Alright. Here it is. This paper kind of annoys me now because the things I used as examples are completely ouf ot date. I guess that's alright...but just realize it was written almost a year ago. Whatever... Don't make fun of me. And if you're in this, sorry, I needed examples haha. Thanks for putting up with me. I based my profile on consumating on this when I first made it to see what would happen, and since then haven't deleted the more sarcastic tags. Don't hate me please. :)
lovealison
The Hipster Handbook defines a hipster very basically as someone whose “tastes, social attitudes, and opinions are deemed cool by the cool.” In more complicated terms, hipsters are a part of a subculture that is opposed to everything mainstream and is always looking for the newest thing that will make them stand apart from everyone else. People who are trendsetters in fashion and music are also sometimes referred to as hipsters, although his is different from the subculture of hipsters because hipster fashion won’t be seen in the mainstream for quite some time. Once that happens hipsters will no longer accept the fashion. An important aspect of modern hipster culture is that they believe that their opinions and style are better than everyone else’s.
The word “hip,” originally “hep,” was first used in the 1940s and 50s to describe jazz performers and enthusiasts. Later hipster came to mean a white person who listened to traditionally black music, and participated in the Bohemian lifestyle. This included people who were trying to live an unconventional life, and didn’t conform to formal social habits. Many members of the beat generation considered themselves hipsters. The stereotype of an original hipster was a person who wore mostly black clothes, a beret and sunglasses at all hours of the day and night, smoked mentholated Kool cigarettes, and often went out to jazz or poetry clubs. Famous beat generation hipsters are Jack Kerouac, a writer who influenced many members of his generation and has been called the king of the beatniks, Steve Allen, Gene Kelly, Lenny Bruce, Allen Ginsberg, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., Miles Davis, and even Frank Sinatra.
The language of the original hipsters came from the jazz and black culture of the time. The word “cool” was used frequently and in many different ways. “It’s cool” could mean “It’s all right,” but “be cool,” meant, “be careful.” “Cool it,” meant, “stop it,” and “cool yourself,” meant, “relax.” Many other words that hipsters used could confuse non-hipsters. According to the Hip Manual, “‘Bad’ can mean ‘good,’ ‘straight’ can mean ‘twisted,’ etc. Depending on the context, the word ‘freak’ may mean anything from ‘dangerous sex pervert’ to ‘someone who likes ice cream.’ ‘The Man’ can mean either the police or the narcotics salesman.” Often beatniks and hipsters used words or names in place of other words. “Cat” was used to mean any person. Someone who was a hepcat was someone who knew what was going on. Other names like Jim or Jackson were used in place of a person’s real name, as in “come on Jim,” or “that’s cool Jackson.” The word hippie was a term derived by hipsters to describe someone who wasn’t hip enough to be a hipster. As hipsters, beatniks, and the jazz culture in general became less main-stream so did their language. Some African-American communities and jazz aficionados still use some of the language. The word “cool” has permeated modern language so much that it can mean even more things than it did in the 40s and 50s.
Hipsters today use some of the language of their predecessors, but generally only in an ironic way. Some of the contributors to Wikipedia and The Urban Dictionary see the current hipsters as rebelling against former generations, although many also see it as a pseudo rebellion. The retro fashions hipsters wear often depict things that previous hipsters, who were part of a counter culture, would hate. Modern hipsters often wear clothing that original hipsters would think was kitschy. Vintage product placements, such as a shirt advertising an old mom-and-pop hardware store, or even a vintage (real or fake) John Deer or Coke shirt, are also popular among modern hipsters. Someone who wore a shirt with an ad on it would not be cool to the original hipsters. Many of the things modern hipsters wear are considered uncool today as well, although they are seen as acceptable by other hipsters because they are worn in an ironic, I-know-this-isn’t-cool, way. As long as the hipster knows he or she is wearing something generally not considered cool by mainstream fashion, and they wear it because of that reason, they are all right.
