like that was a bit of a stretch but I am glad that everyone, no matter where you are from can participate.
Great analysis! I also feel like the aesthetic and attitude of cottagecore is in some parts a modern take on the artistic movement of Romanticism from the 18th century.
Not y'all fangirling over this person who appropriates every trendy aesthetic and then everyone associates it with her instead of the more common people who actually came up with it 🤡
@@user-pm9pw6cj4c you can’t appropriate a aesthetic it is not a culture and she never claimed it’s hers nice try hating on Taylor once again woke person
When i feel anxious or depressed about life, savings or work cottage core reminds me that by investing in knowledge, skills, friendship and life learning we can all reclaim a small piece of our labor by documenting and sharing it without any expectation of repayment. At the same time there is a powerful feeling of comfort knowing that it can be monetized and people coming together and learning skills like sewing, graphic design, video editing, and music production can actually reclaim some of the power from hgtv, travel and food channel, and other outlets that are mostly about creating a problem and selling you a solution.
Not quite. It's kinda her old self I mean she did started as a country girl if you saw her childhood videos (specifically, her "the best day" music video) it seemed like she's always lived close to the cottagecore life until she went big.
not that she capitalizes on it necessarily, just that she borrows the idea of cottagecore and all of its escapist and romantic qualities and writes stories in that mood-space. If you've read her interview with Paul McCartney, she's always talking about it like that, and actually, Paul McCartney is the same, taking the "cottagecore" view very literally and talking about how he actually, really, escaped
"Cottagecore is romanticizing farm life, etc etc..." Everyone saying this is right in that farm life is hard work, but why can't we just let people enjoy what is clearly just a trendy aesthetic? Let people live for fucks sake. So what if they aren't getting up at 4am every morning to go do chores, that doesn't affect you. The world already sucks enough for a lot of people for many reasons, so if wearing frilly dresses and taking videos of animals makes someone else happy and content in their life then just let them, and you can keep actually farming knowing that at some point in a couple years the trend will blow over and people will move on. (Yes there are other problems with the trend, but I'm specifically talking about those kinds of comments.)
THANK YOU! I agree. It’s just an aesthetic, it’s a FANTASY, a dream-like world where you can find a little beauty and a little peace. Why is everyone hating it? Because it’s “out of touch?” It’s okay to have a little imagination and some escapism, like it doesn’t mean that people are incompetent and unable to be grounded into reality. We pay out bills, we go to work, we have loved ones and those we sacrifice for; this aesthetic is simply an appreciation of a more simple, rustic way of living. Sure, it’s easy to romanticize a lifestyle that feels more “purposeful?” Gathering food from the garden, chopping wood, baking everything from scratch seems to give your life purpose, yet we all know that the majority of us couldn’t live without a lot of the modern-day conveniences. We are aware of that…it’s just trying to incorporate more peace, tranquility, and nature into our daily lives and not be bogged down with rat races, depressing work hours, Social media, and the hustle of city life. It’s a way of creating calm, that’s all. I don’t understand why everyone is so angry over this aesthetic. If you don’t like it, can’t afford it (literally, who is able to buy a stone cottage? No one, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream!), or think it’s unrealistic, then just move on to something else. Imagine tearing down an aesthetic on Pinterest about harvesting by blackberries and dancing mice. Can’t we have a little magic in our lives? Do we HAVE to be fucking depressed all the time?
I’ve been living in a small rural community my whole life and it fucking sucks. There’s very little to do in our farming community, we always have to drive an hour to go anywhere with a movie theatre and everyone is low income as fuck. Cottages can be foreclosed on too people.
I am not kidding myself and pretend I could be happy on a farm or even in a village, the true slow life, yet I still love the aesthetic of thrifting old things, creating new things and seeing some more nature while also having my phone with me and living in a very big city
Thank you for always adding how it affects black people & POC not being in these spaces and how they are creating a space. I love your channel for this 💛💛💛
What. This is a European aesthetic. Why do you want to be in our space when you have your own culture, which you people are always talking about being so amazing?
