Core-core, Niche-tok, and montage
"You look lonely, I can fix that"
A quick crash course in defining core-core/niche-tok1. This style of posting on TikTok has come to fruition through certain creators, which will be mentioned later, comprised of movie scenes, news clips, images and audio meant to encapsulate a certain theme. Often times dystopic and negative in its subject matter, climate change, loss of love, frustration with gender identities, and Luddite sentiments, core-core aims to speak to a younger discontent population. The most captivating aspect of this movement is its creation, the process of making a core-core video holds close to past theories of film and editing.
Urban Dictionary defines core-core as a “Kind of a deconstructed art. Basically invoking emotion out of a series of (visual) clips that you develop your own meaning to. Core-core content is introspective”. Introspective, I would agree as the necessary component of a core-core video forcing the viewer to make their own conclusion out of this collection of sensory experiences. These videos do not explain what they want the viewer to feel and instead ask them to read between the lines. What do you feel after malnourished kids plead for “airplane” “sunglasses” on TikTok live then hard cuts to a sauce-smothered mukbang? What do you think after seeing mass tire burnings in Kuwait while hearing the Joker monologue, “If it was me dying on the sidewalk, you’d walk right over me. I pass you every day and you don’t notice me...”? What conclusions do you arrive at after watching multiple second-long clips overlapping one another describing the recovery, the need, the desire for plastic surgery, makeup, and beauty as Mitski’s scream from Drunk Walk Home overpowers them all? Ressentiment is typically arrived at. Frustration with systems at play makes the individual feel hopeless and only able to watch. It’s hard to take some of these seriously. Even describing them reminds me of the angsty 13-year-old upset with just about anything, some of these videos do give that impression, but some are more careful with their creative decisions.
As for whether core-core is deconstructive. For a movement to be deconstructive implies that there was a semblance of a movement from the beginning. It’s less deconstructive and more reflective in subject matter, asking the audience to take a step back from the usual feed of information. My first impression was that these were videos I had seen before and no different from the content I typically see online, yet it was cut and mashed together. The creative decision to splice clips, essentially forcing the viewer to see a different version of the feed their familiar with, is crucial to thinking more critically about this movement. Core-core is arguably a return to early theories of film such as collage or montage. The Kuleshov effect is very present as the same clips of Ryan Gosling staring at the holographic billboard in Blade Runner 2049 are paired with a variety of other clips, starving children, renegade dancers, you name it. It’s the same clip of Ryan Gosling, and the audience knows, rather than praising his performance there is praise given to the editor for creating a relatable message. Film has always haunted digital media as a spectre influencing artistic decisions, acknowledged or not. Core-core is the embodiment of this influence in so far as, again, its goal is to bring the audience to an understanding of themselves. The deconstructive aspect is a little lost on me. It feels intuitive to call it deconstructive, but I don’t think it has gone far enough, it is merely another form of content that we see on the ever-growing feed. It’s no different than the slew of far-right edits of wanting to, “return” and even the more silly Youtube Poop edits. Core-core looks to edit and flip the feed not in a deconstructive way, but in a reflective way.
There is more emphasis on the introspective abilities than the deconstructive.
The accessibility of editing, I believe, is also what brings this movement, along with any and all meme creation, to be more powerful in its content. The ability to replicate this template and attempt at creating a new perspective is fairly easy, we see that these edits do not come from one source, although there are a few that have the formula. Personal favorites of mine are Highenquiries and Eddoeh. Highenquiries is the first account I found, and one referenced by others, oftentimes tagging him in other core-core posts even being mentioned in a couple of articles. Eddoeh on the other hand has taken the style of core-core, most likely before it was widespread, and has added a beautiful flair to it, incorporating their own poetry. Flickering by as video and audio play, inviting you to rewatch it and take another taste of their prose.
In summary, core-core holds close to past expressions in film, incorporating not only film but all forms of media in order to grasp some meaning. This “meaning” is relatively all-encompassing and as specific or broad as the creator wants. Core-core is another label for the eternal practice of splicing time and taking pieces of history and culture to reflect.
Closing Notes:
For this to be my first post I hope it gives the overall tone to my project. I could write more on core-core and be more critical in this post, but truthfully I’m exhausted from writing on this and my mouth is stale. I’d like to look closer at internet culture through an academic lens so as to polish my writing skills in a less serious context. Of course, I won’t be restricted to this subject, some posts will be small tangents I simply need to get off my chest. Regardless, here’s to an interesting beginning.
The etymological difference is so minute that it is somewhat of a joke within circles. Some point to thematic differences, niche-tok containing more obscure clips as core-core aims to produce more depressive commentary, but this is beyond the scope of this post.