Over time, social group labels tend to mutate from their original interpretation, due to societal evolution. The hipster is no exception, as it originally referred to 1940s Bebop Jazz enthusiasts. Hipsters has since become the term referencing pretentious rich kids, attempting to recreate a sense of underground-ness; whether it be music or style-related. However, hipsters of today differ from the former in the sense that their actions are fueled solely by effort, rather than sheer interest of being outlandish and chic concurrently with music and style. The typical hipster is obsessed with trends before they were trendy- they wore American Apparel v-necks1 before Mitchell Davis2 came around, Vans before Warped Tour even existed, and skinny jeans long before Tripp jeans3 went out of style. Whether or not they are truly original is hardly the point- hipsters all confidently vocalize how they pioneered certain trends. However, the irony in this is that hipsters all claim to dissociate themselves with trends and conformity, making their “moment of self aggrandizing glory4” if not presumptuous, hypocritical. The hipster style is often compared to that of the Indie Kid. However, hipsters and Indie kids differ in that a hipster will go to an American Apparel store and pay $25 for a v-neck; whereas the Indie kid will simply cut a v-neck into one of their t-shirts because they don‘t have the money to do otherwise. Hipsters, conclusively, attempt to buy the Indie fashion, mostly due to its recent media acclaim. Shows such as The O.C. and One Tree Hill show the Indie kid as being the non-leading protagonist everyone ends up rooting for, regardless of their lack of place in most episodal plot. However, the Indie kids’ whole appeal lies in th... ... middle of paper ... .... 7. Ben Gibbard’s side project during a Death Cab hiatus and the ending of his first adult relationship. They have one album and three E.P.s. 8. YACHT is Mitchell Davis’ favorite band. 9. The Shins were popularized in the Indie kid classic, Garden State. 10. The easiest website to upload music to and download music from free. It’s probably very illegal. 11. Surrealistic artist. Mitchell Davis’ inspiration for doing everything, apparently. 12. Her art contains the same girl with multiple alterations. Kinda weird but not fascinating. 13. The triangle thing is new. I assume it has to do with YACHT, as the A is actually a triangle on everything. Not entirely sure, but all the hipsters have them. 14. The gorgeous leading lady in another Indie kid classic, (500) Days Of Summer. She’s in a hipster band, and is married to Ben Gibbard. 15. It happened. A lot.
The term hipster is a difficult, and contested term with dynamic and often ambiguous connotations. According to Ferrier (2014), what was once an umbrella term for a counter-culture of young creative types morphed into a pejorative term for people who looked, lived and acted a certain way. The Urban Dictionary
This past month I made my last visit to the popular teenage/college student retail store Abercrombie and Fitch. Finishing up some back to school shopping, I was on a quest for jeans, and I knew the place to get them. My last two favorite pairs were from Abercrombie and Fitch, and I was planning on buying the same kind once again. Happy and relieved that I would not spend the afternoon ransacking the mall for one pair of jeans, I entered the store to the pulsating beat of techno dance music. In front of me was the teenage Mecca of what is truly hip -- the first thing I noticed were the life-size pictured that covered the walls -- half-clad muscular and glistening young men, frolicking around with pouty faced but beautiful young women who were wearing either size 2 short shorts with bikini tops or 3 layered sweaters. The tables were covered with overpriced shorts, shirts, and sweaters, strewn about by desperate customers searching for the perfect outfit. The sales people who roamed the floors were definitions of cool themselves -- ranging from age 16-22, they modeled their employee discounts in a haughty way which encouraged the customers to strive for their ultra-hip look. And strive the customers did. What was the most noticeable upon entering the store (besides the blaringly loud music which made me wonder if I was at a clothing store or a dance club) were the herds of desperate young men and women, who seemed to range from age 12-25, strutting around the store and searching for anything that had the name A&F on it. I can only imaging how many nights of baby-sitting it would take some of these eager teenagers to buy one sweater. The young custome...
And similarly, not everyone understands hipsters. In what may be one of my favorite passages of the essay, Mailer writes, “What makes Hip a special language is that it cannot really be taught—if one shares none of the experiences of the elation and exhaustion which is equipped to describe, then it seems merely arch or vulgar or irritating.” (Mailer) These hipsters, both in Mailer’s yesterday and our today, are closest to their inner consciousness, most in touch with their views of society and culture. If one cannot “speak the language”, per se, one cannot truly begin to understand or connect with them.
The government and the older generations could not understand their way of life. Hippies were often portrayed as criminals, subversive to the morals and best interest of the public. Although misunderstood, the hippie had a great impact throughout the country, still surviving today in American culture. The term “hippie” itself became a universal term in the late sixties. It originated in a 1967 article in Ramparts, entitled “The Social History of the Hippies.” Afterward, the name was captured by the mass media as a label for the people of the new movement. (Yablonsky 28) Even before this, the word “hip” described someone who was “in” and “down”, wise to what was going on around him. By the 1960s, some of America’s youth created a gap between themselves and their parents. They grew their hair long because it was natural and therefore considered beautiful.
