# mfers: mourning culture, the new tribe of web 3.0 in the post-subculture

**Published by:** [vis](https://paragraph.com/@alonson/)
**Published on:** 2023-03-21
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@alonson/mfers-mourning-culture-the-new-tribe-of-web-3-0-in-the-post-subculture

## Content

![Created by @zzhenry8 ](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/TLCwgIwBFxrtZ4kf5GrfL.png?height=500&width=1500) In "Azuki: Japanese Animation and Web 3.0 Post-National Identity", I explain the reasons why the decentralized concept of Web 3.0 echoes the virtual world in Japanese science fiction animation from the perspective of Azuki as a continuation of Japanese animation, as well as people's idealized "post-national identity" in a global perspective. In this complex global cultural context, however, the idea of "post-national identity" is not only a way of thinking, but also a way of thinking. However, in this complex global cultural perspective, this mixed style elements and its diversified models construct a style genre with secondary spirit, which does not have a relatively dominant influence. It seems that the general public is resonating with a state of mind that is more representative of people's current state of mind. If one were to use a word to describe the zeitgeist of the moment, the wording might vary from place to place, but their kernel of value has a universal quality. In June 2021, a huge social movement - "lie flat" - was launched in mainland China. "Lying flat" is a "negative" rebellion movement that reflects young people's attitudes toward the inevitable 996 work system, the inward-looking behavior and the failure of labor laws in the domestic environment. Cassady Rosenblum, a reporter for the New York Times, pointed out that not only does the phenomenon of "laying flat" exist in China, but the sanctity of work has long been demonized in Western countries like the United States. The model of the NFT PFP project mfers and its highly spontaneous community is a response to the current global collective "mourning" phenomenon. The idea of the NFT PFP project mfers and its highly spontaneous community is an echo of the current global collective trend of "mourning culture". In this article, we will explore the mfers from two perspectives: mourning culture and the new tribes in post-subculture, which have triggered a wave of Web 3.0 sociocultural trends in the postmodern context. Note: I believe that mourning culture under post-subculture can be summarized as a branch of the whole postmodernist culture; the core of mourning culture is to resist macro narratives, present nihilism, fragmentation and so on. This is the same as the essence of postmodernist values. Of course, the complexity of postmodernism is worth discussing. Due to my limited knowledge and space, we will mainly analyze the NFT PFP project, so I hope you can forgive me for not being able to give you a deep study in the perspective of postmodernist culture. Under the premise of reasonable use of academic language, the term "postmodernism" used in this article is equivalent to the meaning of mourning culture for the sake of non-academic readers. In an interview with Rolling Stone's Samantha Hiossong, BAYC's chief designer Seneca explained that Bored Ape's In her article "what are mfers", Sartoshi, the designer of mfers, also said that he had an emotional resonance with the image of the matchmaker he drew. The Tinder man, smoking a cigarette and lazily splayed out on a chair with a keyboard, made him realize that this image is his own prototype in web 3.0. Both artists subconsciously reflected their own image in society on the characters they designed, and these unglamorized and original NFT characters touched people and made them empathize with the image. Professor Su Hongyuan from South China University of Technology stated in his article "The social representation of online "funeral culture" and its reflection in the post-subculture perspective": "Funeral culture mainly refers to the post-80s and post-90s group's powerlessness in the face of social class solidification, life difficulties and work pressure, and they fall into negative, confused and even despair. Therefore, they use words, pictures, images and other symbolic forms to make fun and self-deprecation of their numb and decadent lifestyles." The symbolic meaning of these NFT characters and their extreme popularity in the NFT market reflect the current real social situation, the negative and disenchanted and escapist mentality of people.BAYC #4671We seem to have seen in Bored Ape #4671 an expression of a passive, misanthropic and rich ape who cannot feel a trace of happiness even when attending a party that should be lively. The dark circles under the eyes and the deep depression of the eyes show the psychological depth of the character, as Professor Su Hongyuan said, people in a culture of mourning have "numbed themselves". The eye-catching party hat contrasts strongly with the depressed expression, putting the bored ape #4671 in a more absurd situation. ta is like entering a scene from hell in "The Forbidden" (a play by philosopher Sartre), and entering a party where people are staring. And Gargamel, one of the co-founders of BAYC, points out the existential boredom embedded in the emotions triggered by the bored ape. ![mfer #1571 ](https://images.mirror-media.xyz/publication-images/AVsOJtdicIvw0QlZI5daw.png?height=846&width=844) The mfers series, the most minimalist and least "creative" of the NFT PFPs, seemed like it should have been eliminated by the beautifully designed