JJ

I Can’t Eat That. I’m Gluten Intolerant.

 Posted by on Wed, 10/19 at 3:49pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 192016
 

In the video, How to Become Gluten Intolerant, a YouTuber presents a satire of the Gluten-Free trend scene. The YouTuber reveals it as “the hottest eating trend in the New Age Community, since we found out you don’t have to eat animals.” I included this video because many of the modern day Hipsters have taken to vegetarianism, gluten-free, veganism and other diets in the past decade. As the YouTuber says “Gluten tolerant used to be limited to the people who were intolerant to gluten…” The YouTuber proceeds to take a life coach approach to teaching the viewers how to become, or act, gluten intolerant. The video casts a sarcastic tone to the gluten free community that has recently grown and his steps to achieving this image of gluten intolerance is just as sarcastic. The humor reminds me of Dark Comedy where comedians would satirize the world around them in a deadpan tone. He never gives a punchline in his video and continues to go on with his tips on how to appear gluten intolerant.

One of his statements hits at the heart of Hipster values when he says, “If you’re ready to a ravenous appetite for impossible standards and dogmatic feelings of victimization, then lets get started.” He makes fun of how Hipsters ask for the impossible of people and how they demand that people be tolerant of their conditions, even if they’re not true. He also portrays Gluten-Free Hipsters as condescending mean-spirited individuals who love to torture waitresses. The YouTuber points out all of the inconsiderate acts that gluten-intolerant people do when ordering food or talking about their intolerance to other people. Examples of this are telling people about your bodily functions, their dogmaticalness and their open lies about their condition. He tackles the hypocritical nature of their lifestyle by telling the viewer that their is a strong correlation to how gluten intolerant someone is and how many people are around them. If someone is alone then they are  miraculously are cured of their celiac disease, but with more people present they strangely become more gluten intolerant.

The YouTuber dresses like a spiritual life coach and puts the title “Ultra Spiritual Life” in his videos to make it obvious to all viewers that the videos were made as jokes. By no means are any of these videos to be taken seriously. He even dresses like a Hippy, wearing a purple shirt, a headband and a flower.

The Stereotypes Regarding Hipsters

 Posted by on Thu, 10/13 at 4:21pm  ideas  No Responses »
Oct 132016
 

In I am Other, the interviewer takes a camera to the streets of an urban city to ask the people living there what they think about hipsters. The video opens and the first thing he asks someone is “Are you a hipster?” The immediate response he gets from the woman is “No!” The man also asks whats the difference between a hipster and the woman. The responses from the rest of the cities inhabitants pretty much describes the hipster stereotype. They would say things like a hipster is “poor, wears skinny jeans, parents support them, listens to jazz, unemployed or a person who hasn’t found their purpose in life” Almost none of the people in the video call themselves hipsters when they are asked and it seems to be because they think of it as an insult. The reoccurring them is that people hold negative stereotypes about Hipsters and think of them as posers or fakers. The video is meant to make fun of people who don’t fit the ordinary mold of everyday people and people are upset by the fact that they are labeled by the brand “Hipster” because of their fashion choices. One of the women that was interviewed explains that she thinks hipsters only listen to music or read books because it isn’t popular. If something is popular then they won’t ever buy it.

An idea that one of the ‘hipster’ women brought up is “if you’re a current person or a trend slave” then you aren’t a Hipster. Theirs two important ideas that can be taken from this. First, is that anyone who isn’t following popular culture and is different in any regard is considered a hipster. This may be why Hipsters hate the label. The label applies to so many of us that it really holds no meaning as a status symbol anymore. Their isn’t anything special about a label that applies to so many. Second is that hipsters might believe that to break free from being slaves to trends and brands all around us, they have to be different. They must dislike whats popular around them and they need to start their own trends. Can you really blame someone for being different and wanting to start their own trends? As the woman says, “As long as your not an asshole.” Which brings up the fact that many people find Hipsters to be condescending and rude. The word hipster has a negative connotation now and it seems like a lot of people shy away from it now, but what does that mean for trends? Will people see a new trend or an act of individuality and dismiss it as being ‘hipster.’ Will more people try to follow the mainstream image as a result, afraid of being labeled as a hipster?