I clicked because Taylor and I love her so much- I love that she just up and decided to drop the pop element for at least two albums and 2020 needed this.
This approach to nature feels privileged to me. Farmers and other people who actually rely on the earth to survive know that nature is not a paradise, people who see it like that are people who can come back to a city whatever they want.
I love city life. I wouldn't say I am a workaholic. I love the hustle. Such a life would never work for me. I can probably live like this for a week but after a while, I would start getting tired of it.
I feel like this trend is trying to create(or recreate) the same vibe and feeling that people my generation had when we'd spend our childhood summers visiting our grandparents in the countryside. When I started reading about this aesthetic, all I could think about was being 8 years old and feeding the chickens with my grandmother, then milking cows and then making a plum pie. It was a form of escapism, but not one you were aware of when it happened. If people really want to embark on this lifestyle I hope they realise that 'cottage' or farm life is more than picking flowers in a field and wearing fluffy dresses with cute aprons, yes it has those moments, but it also had a lot of hard work, actual labour and moments of fear and insecurity. And also, the feeling of cottagecore was also brought by the people you shared it with.
I grew up with grandparents at the countryside. For me cottagecore is a return to my own childhood, working the fields together, enjoying the delicious fruit and vegetables, and the amazing slow living, the air, the spring water. I hate living in the city. I hate crowds and I get far less occassions to leave the house. In the country, you open a door and you’re in your garden. I’m now more invested than ever in expanding my vegetable garden and orchard. Produce is so expensive, I bought an extra freezer so I can produce as much as possible for the winter ❤ I love it. The hard work in the country is far more rewarding than any corporate job I’ve ever had.
I used to play cottagecore when I was a little girl. Wandering around, hugging trees, picking berries and making daisy chains is cute when you're 6. Now as an adult I love sitting inside enjoying tech I paid for.
This was beautifully and brilliantly executed. So well rounded. It touched upon all my admirations and grievances regarding this topic while presenting other things I hadn’t yet considered, both positive and questionable. Yet no side was presented with bias. Bravo. Well done.
I'm so glad there's stuff calling out Thoreau!! When we learned about transcendentalism & romanticism for pastoralism I was unnerved because my pov either saw who is going to draw the water, what happens during the floods, or the fear of depending on neighbors who don't like us. At least our teacher had a fabulous lesson where we had to design a transcendentalist style school ( issues of collective norms and impacting others still make me curious today)
I’m also thinking about California’s farm workers having to pick fruits and vegetables for very little pay. I would love to see these cottage core people out there in the sun with their fancy dresses doing that labor.
Their also the genre Solarpunk, which is is pretty much like Cottagecore. Solarpunk is a genre of Speculative Fiction that focuses on craftsmanship, community, and technology powered by renewable energy, wrapped up in a coating of Art Nouveau blended with African and Asian aesthetics. It envisions a free and egalitarian world with a slight bend toward social anarchism. Standing as both a reaction to the nihilism of Cyberpunk and a solution to a lot of the problems we face in the world, Solar punk works look toward a brighter future ("solar") while deliberately subverting the systems that keep that brighter future from happening ("punk"). Solarpunk also tends to feature a high level of cultural awareness, gender equality, self-expression, and artfulness. Solar Punk aims to subvert those systems and replace them with ones that work better in the long-term through local communities, supporting artisans, and living sustainably. Their works in stories and shows that have elements or are Solar Punk without knowing it.
To me it seems like Cottagecore is a certain dream that could found within a Solarpunk society, but we have to get there first to really be able to live it. Solarpunk kind of offers that guidance.
