The abandonment of the word hipster feels correlated to speed. Our c.2004 culture moved at 25 mph through the cultural landscape: we were able to spy a trend, a scene, generate an opinion of it, and then join or reject it. Ten years on, our c.2024 vehicle through the cultural landscape shrieks through at 100mph. It's impossible to viscerally experience culture now. It's a vapor rather than a solid. To combat this speed anxiety, I summon my inner Jenny Odell and head out exploring on foot (sans device). Walking can't be appropriated as a trend - it's undesigned and belongs to us all. That's what this old hipster is doing next.
That vaporousness is definitely a present feeling. It feels like there's no time to really appreciate anything before it's replaced with something else.
I don't think that hipsterism disappeared so much as the search for authenticity/purity/"the real" shifted toward politics, both right and left, which became a sort of fashion which is now ebbing out of style.
Politics as identity aesthetics! It makes sense as far as what supplanted people's senses of self — you could roleplay resistance warrior online. But I am curious what comes next, because politically driven culture is never that fun. Class-based, wealth porn??
I suspect that Proud Boy and Cancel Culture culture have shown that the group dynamics of marching, mobbing, and Lite Fascism can be very fun, indeed. It can replace a lot of social outlets that have been rendered obsolete.
the only 'cultural frontier' left might need to be 'offline first and only'; which is quickly combined with 'localism'. there's a kind of 'hipsterism' in 'no way to be found online'. which might still explain the attraction of a few 'authentic' downtowns such as in Japan, or Reykjavik & cie.
online kills any authenticity thanks to its effectiveness: being seen by millions (if not more) people in a flash.
I think this is true! Speed destroys authenticity and makes the development of scenes or movements harder. Identities (usually) come from coherence and some slow construction of community. Is being "local" the new "hipster," in the sense of seeking uniqueness and authenticity?
I kind of wonder if "hipsters" are going to come back, since Indie Sleaze has returned that trend pre-dated "hipsters." Since the Cobrasnake is back and working, one has to wonder when Look At This Fucking Hipster is going to get a web refresh. It feels bizarre that late 2000s style irony would make a comeback but not altogether implausible. Mullets are very fashionable so why not make them weird and ugly enough to be more unfashionable again? Also, after all of minimal grey and beige elevated lifestyle trends, isn't someone going to want to pick up a fanny pack, throw on a neon tank top and some super short cut off jeans to go ride their fixie somewhere?
The fundamental shift is less about speed, more about spikiness. The mainstream (and therefore the hipster avant garde in opposition to it) is a more fragile and temporary consensus in our digital network era. It’s harder to hold any cultural position when things only have a brief moment in the ‘for you’ tab before disappearing.
I wrote about this back in 2011, and it feels truer now than it did then:
I love this. The hipster aesthetic became mainstream during the tumblr era and I wonder if that contributed to its death. During peak Hipster you could usually look at someone's haircut, outfit, tattoos etc and get a general sense for their interests and music taste. When it became mainstream it stopped being an indication of anything aside from someone following a trend. And then like all trends, everyone moved on!
This hipster take, specifically Kyle’s point about “mainstream for survival,”has given me a clue to a cultural quandary I’ve had for a while, which is the phenomenon of Taylor Swift. I was in the Bay Area around 2008-2010 when TS started breaking through the self-identifying “alternative” friend circle I kept company with. I couldn’t figure out then (or now) why people who claimed to buck the mainstream made an exception for her, and these days, have become fanatical. However, when I add a parallel timeline of Hipsterdom (and maybe politics etc.) to compare, I realize that’s where the threat of cultural isolation might have started for a certain generation. You’re right. Basic means safe, less thinking for oneself (which, let’s face it, can be exhausting), and most importantly, unified. Who wouldn’t be willing to give up a status based on authenticity in favor belonging while in the midst of suffering? Especially if it’s something as “trivial” as music. Thanks again.