The Peoples Voice

 Posted by on Thu, 10/13 at 3:56pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 132016
 

In a video by I am Other, a man interviews people in an urban city in the episode Stereotypes: Hipsters. The channel on Youtube is dedicated to discussing the people in our communities that don’t define themselves as normal, but the Others. The viewer interviews a wide range of people in this city, from shopkeepers to the homeless. He also talks to young people who fit the stereotype of the hipster themselves. The interviewer sheds light on the stereotypes that surround hipsters and anyone who stands out in a city. He gathers the opinions of others and sometimes uses triggers to get a reaction out of them. He does a great job of using words like “Trust fund baby” to trigger responses from the people he interviews and as we can see it isn’t hard to find out what people really think about hipsters. He goes up to people and asks them what the difference is between them and a hipster, if they know any stereotypes about hipsters or if they are in fact a hipster.

The tone of the video seems a little sardonic and comedic, but the message shines through that people hold serious stereotypes about hipsters. The interviewer himself dresses like a hipster in order to ‘trigger’ some of the comments he gets from the people he talks to.

In another video by I am Other, the interviewer goes to London for another episode about hipsters. In Stereotypes: Hipsters vs. Chavs, the interviewer talks to others about Chavs, a movement very similar to Hipsters. The interviewer is less sardonic with the people he talks to and gets more answers to the questions he’s asking. He asks people to describe both Hipsters and Chavs, compare them and to list some of the stereotypes associated with them.

A lot of the people don’t realize that the interviewer is mostly joking with them and they tend to reveal a lot of their biases and perspectives whether they be heavy handed or not. Some of the individuals also don’t realize that he’s trying to point out the hypocrisy in what they are saying versus what they are doing. Many of the people being interviewed in both videos describe hipsters and the type of people they are, yet they look a lot like what they describe. Many of them try to justify it by saying they weren’t in fact hipsters, chav or “fake”, as they so often put it.

Taste is About Compitition

 Posted by on Tue, 10/11 at 12:40pm  ideas  No Responses »
Oct 112016
 

Mark Greif says that “Taste is not stable and peaceful, but a means of strategy and competition” in his article published to The New York Times. His theory presents that this peacock effect of trying to be more cultured than the person next to you is part of our society and its values. Classes use culture as a means of trying to one-up each other. Think of it this way, someone of a rich background might say that a working class individual would never understand high culture. They might say that they have uncultured values and that they could never appreciate fine art or the work they do. Now someone of a lower class might say that this rich individual was a pompous asshole who’s never worked a day in his life and who doesn’t understand the feeling of watching football on Sunday with a cold beer in your hand. Mark Greif believes he understand why this occurs in society and he also believes that this event plays a larger part than we think in the world around us. “The things you prefer — tastes that you like to think of as personal, unique, justified only by sensibility — correspond tightly to defining measures of social class: your profession, your highest degree and your father’s profession.” Mark thinks that our tastes are conditioned into us by our mentors, peers and our class. He bases this theory on the french philosopher Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdie had this idea that society was extremely petty and superficial. He thought that we all cared about our image and standing a lot more than we let on. And this doen’t only extend to the rich and upper class, but everyone else as well. The working class and middle class suffer from the same process of thinking. Hipsters are no different. Greif believes that hipsters are a result of a generation of college educated individuals who were taught class and tastes from their professors and the university. Once these individuals graduated they found themselves in an economic downfall and a jobless environment that didn’t appreciate their skills. They then thought to distinguish themselves from the uneducated crowd by developing ‘taste’ much different and more ‘cultured’ than the other groups. They believe this alternate lifestyle and taste to be ‘superior in spirit.’ ” Groups closer in social class who yet draw their status from different sources use taste and its attainments to disdain one another and get a leg up. These conflicts for social dominance through culture are exactly what drive the dynamics within communities whose members are regarded as hipsters.” He also believes that hipster reinforce their own status by constantly changing and distinguishing themselves from others. “Hipster neighborhoods are crossroads where young people from different origins, all crammed together, jockey for social gain.” Hipster subgroups also jockey for control over one another by distinguishing themselves from each other depending on their socioeconomic backgrounds. Some individuals might right off wealthy-upper class individuals as “trust-fund hipsters” or liberal arts individuals as “having too much time on their hands”. This is all common place in our society and it creates a ever changing social hierarchy of what’s cool and what isn’t.

 

Dorian Gray the Hipster

 Posted by on Tue, 10/11 at 12:19pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 112016
 

The article “Hipster in the Mirror” written by Mark Greif of the New York Times, brings a psychology approach to the recent rise in Hipster Culture in the past few years. The article mentions the  book, “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste,” by Pierre Bourdieu. The author then devotes a significant portion of the article describing Bourdieu’s background, childhood and philosophies. I believe the author had the idea of giving us background before laying out the building blocks for his argument, but he forced it too much. I believe that less time devoted to Bourdieu would have benefited the article and allowed for a better read. However, the main philosophy of Bourdieu that the author applied to Hipsters does in fact make for an interesting deduction. Bourdieu believed that culture derived from taste were rigid and arbitrary conformities.

