Sunday, October 15, 2006
Hipsters or Whipsters?
Whoever came up with the word hipster should be shot. Those who could be considered hipsters would probably agree with that statement (except for the violent part), because that's part of what a hipster is.
Urban Dictionary gives a slew of definitions for hipster, including:
1. The modern Bohemians. A mid-twenties person who works at a low paying job, is interested in "Artsy things" Hipsters tend to swarm around the determined "Hipster" part of town, ex. Wicker Park in Chicago. Hipster Ladies should have short hair and wear thrift shop clothes and Male Hipsters should be anemically skinny to let people know that they are poor and cant afford enough food.
2. Throngs upon throngs of urban centric teengers and twenty-somethings who congregate in the "hip" neighborhoods of a town and all dress disturbing alike. They try to one step ahead of trends in clothes and music, seeking out vintage fashion and independant bands. Their shortcomings include: a) most-likely an upper/middle class upbringing, b) general snobbery (or social-ineptitude mistaken for it) towards not only those not "with it" but also an unfamiliar hipster, c) a disposition of only liking things not totally excepted by the mainstream, d) alcoholism, and e) bad haircuts.
3. Today it means what poseur meant in the 70s/80s - an insult for pseudo intellectual young people who claim to be into obscure pop culture of the past and are into co-opting cool stuff, and adopt white trash chic like trucker hats or Pabst Blue Ribbon, While being a 21st century hipster is preferable to being a gangsta, wigger, or yuppie, it's still nothing to be proud of today.
I like the third one. In the downtown mess of NYU student life (and those too old to be going to NYU but can actually afford to live down there), "hipster" is the dominant culture. The New York breed of hipster, however, many of whom do live in "hipster mecca" Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is not your typical slouchy, vintage slob, but a LV carrying, chain smoking, random-band-loving skinny kid who only hangs around with others that know their pop culture world and think everyone else should.
Unfortunately, for the non-hipster me, the journalism department is overrun with these types. Even some of our professors are these types. It is like looking at a hipster wall of blank stares when someone asks "Who's Ryan Adams?" For the record, I still have no idea, but from what I hear he's a drugged out guy who makes no sense in his music, so why should I even care, and why should you expect me to care? I don't care that you like him, just don't expect me to swoon.
It's journalists everywhere (see previous post on media sheep) who have caught the hipster bug, more in idea than in lifestyle. But it's worse when applied to hipster fare, because it catches like kindling on their stick-skinny bones. Cutesy boutiques, "alternative" bands, etc. Whatever happened to real alternative? Kurt Cobain was an alternative who was adopted by mainstream culture but never assimilated. Who is that now? High profile hipsters, like Williamsburg residents Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, have made the "subculture" accessible and identifiable to people all over the world. No need to actually listen to any of the music, or visit any of the haunts - just flip through People magazine every week and you will get the latest hipster styles. Dangle a kitcshy accessory in front of a hipster, and you can be certain half the NYU student body will have it in a week (and all of the boutiques in Williamsburg).
It is my personal opinion that hipsters are not bad in general, but the hipster mentality can be bad when applied to the high-school-like settings such as college campuses and homogenous areas of New York. There are plenty of hipsters that you can find hanging out at bars after their day jobs as successful creative or business types, and they don't think of themselves as hipsters. They are the true hipsters. The beatniks, bohemians and beer-chuggers were not meant to be used as another earmark to judge others against, but in the vein of Kerouac and Ginsberg, were an all-inclusive, cares-to-the-wind group of vagrants.
But for now, I'm still captive to the hipster grips of my peers and professors. To all my California friends, I can't wait to get back.
Urban Dictionary gives a slew of definitions for hipster, including:
1. The modern Bohemians. A mid-twenties person who works at a low paying job, is interested in "Artsy things" Hipsters tend to swarm around the determined "Hipster" part of town, ex. Wicker Park in Chicago. Hipster Ladies should have short hair and wear thrift shop clothes and Male Hipsters should be anemically skinny to let people know that they are poor and cant afford enough food.
2. Throngs upon throngs of urban centric teengers and twenty-somethings who congregate in the "hip" neighborhoods of a town and all dress disturbing alike. They try to one step ahead of trends in clothes and music, seeking out vintage fashion and independant bands. Their shortcomings include: a) most-likely an upper/middle class upbringing, b) general snobbery (or social-ineptitude mistaken for it) towards not only those not "with it" but also an unfamiliar hipster, c) a disposition of only liking things not totally excepted by the mainstream, d) alcoholism, and e) bad haircuts.
3. Today it means what poseur meant in the 70s/80s - an insult for pseudo intellectual young people who claim to be into obscure pop culture of the past and are into co-opting cool stuff, and adopt white trash chic like trucker hats or Pabst Blue Ribbon, While being a 21st century hipster is preferable to being a gangsta, wigger, or yuppie, it's still nothing to be proud of today.
I like the third one. In the downtown mess of NYU student life (and those too old to be going to NYU but can actually afford to live down there), "hipster" is the dominant culture. The New York breed of hipster, however, many of whom do live in "hipster mecca" Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is not your typical slouchy, vintage slob, but a LV carrying, chain smoking, random-band-loving skinny kid who only hangs around with others that know their pop culture world and think everyone else should.
Unfortunately, for the non-hipster me, the journalism department is overrun with these types. Even some of our professors are these types. It is like looking at a hipster wall of blank stares when someone asks "Who's Ryan Adams?" For the record, I still have no idea, but from what I hear he's a drugged out guy who makes no sense in his music, so why should I even care, and why should you expect me to care? I don't care that you like him, just don't expect me to swoon.
It's journalists everywhere (see previous post on media sheep) who have caught the hipster bug, more in idea than in lifestyle. But it's worse when applied to hipster fare, because it catches like kindling on their stick-skinny bones. Cutesy boutiques, "alternative" bands, etc. Whatever happened to real alternative? Kurt Cobain was an alternative who was adopted by mainstream culture but never assimilated. Who is that now? High profile hipsters, like Williamsburg residents Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, have made the "subculture" accessible and identifiable to people all over the world. No need to actually listen to any of the music, or visit any of the haunts - just flip through People magazine every week and you will get the latest hipster styles. Dangle a kitcshy accessory in front of a hipster, and you can be certain half the NYU student body will have it in a week (and all of the boutiques in Williamsburg).
It is my personal opinion that hipsters are not bad in general, but the hipster mentality can be bad when applied to the high-school-like settings such as college campuses and homogenous areas of New York. There are plenty of hipsters that you can find hanging out at bars after their day jobs as successful creative or business types, and they don't think of themselves as hipsters. They are the true hipsters. The beatniks, bohemians and beer-chuggers were not meant to be used as another earmark to judge others against, but in the vein of Kerouac and Ginsberg, were an all-inclusive, cares-to-the-wind group of vagrants.
But for now, I'm still captive to the hipster grips of my peers and professors. To all my California friends, I can't wait to get back.
# posted by ange : 11:24 AM
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