and highly visible projects. Surprisingly, the response to its style has been to disgrace most quality projects. Unlike BAYC's path to success, mfers' minimalist style became its killer; not only was this related to the postmodernist posture of attacking and rejecting refined art and elitism, but its crude drawing style (lacking in realistic verisimilitude) made people more empathetic to the physical actions it depicted. "As a "micro-image" in the era of online communication, the mourning emoji has become a visual symbol of emotional release favored by contemporary youth for its intuitive image and its characteristic of carrying self-irony and decadence." It is easy to see that mfers' character models are comparable to emojis in terms of their visual impact and communication, and they can directly resonate with people emotionally. From this perspective, we conclude that mefers not only have the very current negative attitude of mourning memes (such as Pepe's sad frog), but also its NFT private property setting, making them as sought after as Pepe cards were in the early days. For this reason, people who own mfer's unique NFTs have the same right to express their attitudes in Web 3.0. Members of the mfers community did not resent, but accepted with a sense of self-irony, this abstract image that reflected their real lives. The series of behaviors such as sprawling on a chair, manipulating a computer, and even leisurely smoking a cigarette vividly portrayed the life of the crypto community in the Web 3.0 world (e.g., "crypto native" designer Sartoshi's identification with mfers), and the mfer community members who spent their time in the millennial web surfing culture were also amused. Chinese community members who spent their lives in the millennial web surfing culture are also amused by their nostalgia (as shown in the figure below); this shows that the infectious demeanor of mfers' characters is a global commonality that transcends time and space. The success of BAYC and mfers is based on the construction of a consensus mechanism based on the current public psychology; this consensus mechanism is born from the cultural homogenization of the global zeitgeist, the culture of mourning (postmodernism culture). Only through the perfect integration of cultural consensus and community can the project maximize its "mourning" characteristics to expand the project's radiation range in web 3.0. But this perfect fusion is only reflected in its successor, mfers. On the BAYC side, the new NFT projects (such as Mutant Ape's now adopted body horror element) have not only departed from Seneca's original aesthetic and philosophical philosophy, but their high price tag is no longer "representative" of the general public. (And Seneca himself pointed out that the bored ape's sense of existential crisis was triggered by having all the money and time, not the more popular "mourning" of mfers.) If the culture of mourning in the context of Web 3.0 has social class expressions, mfers represent the "proletariat" in postmodernism, while BAYC is more like the elites in the context of modernism. The spirit of anti-elite has been injected into the blood of every mfer. In traditional subcultures, people can only use collective symbols in physical spaces to express tribal styles, such as the visually conflicting hairstyles of the killjoys. As space becomes virtual, communities in post-subcultures are more focused on building a field of shared emotional experience for the group. As a Web 3.0 post-subculture community, the necessary environment for the success of mfers also lies in the idea of the decentralized framework of the Web presented by Web 3.0, and the revolution of the social properties of the "virtual" concept by Web 3.0 and the metaverse, which also endorses NFT PFP. Sartoshi claims that in the world of mfers envisioned by TA, we are all mfers. (The full name of mfers is "motherfuckers", which is better understood in the Chinese context as "小逼崽子". The French scholar Michel Maffesoli points out that "the new clan in the post-subcultural period does not have the rigidity of the various organizational forms of traditional societies, but points more to a certain atmosphere or state of mind, which can bring a certain sense of belonging to the clan members and is an emotional bond between subcultural groups. " As a new tribe of post-subculture, mfers convey the message of "we are all little pussies", which has always been a white slogan in line with the decadent and self-deprecating spirit of funeral culture, and the decentralized web3.0 environment also helps them resist the oppression from the centralized web2.0 and the real society. In today's post-capitalist era, everyone feels more or less alienated in social practices, and the loneliness and emptiness caused by this state of alienation cannot be dissolved in real life, not to mention the cruel, soul-centered imprisonment of people under the entire social discipline. This beautiful anti-centered concept not only helped the members of the new tribe to shed their dual identities as "losers" and "prisoners," but this "spiritual home" transformed mfers into This "spiritual home" turned mfers into a new community with spontaneity and internal motivation. Unlike the NFT PFP program, which requires outreach, mfers' community members are more willing to uphold the philosophy and spirit of the community. The more sincere attitude and beliefs, as well as the non- profit-driven mentality, have made mfers a unique entity in the current NFT PFP program.

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