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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
A Treaty for the Hipsters
The "hipster" is the dominant cultural force for people of a certain age in American cities, but for the first time that I can remember it's a label that no one wants to own.
Does anyone self-identify as a hipster?
I don't think so. It's a pejorative in just about every usage. It can be delivered in a teasing tone, from a friend that is joshing you, or it can be delivered as an epithet against the fools who stand in line for an hour to get into Smuggler's Cove for some claustrophobic tiki drinks.
Let's go to twitter, source of self-identity origin stories, and see that everyone is using the term with irony.
The problem, then, is that we're all being jerks when we call people "hipsters". No one likes this label being applied to them.
We all need to be much more specific when we want to ridicule the people who make us uncomfortable. If you need to and it is deserved, call someone a fucking foodie instead of a fucking hipster, for example.
Origin of Hipster-dom through time.
Let's start the hipster universe in 2005, for purposes of this treaty. And let's acknowledge that in certain cities and in certain populations, being "a hipster" is the dominant culture of people in their 20's and 30's. Williamsburg, I'm looking at you. Valencia Street, that's you. Russell Westbrook, please take it mainstream.
My friend Bennett (who denies being a hipster) points me to a clever Paste Magazine piece titled The Evolution of the Hipster, which is funny. But it doesn't track the late-20th century proto-hipsters. I think it probably goes something like this:
Hipsters 1.0 ===>> Hippies ===>> Preppies ===>> Grunge ===>>Hip Hop ===>> Hipsters ===>> ??
I want to say that all of the previous movements had large groups of people who wanted to be identified as practitioners of a movement, but Hipster-dom is the first one where no one wants to own it.
These movements have been driven by some yearning to change the world, reject a dominant force (war, rebellion or a salary job), so what are we yearning for in 2012?
We're All Yearning For Something Authentic.
Hence the dive bars, the tiki bars, the fetishization of food, the fixed gears, the new apps.
How do we break out of this cycle? Do we need to abandon irony? Technology?
Does anyone self-identify as a hipster?
I don't think so. It's a pejorative in just about every usage. It can be delivered in a teasing tone, from a friend that is joshing you, or it can be delivered as an epithet against the fools who stand in line for an hour to get into Smuggler's Cove for some claustrophobic tiki drinks.
Let's go to twitter, source of self-identity origin stories, and see that everyone is using the term with irony.
The problem, then, is that we're all being jerks when we call people "hipsters". No one likes this label being applied to them.
We all need to be much more specific when we want to ridicule the people who make us uncomfortable. If you need to and it is deserved, call someone a fucking foodie instead of a fucking hipster, for example.
Origin of Hipster-dom through time.
Let's start the hipster universe in 2005, for purposes of this treaty. And let's acknowledge that in certain cities and in certain populations, being "a hipster" is the dominant culture of people in their 20's and 30's. Williamsburg, I'm looking at you. Valencia Street, that's you. Russell Westbrook, please take it mainstream.
My friend Bennett (who denies being a hipster) points me to a clever Paste Magazine piece titled The Evolution of the Hipster, which is funny. But it doesn't track the late-20th century proto-hipsters. I think it probably goes something like this:
Hipsters 1.0 ===>> Hippies ===>> Preppies ===>> Grunge ===>>Hip Hop ===>> Hipsters ===>> ??
I want to say that all of the previous movements had large groups of people who wanted to be identified as practitioners of a movement, but Hipster-dom is the first one where no one wants to own it.
These movements have been driven by some yearning to change the world, reject a dominant force (war, rebellion or a salary job), so what are we yearning for in 2012?
We're All Yearning For Something Authentic.
Hence the dive bars, the tiki bars, the fetishization of food, the fixed gears, the new apps.
How do we break out of this cycle? Do we need to abandon irony? Technology?
Friday, July 13, 2012
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