Hipster Culture Part 3

When the Overman listens to George Michael

Having accounted for solution 1 and 2, I will now dive into the third and last option for the trendsetting hipster in his quest to be alternative. In part 1 I called it to “Distance yourself from the new hipsters by diving right back into the mainstream”. This is actually a bit wrong, since this last stage describes settling wherever you want, no matter how many others are already in that spot. But does this not mean giving up on the entire hipster-dream? Let me explain...

Søren Kierkegaard's final character in his theory of stages is the religious 'Knight of Faith'. This character represents the individual, who has gone beyond the average 'culturally religious' person. Earlier characters in the religious stage are part of the religious congregation, and find their personality as a part of that group (the mainstream). The religious character of the Knight of Faith is impossible to see. He acts, talks and lives as any other man, and it is impossible to see, that this individual has taken the leap of faith and made himself independent of the recognition of others. To Kierkegaard, the character at the end of the religious stage is indistinguishable from all others.

How does this tie in with the hipster? Or should I say meta hipster, for this is when he steps into the picture. The meta Hipster has abandoned his search for alternativity on the outside and may as such look in any way possible. He has internalized his alternativity and hipsterness, and become a one-man culture – a meta hipster (meta = greek for 'after', ie meta hipster = that which comes after the hipster). Like the Knight of Faith, the meta hipster no longer needs the recognition of others to sustain his alternativity. He can now satisfy his alternatomania simply through the knowledge, that he is a unique individual, who has chosen his own way.

Having seen the meaninglessness in the eternal struggle for alternativity, the meta hipster makes his own cultural meaning. To be able to make the meta hipsters 'leap of faith', one must first realize the nihilism that is as much hipster-culture as it is the mainstream, and through that knowledge create his own cultural values. Exactly this character, that rises above nihilism, is by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) called “Der Übermensch” or “the overman”, and in his writings this means seeing through the system that is Christian morals, and making your own values. In our context it could mean listening to George Michael, well knowing that it is some of the least cool tunes imaginable (at least in my social circles), simply because one chooses to.

The meta hipster is indistinguishable from everyone else. He may look mainstream or goth. He may seem nerdy in the hip way, or nerdy in the real way. Only he himself knows, that he has in fact made the leap of faith from the meaninglessness of fashion and trends, into a world that is his own construction, where individuality and alternativity has been internalized to a silent wisdom: “I am who I am – And I'm the only one.”

Please feel free to comment!

Hipster Culture Part 2

Hipster culture – a philosophical take Part 2

Last time I ended up with the hipster's three choices after breaking out from the mainstream. He may (1) settle himself where he is, knowing that others will mimic him, and end up forming a new subculture. Another option for our newborn hipster is (2) to keep on distancing himself from not only the mainstream, but also the other newer hipsters, by continuingly ironizing against all others, as we saw in Kierkegaards esthete 'A', thus fighting for his own uniqueness. Lastly there is the possibility for the hipster (3) to dive right back into the mainstream he just barely escaped. We'll get back to this one later on. In short the hipster can stay where he is, move forward to something new, or go back to where he was...

The first choice is probably the most common, and this is where our average hipster ends up. But would this not be giving up on the hipster dream of alternativity? That depends on the subject in question, and the degree of his “alternat-omania” - ie. his hunger for the alternative. This is a driving force in pretty much all of mankind through all time (tho' we weren't always conscious of it), and it has become more clear and extreme in the postmodern age. In the most light degree this means that we all want to be just a tiny bit different from everyone else. After all, if we were completely similar, there would be no room for personality and individuality. So even if I would want to look like, talk like and in pretty much every single way be similar to some role-model, I would not want to become him. That would imply loosing myself and thereby becoming nothing in the process.

So the lightest degree of this mania only means the will to retain one's own existence. At higher degrees we see changes at first in music, clothing and hobbies growing into new social circles, personality and morals.

We find our average hipster in the middle of this, where style, music and more of the outer characteristics have been alternated from the mainstream, while the deeper constitutions (religion and morals etc.) remain pretty much the same as the mainstream's.

Others however can not be satisfied by settling with a smaller group of supposed like-mindeds, they are constantly driven towards the point of ultimate, absolute, cultural solitude and alternativeness. Their styles will change as soon as they discover someone else with a similar style as their current. However with the great diversity we find in our modern culture(s), this will lead to a never ending evolution, that does not aim towards a 'better' or 'higher' state, but only a different one. And this may very well lead to any kind of degeneration (ex. a moral one). It is curious that these individuals tend to become trendsetters, due to the sole fact that they are truly unique – or at least as close as it gets. Hereby not having said, that the truly “alternat-omaniacs” necessarily become evil, degenerated demagogs, but they are however more exposed to this risk.

Enough for now. I will bring my explanation of the third possibility next time.

Comment away!

Hipster Culture Part 1

Hipster culture – a philosophical take Part 1

To get to my description of the meta-hipster, I'll start with the original hipster.

The hipster stands out from the mainstream in a lot of ways. We're talking preference of music, clothing, movies etc.. This is a very discussed topic, and has been portrayed very humorously by Alex Stone and Mike Cronin in The Hipster Song

We however are going to take a look at the 'why'. Why stand out? Why be different? Why spend hours on Spotify searching for that new indy band that no one else knows? I believe my good friend Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) may be able to help us solve this one. This Danish philosopher describes the esthete 'A', who has an ironic take on life. He distances himself from the philistine (mainstream) as he is confronted with the meaningless of life. He sees how people in the mainstream are just products of their contexts (trends, fashion etc.) and don't really have any free will themselves, and this view forces the esthete to withdraw from life itself. 'A' is like someone watching a game of football, who just sits back and makes fun of the players. 'A' does not involve himself in anything – he just mocks the mainstream for their ignorance of the meaninglessness of their lives. He uses irony to ridicule them, while at the same time making himself untouchable. And that's exactly the point. Irony is a way of making yourself invulnerable, since you do not have any opinions about anything. The ironic 'A' can not be attacked, since he has no standpoints to attack, and from this platform of nothing, he looks down on the petty ants in the mainstream.

This might be a bit of a harsh generalization to say about all Radiohead fans, that they should have no opinions, that they distance themselves from life, and that they are just making a mockery of everyone else through irony. But I do think that some of the points match. The average hipster probably hasn't hit a wall of meaninglessness in life, but the thought of blending in with a large mainstream could very likely frighten him/her to try to establish his own culture/social group. The French sociologist Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) describes the great mass as “without property, without predicate, without quality and without reference. Herein consists its definition or its radical indefinition”. Who would want to be a part of this void of meaning and personality? Not the hipster – that's for sure.

So the hipster pulls out of the mainstream category to create his own individual meaning and style, liberated from generalization and group mentality. But what happens then? His friend does the same thing. And his friend with him. If there's one thing that is 'in' today, it is standing 'out'. The hipster finds his project terrorized by the next hipster in line. There are 3 ways to deal with this:

1. Stay as you are and establish a new culture where you are.
2. Distance yourself from the new hipsters by further evolving your style.
3. Distance yourself from the new hipsters by diving right back into the mainstream.

What happens next? We'll see in part two!.... Whenever I get to it, that is.

Comments?

Welcome

The Meta Hipster site is up!

I will very shortly be posting my thoughts on meta-hipster culture, which in short is the subculture that will replace the hipster within the next few years.

I can't wait to share my thoughts on this topic.

Let's get this baby rolling..

- Nik