What do Marlon Brando, James Dean and Henry Winkler all have in common? Well, besides the fact that they are all from the 50’s, they have all portrayed characters that epitomized the American teenager’s rebellion. At one point in time, teens in the United States drew inspiration from these actors to figuratively say “Screw You Mom and Dad.” These men undoubtedly changed the youth culture in America. Further along in time, we watched “hippie” teen’s rebel against their conformists’ parents in the 60’s and “Grunge head”, Nirvana-listeners sneak out of the house to go do illicit narcotics in the 90’s. One must admit that there is something quite perplexing about this sweet American air, that makes teens disobey their parents. While the American teenage rebellion is a natural part of maturity and is an accepted cultural “norm”, there is a lesser acknowledged insurgence.
4. At that moment I couldn’t feel any more cynical about the way my friend was acting out.
The term hipster was coined during the jazz age (1940s), when the term hip emerged as an adjective to describe enthusiasts of the growing music scene. The modern hipster is a composite of individuals with a certain bohemian, new-thinking lifestyle, as he or she rejects mainstream norms, and embraces and contributes to unconventional culture. Hipsters are a subculture of people that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and music, creativity, and intelligence. There are two sects of hipster: the authentic, indifferent hipster and the consumeristic hipster. One of the most prevalent ways of analyzing hipster, bohemian, and artistic identities is through consumeristic habits and ideologies.
13. The climax in my novel is when Jeff has to spy on General Watie.
“Popular culture moves through our world at warp speed” (Aufses, Scanlon, Shea 707). For example, current events that take place by day are the main topics by night. Even videos posted on the internet can become the biggest trend overnight, but disappear just as quick. Without realizing it, everyday these trends of thought affect the way we dress, live and think. Whether we like it or not, these thoughts are manipulated by popular culture. It is undeniable that “we are creatures of outside influences; as a rule we do not think, we only imitate” (Source A). Pop culture influences us through many forms: movies, television, music, art, and peers are some examples. This affirmation is supported through essays from prominent figures, such as cartoonist Scott McCloud, movie-critic David Denby, satirist Mark Twain, and writer Teresa Wiltz.
11 I believe this is the reason every writer who wrote about Socrate sees it completely differently.
Peace and music took over the 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York 46 years ago. “The Woodstock Music and Art Fair” was a festival known as an “Aquarian Exposition of three days.” Woodstock was an audience of 400,000 people and 32 acts that performed outdoors. The festival was a main event in music history and changed the world of rock ‘n’ roll ever since. The festival joined together the 1960s counterculture generation through the music performed. Art and new ideas were the main historical force that changed society August 15th through the 17th in 1969, leaving a powerful message among the Western world.
“What do you call a consumer who wants to buy everything you have, doesn 't care what it costs and is less than five feet tall? A marketer 's dream? Nope. You call them kids.” (AdRelevance Intelligence Report, 2000). Nowadays, children (age 4-12) already have a sense of fashion and attitudes that we may not see in children back in 1980s-1990s. Based on the “Consuming Kids” (2008) and our daily experience we can see and learned that children tends to follows or try to imitate what they see, it can be from television, magazine, school, and sometimes what they see in the real life. In “Consuming Kids” documentary we learned that the total of money that children spend in a year is about $40 billion and the influence of the kids to adult spending
The stereotypical American teenage girl follows the entertainment industry as if it were her livelihood. She listens to pop, rap, and R&B. She goes shopping almost every weekend for the next midriff-baring fashion. Television is scheduled into her day as if the VCR had never been invented. She is on top of the trends, ready with plastic in hand for anything the market will push her way.
I lived in a wealthy upper middle class area outside of Nashville Tennessee for most of my life and over the past five to ten years the change in style of dress for suburban kids has become more and more evident. Main stream stores such as Dillard’s and Castner Knot’s started carrying the underground hip-hop clothes that were once only found in the larger cities. Even major labels such as Tommy Hillfigger started designing larger clothes with brighter colors. There jeans were available in relaxed fit and even baggy. Hip Hop had now become a large market for young teenagers and people in their early twenties.
Throughout the 1950’s and ‘60’s radio stations that played rock music gained a listening audience of mostly teenagers. Whether Connie is at at home or, the drive-in, rock music serves as a constant element in her environment: “They listened to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in creative ways, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon”(Oates,1035). During the story Connie’s character takes the music very directly. Popular lyrics from her favorite songs inspired her fantasies about life and love relationships. In this time period, rock ‘n’ roll performers would set hair and clothing trends. These trends physically impacted the youth of the day who would strive to imitate what they saw and heard was trendiest. In the short story, Arnold Friend, a man that appears to be in his thirty, tries to capture this image by “ [having] a convertible jalopy painted gold” and “tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders” in order to appeal to teenagers like Connie (Oates,1035-1038). His ‘look’ mimics that of the popular film stars in the !950’s and 60’s. Besides his appearance, Friend uses the same rock station that Connie listens to when he pulls up to her house to lure her in and make her feel more relaxed. In these ways he resembles her peers, making her believe that he is like “everyone else” her