Greif’s language throughout the article is mixed between academic and cultured. He uses studies, philosophers, vague french influences and class dynamics to shed light on the Hipster movement. His article combines logos and ethos to build upon the knowledge and credibility of Bourdieu to shape his argument. He depends too much on the work of Bourdieu, however Bourdieu does have excellent ideas and its a shame that he died before the Hipster movement.

The tone of the article is never demeaning, but it teeters on the edge of being too debatable. He believes that culture and taste are merely acts of one-up-man-ship. He writes as if he understands society completely and that class is about calling each others bluffs. His conclusion from this article however needed more evidence. He concluded that each group or class in society believed themselves to be essentially different. They believed that other classes/groups couldn’t handle their lives, atmospheres and livelihoods. Society uses tastes and culture to separate themselves from the rest and as a means of proving that they are different and by default better. Greif and Bourdieu however believe these societal assumptions are false and that these ideas that structure our world are mere trivialities.

I believe Mark Greif has a stronger understanding than most and many of his arguments are valid. This is probably due to the fact that Greif is considered a highly respectable critic with publishing in N+1. His method of referencing a french philosopher only known to highly educated individuals prevents most viewers from completely connecting with his work. It would be much more respectable if Greif relied more on his own thoughts and philosophies than those of others.

Demythologizing Hipsters

 Posted by on Sat, 10/1 at 12:03pm  reading  No Responses »
Oct 012016
 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/656389

This article on Jstor uses Logos and Pathos arguments to analyze consumer trends and theories related to them. The article is purely academic and its intended audience is for scholarly individuals conducting research on the trends of subgroups. The article comes from the Journal of Consumer Research and was published from the Oxford University Press, so just reading the title we can assume the work has substantial credibility and reliability. The article uses several sources, studies and theories to dissect contemporary trends, mainstream products and the American image. It breaks apart the previous misconception that brands create people. Certain images are tied to certain brands and as consumers we take up those images. However, they provide an alternate theory where subgroups create certain identities and then brands exploit those identities and make them mainstream. The researches use fairly recent and well known examples of brands and fads to remain relevant throughout the article. They use examples like Jeep, Star Trek, Harley Davidson and Hipsters. They explain cultural and social trends from a sociological studies standpoint giving the reader a sense of trustworthiness. The article suggests that the hipster brand and icon may have been original, but was ultimately re purposed into a brand by branding the hipster myth and the ideas that coincide with it.

The article doesn’t mean to disrespect the hipster culture or to even defame it, rather it seems to provide insights to a social pattern that we personally ignore in a capitalists society. We may create trends for our own purposes or for a sense of identity, but they are always exploited. Where some see independence and rebellious nature, others see dollar signs. The article uses another great example of a trend that was somewhat unpopular for many. The Trekie trend of star trek enthusiast was for a long time frowned upon by many. However recently, many have exploited the ‘rebellious’ trend making it not only sexy and interesting, but mainstream. This isn’t because people suddenly came to their senses about star trek. Companies just exploited the trend and made it popular for their own financial gains.

The article suggests that many social movement have fallen victim of this financial gaze. Some see the gay movement as disgusting and unnatural. Some see it as beautiful and empowering. But investors see potential dollar signs. What brands do these gay consumers use? What are their morals and what do they identify with? They use this information and essentially exploit these ideas to create a consumer base. This article raises serious questions about the ethics of such a society. Is it moral to exploit gay rights activists, even if you are essentially empowering them and helping them achieve their goals? What if the next movement is a Neo-Nazi fear mongering group? Would such a society empower them just for financial gain? Since this article is purely academic and theoretical it doesn’t take a strong stance for either side.

