Back in my day (the glory days) we had several different terms for people, all of which were straight forward. Growing up with those terms means I still use them on a daily basis. Jocks, preps, emo kids, all of which were easy enough to identify. When the Hipster term made its way into my generation it was easy to apply the right people to the term. It simply meant that it was someone who thought they were better than you because everything they did and affiliated with was "underground". Bands, clothing, you name it. Everything they did was stuff you wouldn't get because you hadn't even heard of it and chances are you never would. There. That was the standard for a Hipster. Nowadays, the definition seems to be a huge clusterfuck of criteria and standards that differs per person. Everyone claims to know what a Hipster is but everyone's definition seems different. Here are just a few of those definitions:
- "Back in the seventies it used to mean someone hip...someone who was cool."
- "An aging person in their 30s who still likes hip hop."
- "Teenage cool alert wannabe."
- "Hipster = liking obscure things like 70s music and decent anime."
- "Pretentious prick with a poor sense of fashion taste and hypocrite of the highest order, constantly talking about hating things that are mainstream then buying Starbucks and Macs and buying all their clothes from Pacsun and Aeropostle."
As you can see, I wasn't kidding when I said the definitions can differ. Not only can it be different but some people aren't even on the same page as the other when it comes to identifying these Hipster types. So what is a Hipster, then? What is the criteria that makes one up? Who falls into this category? How do they see themselves? Better yet, how does the world see them on average?
For the most part, the people who are outside of the Hipster circle seem to use the label as a negative connotation. That's something that everyone seems to agree on. Is it because of the aforementioned attitude of "I know more than you, I know better than you" that seems to be their trademark? Is it because they have managed to form a sub-culture all their own? Or maybe it's because in their search to be anti-mainstream they've become just that; mainstream. Whatever it is, hating on Hipsters is something that seems to unite people for they are, indeed, a kind of people who are looked down upon.
Now tell me how you really feel.
To fully understand Hipsters (to the best of my ability) I turned to Wikipedia for what they deemed was an overall definition of them. The page for Hipsters (contemporary subculture) says, "are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in indie rock that appeared in the 1990s. Other interests in media include independent film, magazines such as Vice and Clash, and websites like Pitchfork Media". With this definition, though, all we get is that Hipsters are defined by outside influences. That there's nothing within their lifestyle or with their attitude that sets them apart. How accurate is that, though? I don't believe anyone is just defined by that. Sure, as a metalhead a lot of my influence comes from the music I listen to but I'm not so 2 Dimensional that it's only the music which makes me who I am and sets me into that label. So it's hard for me to believe that any subculture can be defined that way.
Next stop: Urban Dictionary. The site is a bit scary for me thanks to some of the definitions people have sent me over the years but it's a great place to explore today's culture and the terms that define it. That being said, one has to keep in mind that most/all of the entries are submitted by readers. Wikipedia does the same thing but at least they're trying to regulate it now. The days of reading about Hitler creating Scientology are over, unfortunately. Urban Dictionary has TONS of entries for the definition of Hipster so I decided to use the entry with the most "thumbs up". It reads like a book and the author is obviously pro-Hipster but it's good that it gives us an insider view of how they see themselves.
"Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20s and 30s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter."
Do I agree with this definition? Not overly. I know many people who can think for themselves, aren't the biggest fans of society, can appreciate art, who are creative and smart, who can banter the witty out of anyone, and who isn't a Hipster in the slightest. However, this is how they define themselves. They see themselves as stand-alones in a corrupt world of mainstream mediocrity, almost as if they alone are the saviours of creativity and free thought in this world. While this is idiotic thinking on their part we have to remember that this is their view of who they are. It's a hard pill to swallow and perhaps that's where the resentment for them comes from. Who the hell are they to say that anyone who isn't like them is essentially a stupid sheep that follows what everyone else is doing, blindly following government, trends, consumerism, etc? And it doesn't matter what we say or do to prove them wrong; they're not going to think any differently any time soon. We're the stupid ones, remember? They know all. In the subculture world they think they are the Messiah.
You thought I was joking.
So, where did the Hipster come from then? Well, Wikipedia says they came from the 1940s back when Jazz music was making its debut. Hipsters were identified as the white kids who more found the lifestyle of the black Jazz musicians a hell of a lot more stimulating and appealing than the typical American Dream. WWII changed that, however, for afterwards Hipsters became the white kids who would hitchhike and travel to better themselves. Separate themselves from the world as they knew it. This is a characteristic that modern day Hipsters have tried to keep alive. They want us to think they're completely separate from us, eternally searching for a new and improved them, a level of reflection that is clearly above the rest of us. Every subculture has a sense of being separated from society as a whole but it seems like Hipsters have taken a very pretentious and arrogant way of expressing that. Whatever happened after the 1940s is just speculation. You could say they involved into Hippies and then went on to be Hipsters. You could look deeper into it and bring up all these past subcultures they could have came from. What I've learned is Jazz and black people are to blame for the modern day Hipster nonetheless. Gee, thanks black people!
So from all this insight and information, do we get a definition? It's hard to say. Outsiders call them "pretentious", they see it as "educated". "Arrogance" is seen as "confident". "Jerk" misconstrued as "misunderstood". I've come to the conclusion that there's no clear definition of a Hipster unless you just want to limit to someone who wears Ray Ban sunglasses, listens to indie music, and watches underground movies you've never heard of. That's a really shallow definition. Anything further than that is susceptible to whether or not you actually are a Hipster, are for or against the Hipster cause, like or dislike the Hipster people.
I know someone who's all for them.
If this is all too confusing or is too long of a read for you, my friend James sent me an amazing link that hilariously offers its own explanation of what makes a Hipster and where they came from. You can find the link here: Evolution of the Hipster.
As for what my own definition of a Hipster is, well, I now have to think about it after all the reading and research I did (aka the two webpages I read). There seem to be so many factors that contribute to it and there are even different kinds of Hipsters too. We may not know what makes one or why they stick around to put up with the rest of us but I think it's safe to say that this subculture has all of us transfixed on them.
Which, I think is safe to assume, is exactly what they want.
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