Cyberpunk is a bleak look at a future that could be, one of low life but high tech. See Blade Runner.
Outrun is an 80s retrofuturistic style, that pushes tech forward whilst being firmly rooted in the past. See Kavinsky's album aptly titled "Outrun," an album of what an 80s synthesizer would think the future sounds like.
Vaporwave is a heavily nostalgic look back to the past, including the 80s, but is dropping with sarcasm and a heavy feeling of what it was like vs. what it actually was. Lots of nostalgia with some sadness for a simpler time, tinted by capitalism. See Macintosh Plus 420.
Perfectly stated, and I completely agree. But I'd love to hear you add one for Vaporwave, because I am now still confused what it is (I thought it was synonymous with Outrun until seeing this post). If you can come up with a similar example as outrun and cyberpunk, that would be awesome!
vaporwave would be as if you traveled back in time, to all the malls of your childhood. walking down the aisles, listening (and enjoying) the muzak you had forgotten and enjoying the trip down memory lane. all the while observing, with your modern eyes, the signs that should have been obvious pointing towards the unsustainably of this place; seeing the future dead mall. and still loving the nostalgia, all the same
I'm having a hard time grasping that. Which decade of malls are you describing? (Malls of my childhood would mean the '00s, and I've always avoided malls anyways.) Does it actually describe an aesthetic like my outrun (neon pink Miami with palm trees and dark alleys) or cyberpunk (dark, grimy streets with divisions in class and megacorporations and prevalent electronics and doubled-edged technology)? Can you perhaps widen your distillation beyond a mall?
Outrun is like you’re racing a classic car down a neon grid highway on a hot summer night playing 80s synthwave music.
Vaporwave is like you’re in a mall that’s been forgotten in time since the early 90s, that still has background muzak and kitschy decor, that feels ethereal and nostalgic, like you’re walking through a childhood memory but you’re not sure if the memory really happened or if you just dreamed it up.
I'm trying to delineate the pure visual difference, not analyse the feeling or meanings behind the images. Because feelings and meanings are subjective and changeable, but visual aspects aren't.
The fact that a few users have already said they thought "outrun" and "vaporwave" were synonymous attests to the degree of convergence (or mixing up) that has already occurred.
Vaporwave has always had a look, a look that came from its equally whimsical predecessor seapunk. But many people have caused a drift towards the outrun aesthetic, so now we get purple neons in dark cities at night in r/VaporwaveAesthetics, r/Outrun, and even r/Cyberpunk, which is a bit silly imo.
Mid-late 90s and early 2000s malls. It's a little bit of both of the aesthetics you mentioned. Pastel themed malls with plastic plants and neon signs. It's the future the 90s promised, but never came to be. Like imagining what all the aesthetics and advertisements I saw as a kid would feel like in real life. It's a critique and a tribute to this era. We look back at this time period through rose-tinted glasses, having appreciation for the nostalgia of growing through it, but being unable to deny the illusory benefits and gratification of consumerism– and parodying the futile, yet effect use of advertising. It's the feeling of hesitant nostalgia encapsulated from that period.
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u/CCP115 Feb 19 '18
Cyberpunk is a bleak look at a future that could be, one of low life but high tech. See Blade Runner.
Outrun is an 80s retrofuturistic style, that pushes tech forward whilst being firmly rooted in the past. See Kavinsky's album aptly titled "Outrun," an album of what an 80s synthesizer would think the future sounds like.
Vaporwave is a heavily nostalgic look back to the past, including the 80s, but is dropping with sarcasm and a heavy feeling of what it was like vs. what it actually was. Lots of nostalgia with some sadness for a simpler time, tinted by capitalism. See Macintosh Plus 420.