Consumer Trends and How They Relate to Hipsters

 Posted by on Sat, 10/1 at 11:30am  ideas  No Responses »
Oct 012016
 

Companies and markets create images of their brands that they project on to the identity of their consumers. This is true for almost all brands. Apple has an image of trendy innovative youth residing in silicon valley. Jeep has an image of patriotic pro-gun Americans. Every brand has an image and they project it on to its consumers creating this distinct ‘myth’ about who we are as consumers. An article in the Journal of Consumer Research states that many theorists believe that markets and companies create trends and project them on to subgroups of individuals. And people who identify with certain values seek out these brands to reaffirm their identities. However, the study finds that with the case of hipsters, we have an entirely different thing going on. Hipsters actually go against such preconceptions and they arent the only ones. “Rather than being an iconic resource for identity construction (Holt 2004), the consumers in our study experience a marketplace myth as a threat to the value of their identity investments in a field of consumption”  (JCR) They believe that sometimes certain groups see these images that brands project onto consumers and they find that some groups like to seperate themselves from the standard myth of their group. “They use demythologizing practices to protect these investments from devaluation and to distance and distinguish their field of consumption, and corresponding consumer identities, from these undesirable associations.” This is performed by being rebellious to what the market place projects your group as representing. These groups then radiate a rebellious aura with incorporated ritualistic practices that they use to distance themselves from their group myth. However this tends to backfire because companies will use your new achieved independence against you. “Hard-core members of the Harley-Davidson brand community engage in a number of ritualistic practices to distinguish themselves from the various cultural clichés that have been sparked by the brand’s burgeoning mainstream popularity.” Companies use this independent rebellious nature to then create a mainstream myth about the Harley Davidson brand. The Harley Davidson group is now known for being tough, independent bikers who hang around sketchy bars and they live outside the law. Harley Davidson used their consumers own rebellious nature against them to create a new brand image. Companies do this all the time an we don’t even recognize it. “Hummer owners confront the moralistic backlash directed at their vehicles by portraying themselves as heroic defenders of the American exceptionalist ideals and values represented by this iconic brand.” They take subgroups and their ideas and morals and use it for their brands. They project a certain image with it, making it mainstream. Once its mainstream, these subgroups have to deal with the fact that their ideas and brands are now mainstream. They have to see their brands and ideas being taken up by the everyday person and from then on it isn’t the group who controls the image, but the companies. This idea could explain why some hipsters hate being called hipsters and why others take it up as a badge of honor. The hipster myth and image was taken up for commercial use, essentially stealing it from the real hipsters. They created an image of indie-rock, organic food and expensive coffee and they made it mainstream.

Where are all my Hipsters at?

 Posted by on Sun, 9/25 at 3:53pm  ideas  No Responses »
Sep 252016
 

In order to understand more about what Hipsters are, I decided to do a search of what cities they have invaded. I found an interesting study on Infogroup.com that uses statistics to identify the top ‘Hipster Cities’. They found them to be places like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Brooklyn. Hipsters occupy many Cafes and retro bars in major cities, but we find them in local areas too like our towns and communities. Hipsters are everywhere we look and its obvious that its a cultural movement, however who is to say if it is going or coming. Is it near the end or is it just catching track? In the article “Death of a Hipster” I talked about the many points of views and opinions the author found in a Hipster convention he attended.

One interesting idea to explore is the possibility that Hipsterism is good for the economic market. We see conglomerates and monopolies everywhere we go.

brands

One only has to look at this chart to see that many of our favorite brands are controlled by some other brand. Not much of anything is local anymore, or should I say WAS local. We’ve seen a resent emergence of local produce, small companies, new brands and specialized items. Many people have grown tired of buying from these 9 companies and they’ve started to explore that. Is is possible that the recent emergence of these local and specialized brands/stores appearing is related to the emergence of hipsters? We do see hipsters being guilty of trying “organic” foods and “local” produce. We also see the fact that people are buying from places like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Fresh Market and Local Markets. People are not only shopping with variety in mind, they are also getting healthier foods. People are trading out the trusted brands we all know and love for new ones. Yes, these items can be expensive, but they are still largely popular. Their is also a new craze for “Craft” Beers, IPA’s and local brews. People are making their own beers, wines and liquors to sell and start up their own brands. Cafes are making specialized coffee’s and selling them in local Cafe’s frequented by many. Soaps, hair products and fragrances are made with all natural ingredients now and without all the harmful chemicals. All of these crazes are cultures and products associated with and enjoyed by hipsters! Not just recently, but for awhile now they’ve told people about their foods, drinks and products and now they are catching on. On the other hand, could it be that hipster culture arose as a result of all these new products and crazes. Maybe there is no correlation but it is an interesting topic to dissect.

How Hipsters are Viewed

 Posted by on Sun, 9/25 at 3:19pm  reading  No Responses »
Sep 252016
 

When you mention the word hipster to your friends what kind of reactions do you get? Reading articles online I’ve found two opinions. The first opinion presents itself as interested in what hipsters represent. “The Hipster movement is an interesting look into phenomonon in society. While it’s here lets analyze it and find out why it exists” The second opinion is filled with irritation at the fact that Hipsters still exist. You’ll hear them say “Fucking Hipsters. Always taking all the seats at the cafe.” Many people do not approve of this ‘Hipster movement’ in cities like Portland, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Seattle and so on. But there is a third unvoiced opinion that voluntarily stays silent. Getting an actual hipster to comment and talk about hipsterism is harder than finding a needle in a hay stack.