Not necessarily you can do it pretty low cost make your own bread, crochet, sew, embroider,maybe get some plants, maybe collect some flowers, etc them boom cottagecore
as a bookworm farmer's daughter and someone who is not particularly crafty or enjoying hand crafts, I found real hope in cottagecore. beside creating things with your own hands and pretending like nature is still pure and not being destroyed at a very fast pace (both of which I find frustrating), cottagecore reminded me that a quality life means connecting with people in deeper ways, with less parties and more one-to-one conversations. it also reminded me that shoping locally and supporting people who are by nature crafty is the next best thing to actually making things yourself. finally, it reminded me that work is just work, and that you don't have to monetize everything -plus, some down time in fact fuels both creativity and ambition in the long term.
I spent my childhood riding my pony through snow covered woods. We had a 300 acre farm. My suburban children are jealous, but there was a lot of alcoholism in those communities. It was rough
My dream is to move out to a cabin in the country and work on my writing at a desk in front of a large picture window. The reality, however, is that I don't have the thousands of dollars and resources to make it a reality anytime soon. Also, a lot of the imagery really does smack of Marie-Antoinette and her friends in their chemise dresses playing at milkmaids at the Trianon.
It was always going to happen when the underlying ethos is a nostalgia for how things were... that era wasn't great for many of us and there's also the overwhelming whiteness. I love me some cc because PLANTS and I love the idea of simplicity and going on a walk and noticing the small things. Its great for my anxiety.
This is actually the #1 thing that puts me off to all of it. #2 is how it removes the reality from farm life the way that the “hobo” trend removes the difficulty of homelessness from the “virtual appeal” of homeless life.
What’s sad about a woman who wants to stay home and take care of her children? I only have cursory knowledge of “tradwife” (just now heard of it) and I don’t really get why it’s bad from what I’ve looked up. So a woman wants to make be a homemaker and take care of kids... how tragic
I think in order for any aesthetic to rise above the reputation of frivolity, it needs to be more than just an aesthetic. The TikTok age is what caused this boom of various chosen aesthetics that don't necessarily represent one's life, personality, or identity. There's nothing wrong with it-- beauty and style do a lot of good for the brain, but we can't refer to this movement or aesthetic as anything "off the grid" or outside of the need for attention if it's being used to express one's style on social media. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps, but how do we know if something is authentic if we don't see it with our own eyes? This very video proved that even Henry David Thoreau's admirable and aspirational "off the grid" lifestyle was a bit phony. All is good and well with it all, but let's be honest about whether it's a lifestyle with rich history, a movement, a hobby, or simply an aesthetic (as so many of the people in this video who participate in Cottagecore called it).
I think you can enjoy the aesthetics, creativity and natural connection of cottagecore without claiming that you know what it's like to work on a farm or even live in a rural area. I think it's more about daydreaming and enjoying things that make you happy than trying to literally reenact the 1800's. If social media can be used to create a space that's inclusive and enjoyable for all people, I think everyone should just enjoy picking their wildflowers and walking in the woods.
What sucks is that the forest, country, etc. isn't safe for poc. Especially rn. Being surrounded by people that want you dead while you have no cell signal is stressful to say the least
I'm so sorry you feel like this in your homeland - but other countries do exist. If you really decided to change your life and live your cottagecore dream, you could as well move to a different country. In my country (The Czech Republic) people in the countryside don't give a shit about your race and they will like you as long as you greet them politely in the street and don't disturb peace.
@@ruwinheredhether3347 I don't think they can just up and move to a different country. Plus, other countries have racism. Idk what country you're from, but there's likely racists where you live too. It's not like POC can escape from those things that easily.
Because cities are soo much safer, right? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 God you people are fcking delusional. And no, most people who live in rural areas don't "want you dead", your existence really isn't as important as you think it is.
The thing is I always accepted the hard work part of the cottage core life? I understand that being self sustainable and living in the country is going to be hard work, for me it comes down to gardening and farming looking like much healthier and more mindful and fulfilling ways of work compared to sitting behind a desk most of the day and then coming home to a dark small apartment surrounded by millions of people but still alone. That’s an exchange I’m willing to make, waking at 5 to go feed animals and tend to my garden seems to me a much more enjoyable and sustainable life.