For those who are not aware of it, Vice published a curious documentary at the beginning of October that collected hundreds of hilarious likes and comments about the various social media entitled "Burning Man Made Made Me Identify as a Unicorn and Start a Sex Cult". The doc was actually filmed two years ago, but the fashion of unicorns and movement behind this symbol seems more alive today than ever. But who are the devils of Unicorns? What is the phenomenon? Can a subculture be defined?
The Unicorn: history of this symbol
The fashion of unicorns is certainly not new. Those who lived their childhood in the eighties will certainly remember the My Little Pony of Hasbro, those pop toys all to comb and collect, or the myelos of "Vola mio mini Pony" sung by the legendary Cristina D' Avena national. Yet to get to the present day we need to make a much more backward leap, because the first stories about this creature and its meanings date back to time for all of us immemorial, in the history B. C. In fact, we began to write unicorns already in ancient Greece when it was believed that they really existed. Even though they were not found in nature, in the Middle Ages the white mantle was associated with purity, thus becoming a symbol of Mary's virginity. Then the long horn wrapped on the forehead made itself magical and able to neutralize the poisons and purify everything at its touch. In the Renaissance, the horn of supernatural powers was transformed into an aphrodisiac, a phallic premonitory symbol of prosperity in married life. Afterwards the unicorn lost its most erotic character, entering the children's bedrooms with the role of protagonist in fables from fantastic worlds full of colorful rainbows. So, to make it short, or for the American expression "unicorns and rainbows" which means "everything goes well, everything is fantastic", either for the magic of this animal, male or female, the unicorn has started to be associated with the rainbow flag of the LGBT community, as a spokesman of slogans aimed at overcoming the concept of gender during gay pride.
The birth of Unicornia
The Unicorn Frappuccino by Starbucks
According to Google's statistics, from 2012 onwards the word "unicorn" has had an incredible surge on all search engines. The need for escape, the desire to return to carefree children and the sharing on social partners have certainly contributed to create this storm made up of puppets, tricks, accessories, multicoloured cappuccinos as famous as the Unicorn Frappuccino Starbucks and beyond. In 2013, in fact, a boy named Shaft Uddin, a former alcoholic but still drug addicted, felt he woke up at the Burning Man, the epic festival in the middle of the Black Rock desert in Nevada State. Shaft basically understood that he had to change his way of life once and for all and therefore with his other unicornia companions he founded the fabulous world of "Unicornia". Still existing, this hedonistic and polyamoristic movement is based on 10 commandments that invite to escape from the monotony of everyday life and solitude, to freedom of expression, to love a little hippie, to the #spreadthesparkle and to the positivity to be infused in the surrounding world. Glitter, colorful dresses, glittering horns and holographic horns are some of the must-have of this group of young people in search of parties and people to infect with their cheerfulness. However, a question arises spontaneously. Among the topics used by Vice to express the subject of the documentary, the word subculture is used. But can we really consider that?
A real subculture?
The family of the Unicorns, formed by thoroughbred, glamourcorns, tantracorns and those who have more of them, at a certain point seem to have clashed with the harsh reality, so much so that even the preachers of polyamore, like Shaft himself, have had to overcome the sufferings inflicted by the love disappointments. The unicorn Shaft then in recent years has also become "Self-Love Coach, Tantric Practitioner and Tantric Sex Coach" but in spite of everything, the movement has remained alive. Yet, a subculture is, by definition, a group that wants to distinguish itself from the dominant society, with distinctive features that want to subvert social and legal norms, as well as the fashions and meanings assigned by mainstream culture. And then, if a group of performers, dancers and entertainers dressed in unicorns charge to animate evenings, parties and festivals by charging the London clubs with energy and brilliance, the conclusion is that it is not really a countercultural lifestyle. In addition, if in the history of all subcultures it was the fashions that decreed their end with the reabsorption of symbols and distinctive features, it comes by itself that this time they themselves will abandon it to follow the trends: soon they will take off the horn and we will see them dress up a mermaid tail.