Cottagecore and the Longing for Beauty

On a frigid January day, the clouds hang like thick drapes on the sun as they ran through the parks in the city centre. The lanes were not crowded, so there was a clear view of the naked banks on either side of the road. Instead of the usual weed mounds that choke grass in the summer, all I could see was white frost. If I hadn’t known, I would have thought it had snowed without me knowing, and somehow the pavement remained untouched, as the powder mysteriously covered only the bank next to the road.

But after another perspective, I realized that it wasn’t snow I saw, but a pile of garbage, a finer detail of rotten fast food boxes, napkins and unidentified material that drivers must throw from the car.

The repulsion rose within me, but there was also sadness and anger. When did the natural, grassy areas of the city become our garbage cans? At that moment, the world seemed so ugly to me, and I couldn’t help but wait for a more beautiful sight than the garbage streets before me.

I immediately understood why so many people are attracted to the aesthetics of the Internet, and why they are specifically portrayed. Cottagecore With the adorable nature of the wildflower, Frog and toad It has a tasteful and nostalgic charm to the past. How fun it would be to be able to walk past computer screens and sit near the meadows in the natural calm, rather than passing through scattered parkways. Or, you’re not making a relaxed hole by going down the path of the painting forest, squealing corners and speeding up. What a refreshing change to living in a world like a picture book Green gables Anne or Secret Garden. Life seems so good and more beautiful.

We discovered Cottagecore, which has become increasingly popular during the pandemic. These videos displayed pictures of country landscapes and paintings. Edwin Harris A quiet moment Combined with soft piano and classical music. Over time, the algorithms have guided me further down the path of cottage core and introduced me Paola Merrill. Her channel, Cottage fairywith millions of followers, allowing her to publish the book she was titled Cottage fairy companions: a cottage core guide to help you live slowly, connect with nature and become seductive again.

If you’re looking for enchantments, Merrill’s channel is a good place to start. Her artistry is displayed in the way she captures the wide range of landscapes and details of her everyday life and handmade art. The video is calm and relaxed like a mug of chamomile tea on a cold day, and Paola’s voice quietly shares her thoughts about art and life. Watching her baked goods, paint, craft paper lanterns and her favorite books, I’ve been struck repeatedly with an emphasis on a slower, more sustainable life. This can be said about many things in the Cottegekoa movement as enthusiasts are invited to quiet their busy lives and to notice the beauty around them.

For some individuals, aesthetics are just that: decoration and mere dress style. But for others like Merrill, it represents a deeper philosophy than building a cottage-themed home or wearing vintage dresses or lace ribbons. What is linked to CottageCore is focused on taking a slower life, rest and quiet time, realizing the small but important details of life, and enjoying nature. As Merrill said in an interview Mango Publishing“I don’t think that what we really want is the country. [busyness] of our daily lives. ”

Of course, there are opponents to aesthetics because of all its appeal. Critics claim that Cottagecore fans live the fantasy of a fugitive at an ideal time. As an article titled “”Cottagecore, beautiful aesthetics with problems to deal with” Above Michigan Daily Thoughtful point:

Whether it is intentionally or not, the trend will romanticize the lifestyle that comes with unique challenges that are unimaginable for fans of Cottagecoa, born and raised in urban and suburban areas. Cottagecore chooses not to acknowledge rural poverty and resource shortages, along with the hard work involved in maintaining the farm.

Living in a rural cottage, both past and present, is often accompanied by difficulties and poverty. This is not particularly present in photos or videos of Cottecole enthusiasts. We should not encourage people to ignore the reality and difficulties of living in poor rural areas. Also, we must not forget that there is a difference between reality and what we see on the Internet. Cottagecore and other aesthetics (e.g. Fairycore, Grandmacore, Light academia) Based on highly refined photos and intentional presentations of selected images to viewers. In many ways, it teeth In a fantasy world where viewers can enter, you can find relief from the struggles of life. Such escapism is not always wrong, but sometimes it can be misguided or unhealthy.

Does that mean that Cottagecore has no value in society? No, because it is at the root, its frills and fantasies are the innate human desire for beauty and peace that listens to Eden, everything we have lost for autumn. This longing is in all people, and continues to be promoted by today’s fast world, reinforced by the pandemic and consumed by deadlines and technology. We weren’t allowed to live behind the screen or to constantly strive for worry after the next task. Cottagecore recommends pause and notice Normal adorableness; Natural experience and carenot as a dominator, but as a steward. And to know that Our lives as unique people are important. Within the lace bow, you can find traces of longing waiting for a folktale-inspired costume and bouquet of wild flowers to be filled.

The day is upon us to live on a beautiful earth. There are no longer any streets stuck in trash, paved pastures, or tragic loss of habitat or species. Humans live in harmony with each other and with nature, much better than Eden, on the new heaven and on the new earth. God wipes tears out of our eyes, sorrow, breaking, loneliness no longer hurts our days (Revelation 21:3-4). What we thought was nothing more than a fantasy becomes reality.

But that doesn’t mean we have to retreat to the screen while we wait. Even if you look forward to the day, you can still bring fragments of hope and longing. Even after crossing the screen, I have already seen a glimpse of it. In the same town where roads were littered with garbage, I have seen a quaint ladybug welcome sign. I saw the house in the devastated section of the town proudly decorated with bursts of colour in the garden. There are many reasons why these areas are theirs, including political and social issues that need to be addressed. But those small examples of beauty have a place to ignore the evil of injustice around them by providing a healing sight of hope.

We can become part of that redeeming work when we work to make our spaces and our neighbors beautiful, and we strive to live more intentionally and slowly the value of all human life. But such work requires that our lives be more than the aesthetics of the Internet. What is needed is a remarkable approach to the goodness and loveliness of the Creator and the Savior. His plan of salvation was not a wishful thinking. Rather, he took on the flesh of man and entered our broken things to bring healing.

For me, this means refusing to retreat on the whims of photos and videos, as if there was no chance of adorable gender in my corner of the world. Because beauty already exists there, even in the messiness and ruins of urban life. I need to be willing to see my world teeth Not only that It may be. In other words, to make them longer for the beautiful embankments along Parkway Street, as well as to glorify my community and make them a reality by cleaning up trash along the parks and roads. To cultivate a space to show others that breaking doesn’t have the final word. Certainly, a better world will come, there is an eternal thing grown by the hands of a man who will forever carry the wounds that have bought us healing.

One day, maybe someone cleans up the white matte of garbage along the road and plant daisies or daily clusters. And, oh, how much beauty of the area will grow due to the change from collapse to new life.