For over half a century, society has been sculpted
by groups and tribes of subcultures. Formed by the younger generations and
fueled by rebellion and dissimilarity with others, countercultures are often first frowned upon for going against the norm and then quickly become trendy and popular to be a part of. Punk, emo and rap a few of the more
prominent countercultures that we have experienced during our lifetimes. These
social groups became so dominant that they infected mainstream media and
immortalized themselves in our cultural history. These countercultures are
defined by their music, fashion, and language but were all created by original groups of people who shared
common beliefs and opinions. I decided to analyze the single story of the most
prominent counterculture we have in our society today, the hipster movement.
If asked to describe characteristics of a hipster, many
people would associate things such as weird music, second-hand clothing,
one-speed bicycles, thick-rimmed glasses and recycling. In reality, there is no
way to pinpoint or classify a hipster. They blend and seep into a very wide
range of existing subcultures and social groups. The idea of what a hipster
looks like is an exaggeration of some of the more commonplace characteristics that often become overemphasized by posers, or trend-followers.
The hipster movement is the end-all, be-all counterculture of countercultures because true hipsters can be found in all existing social groups and subcultures, doing what they want regardless of influences from society or the media. This
article does a much more in depth job of explaining this.
The single story associated with
hipsters or any other counterculture is that hipsters were the kids who were
weird in high school or that they are just poor college students who were
trying to make it cool to wear cheap, thrift shop clothes. These messages are
interpreted this way mostly because the majority of people in our
society are
trend followers and not trendsetters. The
saying, "If you cant beat them, join them" could be said about many of
the counterculture movements of the past. Just like any other counterculture, the
hipster movement began because of people who despised the ideals and cultures of
mainstream society, the source that shapes the single stories. Punk was born from people who had a strong belief in anarchy and were against organizations that exerted power over their lives. The original hipsters were people who were against wasting money on name brand clothing or items for status,
listening to top 40 music just because it was popular, and littering
out of laziness. There are a few voices that are making progress in setting the record straight. "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore does a great job of illustrating this ideology.
http://vimeo.com/56256943
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