Modern hipsters don’t like to be involved in popular culture. They listen to independent music, watch independent movies (preferably at independent movie theaters), and frequent independent book and coffee stores. When hipsters consume products that are sold, or even better, made, independently they can feel like it was made especially for them. An independent product is generally made in smaller amounts than products made by conglomerates. This means that it is less mainstream, and therefore better for hipsters. Posters on Wikipedia have labeled Janeane Garafalo, Spike Jones, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Christina Ricci, Beck, Ben Folds, and Eilliot Smith, as modern hipsters. Taranino, Kevin Smith, and Jones are all independent movie directors, Garafalo and Ricci are often in indie films, and Beck, Folds, and Elliot Smith are musicians who are either independent or not completely mainstream. Although these people are famous, and therefore have more money that normal hipsters, the things they do represent the hipster lifestyle.
Hipsters often claim to have hobbies and enjoy things that most people haven’t heard of or aren’t familiar with. Ines Cobeljec, a freshman at New College Florida, says that she is interested in, “Miyazaki, Russian literature, absinthe, and socialism.” When she says, “Miyazaki,” she means Japanese animation director Hayao Miazaki. Russian literature, although not unknown, is not generally taught in US schools. Absinthe is a liqueur that is banned in many places because of its toxicity and hallucinogenic affects. Cobeljec has listed things that are not widely known, or popular, and definitely not mainstream. Doing something completely different from the expected is also a good thing for hipsters. University of Montana Freshman Margarite Jordy has a piercing on the back of her neck. “I am in love with my nape piercing,” she says. “I don't see why people don't think twice about dangling colorful beads through holes in the sensitive flesh of their ears, but do a double take when they see that I have a piercing in the back of my neck. I guarantee my nape hurt less than your ears, and looks better too.” This quote illustrates that Jordy likes her piercing partly because it is different from anything anyone else has. It is also obvious that she believes it is better than ear piercing because she perceives pierced ears to be mainstream. Jordy also talked about her music taste. She likes a lot of independent and less popular bands, but she says that people who like the same music as her do not impress her.
The things that hipsters like – the things they wear, music they listen to, movies they watch, even the food they eat – are done in order to feel better than other people. Better could mean more sophisticated, more modern, or on a higher social level. This kind of thing is especially true with music. Knowing bands before they are popular or even widely known is an important aspect of any hipster’s life. If a band that hipsters tend to like becomes popular and accepted by the mainstream, hipsters will often say that the band’s quality of music goes down. Usually they actually believe this, but some of the time they are trying to be contrary and, once again, not be mainstream. A comic on toothpastefordinner.com, a website where the artist, Drew, posts a new drawing every day, depicts a man who is hunting for hipsters using their mating call, “Their first album was better… their first album was better.” Often hipsters will berate new fans of once hipster-only bands, accusing them of just liking the band because it is now popular to do so.
Fashion is very important to hipsters. What someone is wearing will tell him or her whether someone is like them. Hipster fashion is perhaps the fastest changing fashion. Even celebrity and designer fashion follows what hipsters wear. Designers often look at what younger, innovative kids are wearing to come up with their new designs. Ashton Kutcher started wearing trucker hats long after they were popular in hipster culture. Hipsters are usually the first group of people to wear something that becomes popular. Many times they will introduce something that was popular in decades past, an example of this is the brightly colored 1970s era ski vests that were popular with hipsters few months ago but are now more mainstream. Other examples of vintage and retro clothes or looks are shoes like old school Pumas, Vans, and Chuck Tailors, circa 1968 Mick Jaggar haircuts, mustaches, vintage high school t-shits from rural towns, cabbie hats, and horned rimmed or Buddy Holly/Elvis Costello style glasses.
