Hipsters
The Hipster Culture
The coolness of New York is at a dangerous risk. What’s the danger? The answer is simple, Hipsters. Often referred to as bored, slacker trust-fund kids, the Hipster is a noticeably present subculture in New York City. Before coming to New York from a small college town in Texas, I had never even heard of these “hipsters.” From my first impression, they seemed to try so hard to be unique and “cool” by their own definition, which, for the most part, was an accurate assumption. I see now, after observing them for quite some time, that the hipster’s look and lifestyle is a backlash to the mainstream and, for partially that reason, mainstream doesn’t like them (causing what seems to be a war that the hipster will eventually lose). The hipster culture looks like a combination of a counter-culture and a mixture of different cultures at the same time. By setting themselves apart from everyone else as a result of looking cool, or “deck” as they would say, they also seem to inherit a more snobbish and obnoxious demeanor as a group from the most subjective topics, like clothing and music. This, along with the hipsters need to exemplify irony and apathy towards everything they do, seems to cause many people outside of this culture to despise them. Though they ironically have the term, hip, in their subculture name, they have become anything but that; this is a telltale sign that they won’t be around much longer, and the people of New York won’t miss them but, in fact, will welcome their downfall.
Surprisingly, the hipster, or at least the term, was founded in the early 1940’s. According to Dan Fletcher, who wrote the Time magazine article, “Brief History of Hipsters,” the term came “after the jazz age, when hip arose to describe aficionados of the growing scene.” Gradually, the people who fit the description were called hipsters. This explains a lot about the hipsters’ affiliation with music because they’ve always been affiliated with music since
The coolness of New York is at a dangerous risk. What’s the danger? The answer is simple, Hipsters. Often referred to as bored, slacker trust-fund kids, the Hipster is a noticeably present subculture in New York City. Before coming to New York from a small college town in Texas, I had never even heard of these “hipsters.” From my first impression, they seemed to try so hard to be unique and “cool” by their own definition, which, for the most part, was an accurate assumption. I see now, after observing them for quite some time, that the hipster’s look and lifestyle is a backlash to the mainstream and, for partially that reason, mainstream doesn’t like them (causing what seems to be a war that the hipster will eventually lose). The hipster culture looks like a combination of a counter-culture and a mixture of different cultures at the same time. By setting themselves apart from everyone else as a result of looking cool, or “deck” as they would say, they also seem to inherit a more snobbish and obnoxious demeanor as a group from the most subjective topics, like clothing and music. This, along with the hipsters need to exemplify irony and apathy towards everything they do, seems to cause many people outside of this culture to despise them. Though they ironically have the term, hip, in their subculture name, they have become anything but that; this is a telltale sign that they won’t be around much longer, and the people of New York won’t miss them but, in fact, will welcome their downfall.
Surprisingly, the hipster, or at least the term, was founded in the early 1940’s. According to Dan Fletcher, who wrote the Time magazine article, “Brief History of Hipsters,” the term came “after the jazz age, when hip arose to describe aficionados of the growing scene.” Gradually, the people who fit the description were called hipsters. This explains a lot about the hipsters’ affiliation with music because they’ve always been affiliated with music since
Cited: Fick, Thomas H. “The Hipster, the Hero, and the Psychic Frontier in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’” Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature. Vol. 43. No. ½ (1989): 19. JSTOR. Web. 2 May 2010. Fletcher, Dan. “Brief History of Hipsters.” TIME. 29 July 2009. Web. 13 April 2010. . Fritzkrieg, Matt. “Interview on Hipsters.” Personal Interview. 27 Apr. 2010. Halpin, Mikki. “Beyond Hipsters: Williamsburg’s Tough Economic Realities.” New York Magazine. 22 June 2009. Web. 2 May 2010. . Haughney, Christine. “Parental Lifelines, Frayed to Breaking.” The New York Times. 7 June 2009. Web. 30 April 2010. . Lanham, Robert. The Hipster Handbook. New York: Anchor, 2003. Print. pp. 1. Lorentzen, Christian. “Why the Hipster Must Die.” Time Out New York. 30 May 2007. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. . Plevin, Julia. “Who’s a Hipster?” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 08 Aug. 2008. Web. 2 May 2010. .