very funny when people describe naomi novik's scholomance as dark academia because yes of course it's a critique and subversion of dark academia as a trend in fiction & as an aesthetic about desiring certain forms of power and prestige. so yeah i guess it's dark academia in that it's participating in the genre, except for the fact that the novels consist of the protagonist hitting the genre with a steel chair until the genre gives up and admits that colonialism is bad maybe.
but also like yeah it is dark academia in the sense that the light conditions in the scholomance are fucking terrible. broken lights constantly. also everything is grimy. no one is showering properly and nobody has brushed their teeth with toothpaste in 4 years. dark academia in the sense that the characters are barely visible under a layer of dirt. just try turning THAT into a pinterest board
