This Week in the Mercury
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Media Adbusters Tackles The Hipster(TM)
Posted by Matt Davis on Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 2:26 PM
What is it with the media and their obsession with hating people born after 1980 today? First it's generation Y-bother. Now it's bloody "hipsters." I've stopped using the word "hipster" as an insult, but Adbusters sure as hell hasn't. Their cover story this month focuses on hipsters at great length, calling them "the dead end of Western Civilization."
An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization - a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the "hipster" - a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.
Wait...wait...that's totally me. I'm at a loss to ascribe meaning to my life, or yours, and nobody's paying me enough to escape it. Shit. If only I could get a freelance gig for Adbusters...
The American Apparel V-neck shirt, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Parliament cigarettes are symbols and icons of working or revolutionary classes that have been appropriated by hipsterdom and drained of meaning. Ten years ago, a man wearing a plain V-neck tee and drinking a Pabst would never be accused of being a trend-follower. But in 2008, such things have become shameless cliches of a class of individuals that seek to escape their own wealth and privilege by immersing themselves in the aesthetic of the working class.
Damn you again, Adbusters. You're hitting home with these critiques, here.
But it is rare, if not impossible, to find an individual who will proclaim themself a proud hipster. It's an odd dance of self-identity - adamantly denying your existence while wearing clearly defined symbols that proclaims it.
Oh. Shit. So I'm not supposed to feel attacked. Right. I get it. In which case, I totally don't feel attacked, here. Except, well...that's kind of a passive aggressive attack, isn't it? It feels a little, er...hipsterish.
The dance floor at a hipster party looks like it should be surrounded by quotation marks. While punk, disco and hip hop all had immersive, intimate and energetic dance styles that liberated the dancer from his/her mental states - be it the head-spinning b-boy or violent thrashings of a live punk show - the hipster has more of a joke dance. A faux shrug shuffle that mocks the very idea of dancing or, at its best, illustrates a non-committal fear of expression typified in a weird twitch/ironic twist. The dancers are too self-aware to let themselves feel any form of liberation; they shuffle along, shrugging themselves into oblivion.
Aw, shucks. I'm at a loss, because that is totally how I dance. I guess you should just go over there and read it. It's food for thought. Especially coming from Adbusters, the quintessential magazine for economically and socially alienated hipsters since, what, 1997. Didn't they launch the "black dot sneakers" a while back? Are they just getting old, or what?
We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization - a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.
I now want to kill myself. Thanks, Adbusters. Nothing like a nice uplifting read!
The truth is, I have no response. I'm paralyzed. Help.
Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.
2
It's true though. Hipsters really haven't thought up anything new. Maybe they should switch to Oly...err...uh...please hold.
3
I'm usually a huge fan of adbusters. I love their work, and while I'm not usually as far left as they are, I think many of their critiques and statements are well conceived and argued.
That said, when I saw this article at the grocery store, I immediately read it hoping for a nice poignant piece on the state of youth culture and protest today, and instead the article is utterly pointless, overgeneralizing, and not making any sort of statement about anything. The stupid comments made about "hipsters" trys to condemn everything and everyone, while the article seems to be written about super rich young types that adbusters would get angry at, regardless of how they dressed or what indie band they listened to.
Seriously, i was big time disappointed by that shitty article. It was as irrelevant as half of the commenters on the Portland Mercury blogtown (i'm looking at you horseshit/satirist/rest of you)
That said, when I saw this article at the grocery store, I immediately read it hoping for a nice poignant piece on the state of youth culture and protest today, and instead the article is utterly pointless, overgeneralizing, and not making any sort of statement about anything. The stupid comments made about "hipsters" trys to condemn everything and everyone, while the article seems to be written about super rich young types that adbusters would get angry at, regardless of how they dressed or what indie band they listened to.