Looking online, I found that Rob Horning, a writer at Popmatters, has a few interesting opinions on the Hipster Movement. He mentions the fact that Hipsters don’t actually seem to want to define themselves. Hipsters don’t actually like to conform to societal ideas or images, so it would make sense that they don’t meet up to talk about what a hipster is. They don’t like to define themselves, so we have an almost silent third opinion on hipsters. Rob Horning however took it upon himself to give us the prevailing attitudes about Hipsters. One of the stances taken by the people of the second opinion is that they are “a kind of permanent cultural middleman in hypermediated late capitalism, selling out alternative sources of social power developed by outsider groups…[Hipsters are an] embodiment of postmodernism as a spent force, revealing what happens when pastiche and irony exhaust themselves as aesthetics.”(Horning). Another interesting point that he brought up is that hipsters sometimes see themselves as “the coolhunting collaborators and spies.” (Horning) The last opinion we see of the hipster culture is the opinion taken by those interested in what this movement represents. “Is it that outsider groups are the only ones that make possible new forms of cultural capital?” (Horning) The author brings to light a different kind of approach to the hipster discussion and begs the question, are they necessary? Hipsters seem to be invested in the cultural happenings of our society and they take a personal interests in finding the things that we deem ‘old or ordinary’ and they essentially make them popular again. This event puts a capital on cultural trends and thrusts them to the lime light, basically changing up the economic market and knocking down brands and trends we have put on a pedestal.

The author of this article as brought to view an interesting realization. Many people, in trying to define hipsters, always exclude themselves from hipsters. They say, “A hipster is this and that, but that isn’t me.” Society will see someone as a hipster, but hipsters don’t like saying that are hipsters. You yourself could be a hipster, but you will deny it till the day you die. Its almost as if the term is derogatory and insulting, maybe because hipsters are known for hating labels.

Pop Matters Article by Rob Horning

http://www.popmatters.com/post/the-death-of-the-hipster-panel/

The Truth About Hipsters

 Posted by on Thu, 9/22 at 10:09pm  mini analysis  No Responses »
Sep 222016
 

The truth about Hipsters from funny

I found this gif on r/funny on the discussion website Reddit. It features 3 hipsters on their macs ordering water from a hipster waiter. This gif was posted with the caption “The Truth About Hipsters” and it depicts 4 characters who dress differently from the average person you see on the streets. Trends that identify them as hipsters are their edgy haircuts, the odd clothes they are wearing and the fact that they all have Macs. Redditors (As the people of reddit are called) posted this meme to get a laugh at the irony of the hipsters spending choices. Hipsters are known for hanging out at fancy coffee bars on their expensive computers all day. Many redditors had stories about a coworker or a cousin who spent way too much money on a Mac. The running joke on reddit is that hipsters care way too much about fitting a certain image. They have to have the expensive Mac, the edgy new age look and they almost always appear in expensive cafes with snobby baristas. At the end of the gif we see the barista make the joke that they all have macs, yet all they can afford is water. The reddit community for the most part seems to have a bad image of hipsters. As one redditor put it, “you’re a leech”. This clip is meant to shed criticism on what many believe to be a hindrance on society.

Hipsters are seen as young people who like to act out by appearing rebellious and against the mainstream culture. Yet if they are so individualistic then why is it so easy to categorize them so accurately. It seems like everyone knows the ‘hipster type’. People spot them out of a crowd and cringe at their attempts to be rebellious, while they simultaneously follow what their crowd is doing. The crowd comments on how they spend all their money to fit this certain image to the point where they go into debt. When people see hipsters they see posers, self-destructive individuals, picky, particular, idiots, and cheap assholes. You yourself have probably thought these things a few times about the guy next to you that only drinks Indian Pale Ale’s because he’s too good for Budweiser.

People hold feelings of resentment for hipsters and it’s very evident online at the comments you find on reddit. “…people that do this and don’t contribute to the business are scumbags.” This user is commenting on the fact that hipsters don’t pay for anything in a cafe. He thinks they just bring their computers and take up seats while never ordering a single thing of the menu. This user also says “I’ll go to a coffee shop or similar place and purchase something 100% of the time, even if I don’t really want or need it.” He says this because he thinks this to be the decent thing to do when you go to a cafe and I don’t disagree with him. If owners are trying to bring in profit and you’re just taking up space, using their internet and not ordering anything then you kind of suck.

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