ART & CULTURE

Is Hipster a Dirty Word? A Brief History of Cool

Note: The word “hipster” is sort of like the word “ironic”— can pertain to almost anything yet never with a truly satisfying definition explaining why. So, for the sake of this essay, I won’t even bother. You know what a hipster is, I know what a hipster is, let’s move on.

   It’s a pretty loaded word— hipster. Is it strictly derogatory? Can it still be used as a term of endearment, trendiness, relevance? Is it over-circulated in our current vernacular? Under-circulated? Does everyone know what it means? Does anyone know what it means? Aside from hip-hop, which has its own set of confused and over-used words, the term hipster is used to describe almost all things trendy and current. So then, why is it almost exclusively used with an edge of snobbery and elitism— the very thing the word is supposedly being used to combat? To answer those questions, we’ll have to start where all stories start— somewhere towards the beginning.

 The word first entered the zeitgeist back in the forties— the good ole’ days when words meant what they were supposed to mean and everything else (according to grandmas everywhere) was pretty much orange groves. And back then, it simply said that you were hip, that you were cool, that you were a man or woman of the times and kept up with the current music, fashion, and culture. But this was before our national obsession with cool took on a Frankensteinian life of it’s own— and no amount of pitch-fork wielding villagers can stop us now.

 Cool is our generation’s top priority, bar none. It’s our crowning achievement, our great war, our contribution to the historical narrative. Sure, you can try to point fingers at the root causes— the media, the fetishization of celebrity, the internet, reality TV, Justin Bieber (sorry, he’s just the easiest punchline), or whatever it is that makes one feel okay about oneself. But, the fact remains— we will forever be remembered as the generation of cool. We had the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and now we’re in the Awesome Age. And who can rightly blame us? As the new media landscape changed at the turn of the millennium, we were introduced to a whole new world. Not only were we now seen and heard on a global scale, but also judged on a global scale. We could see everyone and everyone could see us, and suddenly, being cool had become much more than vanity— it was survival.

 We need validation like we’ve never needed it before. Because validation isn’t just a comfort in our current climate, it’s the difference between success and failure. We need comments and re-blogs and “likes” on Facebook (which reminds me; please comment, re-blog, and “like” this on Facebook). Simply said, we’re a generation of Tinkerbells— if no one’s applauding, we all start to die a little. We need to be cool.

 But in this ultra-ironic age, being traditionally cool simply isn’t enough— which is by no means a new phenomenon. For half a century the concept of the “uncool” being “cool” has been around. Not trying will forever be cooler than trying. It’s what first gave rise to ripped-jean fashions and bed-head hair; it’s what helped spur the Punk rock scene of the late seventies, Grunge rock of the late eighties, and the Alternative movement of the early nineties. But what happens when it becomes uncool to try and be uncool? What happens when not trying becomes trying? What happens when everyone realizes we’re all just trying to fool each other all the time?

We forget how to be ourselves.

   With too much self-awareness, you lose the ability to be organic. Even when we’re trying to be organic, we’re trying to be organic. It’s no longer natural for us to just be us. Like no other generation in history, we were born into a hyper-awareness of how we’re perceived by everyone. We’re an existentialist’s dream— our existence really does proceed our essence. We, in a way, have complete control over our essence, those little details that make us who we are. We have the ability to make our web-present selves anything we want them to be. We control every picture and comment, all of our “likes” and “dislikes.” We have complete sovereignty in how we want others to perceive us. But there is an underlying flaw with existentialism— it fucks with your head.

   Here’s a joke. Two hipsters walk into a hipster bar that’s filled with other hipsters. The one hipster turns to the other hipster and says, “Gawd, there are too many hipsters here.”

This, in a nutshell, is our problem.

   We see everyone around us trying so hard to be something we feel isn’t authentic, which in turn mirrors our own earnestness to be cool and wanted and liked. Through our own assumptions, we accidentally shine a light on ourselves instead, realizing that maybe we too have lost track of our own authenticity. Have you ever heard it said that, “Only hipsters make fun of hipsters?” It’s pretty much true— here’s my theory as to why.

   If you have a romantic partner that obsessively worries about whether or not you’re cheating, chances are they themselves are thinking about cheating. If you assume everyone around you is lying, you probably spend a fair amount of time not telling the truth. We see our own flaws in others and it makes us sad, which then makes us mad. A hipster sees another hipster and assumes that he or she is trying too hard to be someone they’re not because deep down, maybe the hipster knows he’s trying too hard to do the same. We feel as though we’re being judged, so therefore we judge. And all of this has resulted in us being a generation which disparages ourselves and our peers simply for liking the things that our generation is inclined to like.

   So here’s the big secret of life— no one knows what they’re doing. We’re all trying too hard. Why? Because it is hard. Say what you want about “first world problems” and how this is all (admittedly) a little silly. But sometimes problems are silly, and life— no matter who’s living it— can be very, very hard. So let’s all give ourselves and everybody else a break. We’re all trying to be liked and loved and wanted. Sure, a lot of hipsters are douche-bags— no argument there. But we’re all kinda douchie.

   So what’s the solution? How do we move forward without feeling the need to insistently insult ourselves and our peers for being young and interesting? Find your inner douche. Realize that you too probably come off as arrogant and trivial sometimes;  then make an effort to not hate people for doing the same. We all have to make assumptions about our rapidly changing world every second of everyday— we might as well try not to assume the worst.

   And then, maybe, we can all take a collective breath and let ourselves be proud of what our generation has accomplished and has yet to accomplish. Because after all, who’s cooler than us?