Seriously, i was big time disappointed by that shitty article. It was as irrelevant as half of the commenters on the Portland Mercury blogtown (i'm looking at you horseshit/satirist/rest of you)
4
It seems that most people who makes fun of hipsters are hipsters who doesn't self-identify. Other candidates include those who think 1969 was the apex of American society, or 1973 the peak of music. Remember: all those hippies were laser-beam focused on their united 'cause', and none of them were just fashion slaves or peer-pressured dolts.
5
"...the article is utterly pointless, overgeneralizing, and not making any sort of statement about anything."
Musta been written by hipsters.
Musta been written by hipsters.
6
I think it's important to separate the fashion from the attitude.
Unless said fashion is a pooka shell necklace paired with a poopload of hair gel. Then the two go hand in hand.
Unless said fashion is a pooka shell necklace paired with a poopload of hair gel. Then the two go hand in hand.
8
Hipsters are disgusting...oh well, they are all losers who ride bikes and will get killed sooner or later! hahaha
11
I'm with you, ambrown - this article is absolutely pointless.
And since when is a $30 v-neck working class?
And I happen to be a fantastic dancer.
Dick.
And since when is a $30 v-neck working class?
And I happen to be a fantastic dancer.
Dick.
13
uggggh. Complaining about hipsters is so 2005 and I'm not being facetious when I say that. Complaining about hipsters is as interesting as pointing out that George W. Bush is a bad president. It's been done so many times, so what's the point of doing it again? Shouldn't they be taking pictures of the inside of Walmart or something?
To quote that annoying Satoralist guy, "Next!"
Also, what a bunch of 'tards. Who the fuck do they think buys their $10 magazine?
To quote that annoying Satoralist guy, "Next!"
Also, what a bunch of 'tards. Who the fuck do they think buys their $10 magazine?
14
I thought the article was excellent and poignant, but I will withhold final judgment until Jacomus weighs in.
15
I got to agree with ambrown and Sahar. The What part of this story got driven into the ground long ago. If someone wanted to take a serious look at the Who and the Why, that might be worth a Feature. But this piece? It's just old.
Then again, it seems to be striking a new cord with you, Matt, so what do I know.
Anyway; yes, your lifestyle is bad and you should feel bad.
Then again, it seems to be striking a new cord with you, Matt, so what do I know.
Anyway; yes, your lifestyle is bad and you should feel bad.
16
Yes, thank you Sahar! Bagging on hipsters is soooo 2005. Will anyone care 20 years from now? In 2008, do we still get all worked up about Valley Girls?
At least rednecks celebrate their culture rather than put it down.
At least rednecks celebrate their culture rather than put it down.
17
Having now RTFA, I want to add that the story's nihilistic predictions are crap. The hipsters may have backed themselves into a cultural dead end, but I saw way too many highschoolers earnestly moshing to White Fang at PDXPOP to have anything but hope for the future.
19
"We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization - a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new."
For fucks sake. Talk about taking things waaaaay too seriously! I used to read Adbusters. But I also used to suffer from crippling depression. Stopped reading Adbusters, started taking St. Johns Wort... I'm feeling so much better now.
Yes, LSD does need to make a comeback. If only to blow the fucking cobwebs out of our collective minds and maybe help us not take things so fucking seriously.
"I'm going to get my kicks before the whole Shithouse goes up in flames." - Jim Morrison
Yeah, maybe it our culture doesn't need to be saved. But I know what will kill us all quicker than anything: It's not hipsters or republicans or terrorists... It's people without a fucking sense of humor.
For fucks sake. Talk about taking things waaaaay too seriously! I used to read Adbusters. But I also used to suffer from crippling depression. Stopped reading Adbusters, started taking St. Johns Wort... I'm feeling so much better now.
Yes, LSD does need to make a comeback. If only to blow the fucking cobwebs out of our collective minds and maybe help us not take things so fucking seriously.
