About

Squeecore is a term popularized by the Rite Gud podcast used to critically describe what they see as the current dominant literary movement in sci-fi and fantasy (SF/F) writing, defined by its reliance on "epic" moments, snarky "epic bacon-style" humor, young adult-style plots even when written for adults, wish-fulfillment and "victory by proxy" and tired tropes about banding together to defeat an ultimate evil, as well as progressive political influences and influences from TV and movies rather than literature. It is defined by The Podhand's JR as a "gentrified version of SF/F." The term is often used to criticize the impact of progressive politics on SF/F, although some find this to be a mischaracterization of the movement, which is more worried about hindering the creative possibilities of SF/F and avoiding risks and new ideas in favor of profit over art. The term is based on the geek-culture term "squee," used to define the shriek of excitement a fan might make when they relate to the content they're watching.

Origin

The origins and exact definition of the movement are unclear. The earliest known mention of the term was posted to Twitter^[1] by @CorgiHell on August 28th, 2021, in response to a tweet suggesting the show Ted Lasso might make men "take therapy seriously." One user wrote, "Weren't we already compelled to take therapy seriously because of the Sopranos or whatever? I can't keep track," to which @corgihell responded, "The Sopranos doesn't depict therapy as a magical cure that turns you into a quippy squeecore sitcom guy. Major flaw of the show, IMO." On September 7th, @CorgiHell replied to a tweet and asked, "Is there a term, roughly equivalent to 'new wave' or 'cyberpunk,' describing the current dominant trend in SF/F? (Markers of the style: diversity assumed as baseline, clear influences from romance novels, genre fluidity)" suggesting "squeecore" (shown below).^[2] This definition is largely rooted in criticism of progressive politics.

The Rite Gud podcast first discussed squeecore in a November 11th, 2021, episode of the podcast, titled "Puppy Play."^[3] In the podcast, they talk about squeecore, saying:

"[…] something I’ve noticed reading a lot of published Sci-Fi fantasy stories is that they follow this particular template, which is a person of ex marginalized identity, is plagued by outsiders and also some kind of supernatural unpleasantness like there’s a monster or some kind of uncontrolled superpowers. It’s usually a metaphor for their marginalization in some way. And then something transformative happens. They gain confidence. They learn to harness this supernatural thing to use to their advantage, and then they defeat the oppressor and become basically a superpowered supernatural crusader for social justice. It really follows the template of a superhero origin story, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. It’s a very cathartic type of story, but the fact that it’s ubiquitous and that it’s very similar and that so many stories follow that particular pattern, it gets kind of same and kind of boring."

On January 13th, 2022, YouTuber KittysneezesCom, host of the writing podcast Rite Gud, posted an episode titled "A Guide to Squeecore" where she sits down with The Podhand's JR to define, discuss and criticize the movement (shown below).

In the podcast, JR defines the term in a way more separated from progressive politics as the foundational concept, saying:

Squee is a geek culture term for a sound or expression of excitement or enthusiasm. It's the opposite of 'feh' or 'meh' and very close kin to 'amazeballs' and 'epic sauce'. It represents a specific feeling that readers value; a tingle of reliability when someone does something 'cool' or 'epic' and snarky. The essence of squee is wish fulfilment; squeecore lives for the 'hell yeah' moment, the 'you go girl' moment, the gushy feeling of victory by proxy. It's aspirational, it's escapism, it's the dominant and I would even say a gentrified version of SF/F.

JR elaborates on the use of the word "gentrified," saying aspiring writers without the know-how or experience to write good sci-fi are a large reason for squeecore, as they see writers get rich writing sci-fi and fantasy and see it as an easy avenue to money, leading them to rehash tired tropes and styles that have previously worked for profit rather than create something original for the sake of art. Around the 00:28-minute mark in the podcast, the hosts talk about the political ideologies surrounding squeecore. JR describes the movement as "neoliberal" and often depicts "the corporation" as the villain.

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Responses

On January 15th, 2022, writer Simon McNeil posted an article to WordPress^[4] titled "Notes on Squeecore," where he talks about the podcast episode and elaborates on the movement. Wordpress^[5] user camestrosfelapton also posted a response titled "Is there a dominant mode of current science fiction?" where they criticize the idea, looking at past Hugo Award winners and finding they don't match the movement's definition and suggesting it's too intense to call squeecore the dominant movement in SF/F. On January 17th, WordPress^[6] user LongPaleRoad posted a response to the idea of squeecore, agreeing with the general ideas but finding fault with others, concluding the piece by writing:

I say a bad Whedon impression is merely a part of the problem of today’s entertainment sucking, not the main one. Gentrification and class warfare will wear many faces, even a Black one. And assuming one intends to be political about it, I think its limiting to just laser onto a 'cringe' writer having Faye Valentine yell, 'Welcome to the ouch, motherfuckers!' in the live-action Cowboy Beebop remake. Good taste will not save us, and its ok to admit that.

The movement also became the topic of debate on Twitter, with some seeing it as a bad misrepresentation of the diversity of modern SF/F writing and others adopting the term as a good definition of the progressive influence on the genre (examples shown below).^[7][8]

Commercial sci-fi writer John Scalzi has been accused of being a "squeecore" writer and responded to these accusations in a tweet^[9] on January 16th, refuting the idea (shown below).

Search Interest

External References