Ya, ya, ya
I know you've all been waiting for me a) to write about it and b) to admit, so here it goes:
HIPSTERISM and all that is encompassed by said name:
Yes I dress like a hipster, yes I have many friends that can fall under that category, but what is crucial is that I explain a few things first.
First and foremost, even if you look in to urbandictionary.com and look up "Hipster" you will find almost 130 definitions of what that word means (streetwise). If you look it up on wikipedia.org you will find a few definitions, but the kicker is one will stand out first which many people do not take in to consideration:
"as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular modern jazz, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: manner of dress, slang terminology, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty, and relaxed sexual codes. Early hipsters were generally white youths adopting many of the ways of urban blacks of the time, but later hipsters often copied the early ones without knowing the origins of the culture."
Now what that means is that the modern "hipster" has done is copied that term and taken it on a shopping spree...most likely to AA, VV, or Urban Outfitters.
Back then defining a hipster involved one certain sub-culture so the term could be used derogatorily or complimentary. Now is far from that case because of this reason:
Hipsterism is now so diverse that pinning one sub-culture to it is nearly impossible. What started off initially (for the second time) was a small sub-culture in New York, that made moves to L.A., to Philly, to Chicago, to Vancouver, to Montreal, and finally Toronto, to name a few. The genre primarily consisted of post-80's Kraftwerk style techno and dressing like you were on SNL's Sprockets (as well as dancing and film taste). The genre was fairly pretentious with that kind of "you wouldn't know what I'm listening to" style attitude and wasn't all that fun anyways. Certain things started to grow within the culture like coke, guerilla and contemporary art forms, as well as odd record collections. There are plenty more things I can attribute to that genre, but what was stated will suffice, for now.
A funny thing happened when the term and the culture started growing, others were noticing and rather than forget their old habits and join the new, they integrated their old flames. This is what really spawned the outburst and sporadic movement of "Hipster" culture.
Anyone who was in to indie music, hip hop, rap, graffiti, art, clothing, film, some pop music, older music, older culture, almost anything really could share a part in this culture.
And of course what did that do to the ones that started it? Well they would start their own anti-hipster movement which in turn was even more Hipster than their spawn!
I read an article in Adbusters (ya, I know , shoot me) called "Hipster:The dead end of western civilization" which is a well written, well reasearched, almost insightful piece of writing except for one flaw: The guy who wrote it is a fucking anti-hipster super-hipster himself. He draws important points claiming that Hipsters are a culture destructive bunch who care for no one's but themselves which is sort of true. But if you read the article again, you notice that people and places he speaks of are more or less his own. The man, Doug Haddow, clearly knows the scene because it was once his and of course when it was discovered by those who weren't "invited" i.e. the new hipsters, he wasn't pleased because all of his old haunts became infested with these "low life scum." I implore you to please read the article yourselves to make your own because not only is the article pretentious, but the comments are even worse at the bottom. My favourite is still "Adbusters is the hipsters ground zero" which could be said for Vice, and for both is the absolute truth. This will be further recounted later.
Now, you ask, what is your problem with all of this kind sir?
My problem is that this massive melange of hatred, cynicism, irony, sarcasm, and downright stereotyping bullshit has done absolutely nothing to solve everyones fucking problem. So my answer is my problem is everyone elses problem with each other.
I will disregard the morons on the street who mistake me for an Emo kid because, come on let's face it, Emo kids deserve no sympathy be cause that's all they want. (Sidenote: if anyone would like to argue on this one, you've got shit on me cause I've dealt with way worse than you can imagine.)
However,(now being serious) being called a Hipster has now only become a derogatory comment and what's worse is the main perpetrators are the ones who started it all.
I've heard hipster scum, fake-hipster, hipster wanna-be, hipster fag, hipster whore, and the list goes on. These terms are mainly shelled out by the likes of people who fall in to any Hipster category. A good friend of mine, Mike, and I were at a show (mondo hipster central) and we were having a blast until this girl came up behind him and called him a fake-hipster wanna-be. Not to his face of course because hipsters have no place to say anything but behind your back or behind a computer screen. (I do understand that yes I am writing this on a computer but I will come clean and will say anything to ones face, in person, whenever need be, I just need the computer to collect thoughts and spare myself the hour it would take to recount this all to someone.) Anyways, Mike shrugged off this insult and we both turned around to see that the harlot who had deemed him "fake-hipster" was non-other than the queen of hipsters herself. I can't for the life of me remember her name, but go to Queen West any day of the week and I'm sure you'll find her snickering behind someone else's back or riding on a fixed gear Dutch free rider. Yes that was a potshot but only because I was so angry she would say this to a good friend of mine, behind is back.
And the problems don't even begin with complaining.
A much better, much more neutral, and much better written article called "The Hipster Must die" which includes other articles which actually go in depth to other problems, accounts some of the very things I talk about but with one crucial difference. Writer Christian Lorentzen makes an homage to our dear friend Jonathan Swift and makes a modest proposal on why and how the culture will end. Keep in mind though that the beast Lorentzen is dealing with is on a far larger scale than mine simply because he's writing for Time Out New York, so the hipster beasts he must deal with are far more vicious than mine. Lorentzen discusses, like me, the different kinds of Hipsters. He discusses the anti's, pro's, and the mid-section ones but he thinks their demise will come at the hands of each other, a Hipster war which will self implode leaving Value Village and Goodwill with more skinny jeans, leather jackets, and American Apparel hoodies then they can account for. This being said I think in that urban sprawl which is New York it could be possible that these people may decide on the self-destruct button for whatever reason, all be it coolness, pretension, or literally going out in fashion.
My proposal though is a lot more easy to succumb to: Acceptance.
It is starting to happen very slowly, but starting none the less. Other cultures are staring to accept who Hipsters(myself included)are and so are the Hipsters themselves. After almost a year of trying to convince my little sister, who for whatever reason was in such denial because she only knew Hipster as derogatory term finally admitted to me after much hounding "ok fine, whatever." I only hounded her because she would constantly scold me for going to electro shows and what not, so I thought, hey, why not blow the whistle on her.
Now before I continue, I must say this
I AM, IN NO WAYS, MAKING A DECLARATION FOR PEOPLE TO DANCE IN THE STREETS LIKE ROBOTS LISTENING TO JUSTICE SCREAMING "IT'S OK MOM, I'M A HIPSTER!"
If you think I intend on these thoughts, you are wrong Buster.
I mean acceptance from within the culture. Don't get huffy when someone shows up to your art gallery who doesn't work at an American Apparel. Be thankful that they accept your degree from OCAD as accountable, for the awful art which you are displaying and know that you're getting away with charging them!
This is only the beginning. I will continue my thoughts on my next post, for now though, read the articles and the critiques at the bottom.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html
You'll realize after reading these articles and their critiques how bad this problem is becoming.
Save yourself.
