Taking a stab in the dark, I would have to say that a hipster is one who is always "in the loop" when it comes to the latest trends. Because let's all face it, when someone doesn't know what the latest trend or must-have is, that person is thought of as just a regular person, or in this case, a follower.
Apple has done a great job by portraying that in order to have a mac or an ipod, you have to be either:
A.) An idiot.
B.) A tortured artist.
C.) In a band.
D.) A pseudo-intellectual. (you know, the guy who hangs out at the coffee shop all day on his laptop, challenges everyone's ideas or belief, and thinks he is too smart for class, etc...)
Then of course, people who are one or all of the above, go out and buy macs and ipods because they feel that apple has done a great job by reaching out to them, and understanding them. Since laptops and ipods were not around during the civil war, and during the days or slavery, I would have to say that "hip" has an always changing definition. Based off the reading, hip during those times would have taken for form of using slave lingo, and being against or for slavery (depending if you lived in the north or the south).
Today it seems as though for one to be hip, they almost need to branch off of a sub-culture. Football in Texas is a sub-culture, since it is taken far more seriously there than it is in Idaho. The next step would be for a football fan in Texas to bring something unique to that specific sub-culture, which in turn would spark yet another group of football?
Trying to define hip is like trying to remember the dream you had from last night. Hip really does not have a definition etched in stone, because hip can't be defined. The word is as flexible as silly puddy, and will most likely remain that way for centuries to come.
It seems like knowledge is at the heart of your definition. I agree; I think this plays an essential role in whatever the "hipster" is.
ReplyDeleteYour Apple example is interesting. So is Apple selling an image of "hip" with its products? If so, how does the idiot of the four-part test come into play?
Yes, I think I used knowledge as a term for me to fall back on, and I used it also as the jugular of this piece. Looking back, I think I should have elaborated more on the Apple example. The point I was trying to convey was the fact that people in general (myself included) are so stupid they will bite at almost anything. The Apple example backs this up because Apple targets a specific group, the "hip kids." The kids with long hair, the kids in bands, the artists, etc...And those are the exact people that buy Apple's products more than any other group of people. I guess I should have used "gullible" as the heart of my definition of hip.
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