"I'm going to get my kicks before the whole Shithouse goes up in flames." - Jim Morrison
Yeah, maybe it our culture doesn't need to be saved. But I know what will kill us all quicker than anything: It's not hipsters or republicans or terrorists... It's people without a fucking sense of humor.
21
"Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Parliament cigarettes are symbols and icons of working or revolutionary classes that have been appropriated by hipsterdom and drained of meaning."
Yeah, and the new trend is buying Safeway Select Mayo and using generic asprin. You know exactly what PBR and Parlements taste like and you know they're cheap. Is adbutsters saying that no hipsters are drinking Bud and smoking Camels?
You know when your generation depends on a brand-named product for identity you're safe! Thats why I'm part of the Pepsi Generation- You know, Generation NEXT!
Yeah, and the new trend is buying Safeway Select Mayo and using generic asprin. You know exactly what PBR and Parlements taste like and you know they're cheap. Is adbutsters saying that no hipsters are drinking Bud and smoking Camels?
You know when your generation depends on a brand-named product for identity you're safe! Thats why I'm part of the Pepsi Generation- You know, Generation NEXT!
22
Adbusters: a magazine for hipsters who substitute dirty black t-shirts, dirty cargo shorts, dirty bike hats and dreadlocks for traditional hipster wear, and fixies for the 60s or 70s boat or scooter a hipster drives/rides.
Even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice, Trustafarians.
Even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice, Trustafarians.
24
What is it about people doing or wearing things that are perceived as fashionable that causes such rage? You want me to commit suicide because I wear a V-neck? You want me to get hit by a car and die because I ride a bike? Jesus Christ. Think about what you are saying.
26
the article's larger point that you should not identify yourself by what you consume is a good one (that's the point of adbusters in general, isn't it?). and certainly if anyone is still drinking pbr or riding a fixie in hopes of earning respect, yeah, they need to cut that shit out.
but i kind of don't believe that the mesmerizingly beautiful man on the cover wears american apparel to be cool in the year 2008.
but i kind of don't believe that the mesmerizingly beautiful man on the cover wears american apparel to be cool in the year 2008.
27
I thought it was a great commentary and a spot on indictment of our ephemeral Twitter-like mindlessness that has sucked the collective imagination from our souls like an eager porn ingenue on a coke bender. Go Adbusters!
28
Adbusters is located in Vancouver. Here:
http://wehatevancouver.blogspot.com/2008/09/exhausting-adbusters-hipster-article.html
http://wehatevancouver.blogspot.com/2008/09/exhausting-adbusters-hipster-article.html
29
Ad busters is located in Vancouver. Here:
http://wehatevancouver.blogspot.com/2008/09/exhausting-adbusters-hipster-article.html
http://wehatevancouver.blogspot.com/2008/09/exhausting-adbusters-hipster-article.html
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
Mandatory French Fries on Sandwiches: CONDEMN OR ALLOW? by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey
-
Win Valentine's Dinner for Two at Central by Alison Hallett
-
Let's Play the Game of
LoveThrones by Erik Henriksen -
In Which Bobby Roberts Attempts to Ruin the One Thing That Made Me Happy Today by Erik Henriksen
-
Should Portland Ban Cops From Using Horses and Pepper Spray to Bust Up Protests? by Denis C. Theriault
-
New Paris Laws Give Bikes Okay to Run Red Lights; Ooh-La-La! by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey
-
Tonight! KATU Wants Everyone to Be Afraid of Marauding Crazy People! by Denis C. Theriault
-
"I Have Chickens Too!" by Alison Hallett
-
CAT BREADING UPDATE: Which Mercury Employee Succumbed to the Pressure? by Bobby Roberts
-
THE ROCK IN 2012 by Erik Henriksen
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.
Bands Page
Housing
Jobs
Musicians
For Sale
Wheels
Services
Health
The Arts
Friends 'N' Neighbors
Bulletin Board
Personals
Adult
About Portland Mercury
RSSGoing to Seattle?
Comments (29) RSS