Hopeless Core

Submission 3,255

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About

Hopeless Core or HopelessCore is a -core aesthetic in which viral videos of people making statements or doing something that can be perceived as hopeless or anti-motivational are edited in a mock-motivational style to highlight the hopelessness behind them. The trend, which is often set to the song "Dramamine" by Flawed Mangoes, is the opposite of Hopecore and was popularized on TikTok in early November 2024, spreading over the following weeks.

Origin

The earliest known video to use the "#hopelesscore" hashtag was posted by TikToker^[1] @hopelesscore1 on November 8th, 2024. The video, set to "Dramamine" by Flawed Mangoes,^[2] is an edit of a viral video^[3] known as "how you coming fast" in which a man changing a tire yells at a cyclist who crashed into him. The video gained over 72,000 views in a month.

Spread

HopelessCore edits became increasingly popularized on TikTok throughout November 2024, with several dedicated accounts, including @hopelesscore1, @hopelessness_core1 and @hopelessccore, publishing numerous videos with multiple millions of views.

On November 8th, 2024, TikToker^[4] @hopelesscore1 posted a hopeless core video based on the "what is your name" video^[5] that garnered over 6 million views in a month.

On November 15th, TikToker^[6] @_m.k.edits_ posted a hopeless core edit of a video in which a man attempts to say, "Don't judge a book by its cover," multiple times but keeps on failing to say the phrase correctly, garnering over 17.4 million views in two weeks.

On November 22nd, 2024, TikToker^[7] @hopelessccore posted an edit of a segment from comedian Bert Kreischer's Sundae Conversation interview^[8] in which he talks about why he will never stop drinking alcohol, garnering over 7.3 million views in a week.