Once hipsters start wearing things, designers and the mainstream starts to notice that the so-called cool people are wearing them and the looks start to catch on. Once something becomes mainstream hipsters will no longer wear it. A great example of this is the trucker style hats that lost popularity only a few months ago. First the only people who would wear them were hipsters. A trucker hat was especially fashionable if it had a witty message or a vintage company logo on it. Eventually more people started wearing the hats and one could see them anywhere. By this time the hipsters had moved on.
Other looks have also been traditionally popular with hipsters. If a hipster is going to carry a bag it will almost always be a messenger style shoulder bag. Often hipster accessories will have skulls or stars on them. Although tattoos have come to be nearly mainstream, many hipsters still have them. Popular choices would be tribal style tattoos or stars. T-shirts with ironic messages or pictures on them are always popular with hipsters. A popular retailer of these types of shirts is bustedtees.com. Example of shirts they sell are one that says “YOUR RETARDED,” and another that says, “What Would Ashton Do?” with a picture of a trucker hat. If a hipster had to take a gym class, he or she would most likely wear 1970s style short shorts and a headband. Basically the goal of a hipster is to have a style with vintage, outlandish kitsch, while wearing it in a self-consciously ironic way. As one person pointedly said on The Urban Dictionary, a hipster is “someone who spends a lot of money to dress like they don’t have any.”
It would be very difficult to get a true hipster to admit to being one. An essential part of hipster culture is not belonging to any groups. Since being in a group would be admitting that they were like other people it would be against everything that hipsters stand for. Since hipsters do not identify themselves as a group they don’t have to deal with this irony. This non-self identification also makes them an abnormal kind of cultural group. This also makes it difficult to find a place where hipsters are found in large numbers.
A good place to find true hipsters is an independent café. Rian Snider, a twenty-year-old Portland State University student feels most hipsteresque, “sipping tea in coffee shops,” he says, “or is that more bourgeois intellectual?” Drinking coffee or tea in these kinds of shops is a pastime for many hipsters. There they can get together and chat about artsy things or which bands have sold out to record companies recently.
Hipsters also come together in the neighborhoods where they live. Generally these are certain areas of cities. Most hipsters don’t have a lot of money, and rely on their parents for it. Therefore they live in cheaper parts of town. These are generally unfashionable places to live when the hipsters start to move in. Once a place becomes known for its hipness more people, who want to be a part of that hipness, move in. Eventually the place becomes less and less hip, and more just a popular place to live, and therefore ruined for the hipsters. This is when wealthier middle-aged people start to move in. They renovate the neighborhood so it conforms to middle class tastes. Some hipster districts are North, North East (where Snider is proud to call home), and Northwest Portland, Williamsburg, the Lower East Side, and the East Villige in New York, East Nashville, Austen, Texas, and Olympia, Washington.
One of the most important things about hipsters is that the biggest difference between them and most other people is that they take themselves very seriously. Most non-hipsters can at least laugh at themselves occasionally. Many people listen to independent music. Many people would prefer independent coffee stores instead of Starbucks. It is common for people to enjoy self-deprecating and ironic humor. Vintage clothes, and even kitschy and outrageous clothes are worn by all kinds of people. Most people are able to see the humor and sometimes ridiculousness of the things they do. Hipsters on the other hand are not willing to laugh at themselves. They try to be better than the mainstream. The newer and less known something us, the easier it is for a hipster to like. They take the object and raise it up into something superior to anything anyone else has. In doing this they help change our entire society’s tastes and distastes. In their attempt to be superior though, hipsters may be showing that they are in fact the most insecure type of person. Their quest to be cool is one to be cool in the eyes of other people. This lets their secret out and shows that they are trying to be cool because they don’t believe that they are naturally interesting.
Sources
Hip Manual, The. 1997- 2001. The Beat Page. 20 November 2005.
Jordy, Margarite, Ines Colbeljec. Facebook profiles.
Snider, Rian. Personal interview. 16 November 2005.
Urban Dictionary, The. 1999-2000. 21 November 2005.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last modified 7 December 2005. 20 November 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster
Critiques and comments are welcome. Just no nastiness.
