Kieran Press-Reynolds at No Bells:
In the last month or so, the [corecore] scene has transformed as it skyrocketed in popularity. It’s become dominated by moodiness. The most popular corecore videos now tend to be a minute long and feature whole clips taken from movies or YouTube videos or political speeches of people talking, often about something poignant or unnerving: feeling like you’re invisible, the commonplace dehumanization of women, the way social media has withered us into human husks of loneliness crawling through life’s cyclical sadnesses.
[…]
As bizarre as it seems, the comment sections on these corecore dissertations feature some of the more lively debate I’ve read about the political potential of short form TikTok content.
[…]
At its best, corecore wields the native language of the platform—sampling montages, hyper edits—and pierces its glossy sheen with frightening weirdness and startling vulnerability.