The abandonment of the word hipster feels correlated to speed. Our c.2004 culture moved at 25 mph through the cultural landscape: we were able to spy a trend, a scene, generate an opinion of it, and then join or reject it. Ten years on, our c.2024 vehicle through the cultural landscape shrieks through at 100mph. It's impossible to viscerally experience culture now. It's a vapor rather than a solid. To combat this speed anxiety, I summon my inner Jenny Odell and head out exploring on foot (sans device). Walking can't be appropriated as a trend - it's undesigned and belongs to us all. That's what this old hipster is doing next.
That vaporousness is definitely a present feeling. It feels like there's no time to really appreciate anything before it's replaced with something else.
I don't think that hipsterism disappeared so much as the search for authenticity/purity/"the real" shifted toward politics, both right and left, which became a sort of fashion which is now ebbing out of style.
Politics as identity aesthetics! It makes sense as far as what supplanted people's senses of self — you could roleplay resistance warrior online. But I am curious what comes next, because politically driven culture is never that fun. Class-based, wealth porn??
I suspect that Proud Boy and Cancel Culture culture have shown that the group dynamics of marching, mobbing, and Lite Fascism can be very fun, indeed. It can replace a lot of social outlets that have been rendered obsolete.
the only 'cultural frontier' left might need to be 'offline first and only'; which is quickly combined with 'localism'. there's a kind of 'hipsterism' in 'no way to be found online'. which might still explain the attraction of a few 'authentic' downtowns such as in Japan, or Reykjavik & cie.
online kills any authenticity thanks to its effectiveness: being seen by millions (if not more) people in a flash.
I think this is true! Speed destroys authenticity and makes the development of scenes or movements harder. Identities (usually) come from coherence and some slow construction of community. Is being "local" the new "hipster," in the sense of seeking uniqueness and authenticity?
I kind of wonder if "hipsters" are going to come back, since Indie Sleaze has returned that trend pre-dated "hipsters." Since the Cobrasnake is back and working, one has to wonder when Look At This Fucking Hipster is going to get a web refresh. It feels bizarre that late 2000s style irony would make a comeback but not altogether implausible. Mullets are very fashionable so why not make them weird and ugly enough to be more unfashionable again? Also, after all of minimal grey and beige elevated lifestyle trends, isn't someone going to want to pick up a fanny pack, throw on a neon tank top and some super short cut off jeans to go ride their fixie somewhere?
The fundamental shift is less about speed, more about spikiness. The mainstream (and therefore the hipster avant garde in opposition to it) is a more fragile and temporary consensus in our digital network era. It’s harder to hold any cultural position when things only have a brief moment in the ‘for you’ tab before disappearing.
I wrote about this back in 2011, and it feels truer now than it did then:
https://medium.com/a-brief-history-of-attention/the-new-patterns-of-culture-slow-fast-spiky-e18f2bc83a46
I love this. The hipster aesthetic became mainstream during the tumblr era and I wonder if that contributed to its death. During peak Hipster you could usually look at someone's haircut, outfit, tattoos etc and get a general sense for their interests and music taste. When it became mainstream it stopped being an indication of anything aside from someone following a trend. And then like all trends, everyone moved on!
Love the OT series, guys. Thank you. :)
This hipster take, specifically Kyle’s point about “mainstream for survival,”has given me a clue to a cultural quandary I’ve had for a while, which is the phenomenon of Taylor Swift. I was in the Bay Area around 2008-2010 when TS started breaking through the self-identifying “alternative” friend circle I kept company with. I couldn’t figure out then (or now) why people who claimed to buck the mainstream made an exception for her, and these days, have become fanatical. However, when I add a parallel timeline of Hipsterdom (and maybe politics etc.) to compare, I realize that’s where the threat of cultural isolation might have started for a certain generation. You’re right. Basic means safe, less thinking for oneself (which, let’s face it, can be exhausting), and most importantly, unified. Who wouldn’t be willing to give up a status based on authenticity in favor belonging while in the midst of suffering? Especially if it’s something as “trivial” as music. Thanks again.