What the blinkers is wrong with being a hipster?

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
There was an article someone linked to on here a couple of years ago which said that when the concept of the 'hipster' first really broke into public consciousness early in the last decade, it was a subculture defined mainly by an obsession with irony and pretense, but that this decade's hipsters are if anything the complete opposite: always striving earnestly towards living as 'authentically' as possible. Hence wearing vintage, eating organic/local, drinking craft, riding bikes, listening to vinyl, shopping in (or owning) little shops where all the products have the price printed on unbleached card labels using a typewriter...

But as people have mentioned here, rather than being a mutation of hipsters as they were a decade or so ago it could just be that the same word is being applied to a quite separate group of people, who'll presumably still be living that way when it's cool to eat McDonald's, wear Kappa and drive a scooter (or whatever it'll be next).
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Of course, there is the classic definition of "hipster" that was positive and it's been mentioned in this thread already, yet I was confronted already with a slightly negative connotation of "Hipster" resp. "Hipsterism" in my teens (I am in my mid30s now, so my teens meaning the early-to-mid90s) a Hipster was a person, mainly a guy, who was always into the latest fad, yet never "real" hardcore meaning he picked up trends/fads of former "underground" styles/music in it's first steps outta the incrowd/hardcore circles. So he would appear "up to date" "always in synch with the latest" - but only to people outside of music cirlces, as in just plane normal folks.

But one of the most defining factors of that definition of hipsterdom was he never had any loyalty towards the things he considered "cool" at the moment. When the next thing got "hip" he abandoned ship at once and moved on to the next "Big Thing in-the-making" Prime examples: Guys all of a sudden into Jungle/Drum n Bass around 1995/6. OR a more recent case: Kid606 and his hipster following.
The thing is, that sort of describes a lot of Dissensus as well, except for the fact that we can magically tell that they're just pretending to like stuff because it's cool, whereas we get excited by hyphy then trap then juke in quick succession because we properly appreciate them but aren't going to hang around when there's something EVEN MORE EXCITING coming along...
 

NATO

Well-known member
The thing is, that sort of describes a lot of Dissensus as well, except for the fact that we can magically tell that they're just pretending to like stuff because it's cool, whereas we get excited by hyphy then trap then juke in quick succession because we properly appreciate them but aren't going to hang around when there's something EVEN MORE EXCITING coming along...

:D

And Jerk, I liked that for at least 4 months.
 
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Leo

Well-known member
an actual course at tufts university
http://www.excollege.tufts.edu/coursesCurrent.asp

EXP-0005-F: Demystifying the Hipster
1.0 credit, Letter Grading
Tuesday, 6:00-8:30PM

The hipster is a devisive cultural figure that elicits both envy and outrage, and some argue that it has run its course—but what exactly is (or was) the hipster? Are hipsters part of a counter-culture, or are they just another marketing niche in the mainstream? How can we tell the difference?

In this course, students will interrogate contemporary writing—both academic and popular—that claims to define the hipster, examining these arguments alongside exemplary cultural texts that have warranted the hipster label. We will focus on film, fiction, fashion, and music (among other genres and media) produced in the last twenty years, connecting these contemporary examples to a longer history of the hipster that dates back to Norman Mailer's seminal 1957 essay, "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster." Over the course of the semester, students will develop their own canon of hipster art. Students will become critics and sociologists of today's hipster culture as they explore how hipster identity reflects larger cultural anxiety.

Jacqueline O'Dell has taught English 1 and English 2 at Tufts for the past four years. Her current work focuses on the relationship between critical and popular discourse surrounding what many have called the "post-postmodern" novel, particularly how it has both adapted to and resisted the emerging technologies of social media. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Tufts.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Weird how they spell "divisive" wrong in the course synopsis. It sort of makes you think that the people who are running the course are the sort of people who use words they can't spell and don't understand because they are stupid. And that makes you wonder if it's because the kind of person who offers a course studying hipsters is an idiot. Or maybe that's just me.
 

slowtrain

Well-known member
was it in this thread (i couldnt seem to find it...) that i read the definition of hipster as someone who appears to belong to some sort of 'countercultural' or 'reactionary' 'undercurrent' without actually bothering to look at how they are part of the 'mainstream' ?

like being concerned with veganism while neglecting to consider how they are indirectly participating in meat industry (using cigarette filters or something) for example.



sorry for all the quote marks.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I'm pretty sure the entire concept of healthiness featured in the excellent "opposite of goth" thread a few years back.
 

swears

preppy-kei
poxgR9Y.jpg
 

firefinga

Well-known member
The thing is, that sort of describes a lot of Dissensus as well, except for the fact that we can magically tell that they're just pretending to like stuff because it's cool, whereas we get excited by hyphy then trap then juke in quick succession because we properly appreciate them but aren't going to hang around when there's something EVEN MORE EXCITING coming along...

Hit the nail there on the head, it's just there isn't much MORE EXCITING coming along any more much...
 
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