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    The Sacred And The Profane: An Investigation Of Hipsters
    The Sacred And The Profane: An Investigation Of Hipsters
    The Sacred And The Profane: An Investigation Of Hipsters
    Ebook84 pages59 minutes

    The Sacred And The Profane: An Investigation Of Hipsters

    By Jake Kinzey

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    About this ebook

    The Sacred and the Profane is a work that combines local and global analysis to examine our age's often-talked about, but mostly misunderstood, 'mainstream subculture': the hipster. This book seeks to answer questions like, 'Why don't hipsters want to be called hipsters?' and 'Why do they act like they are different when they are just like all the other hipsters?' If you can't stand hipsters, are a hipster, or don't know what a hipster is, this book is for you.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Hunt Publishing
    Release dateFeb 24, 2012
    ISBN9781780990354
    The Sacred And The Profane: An Investigation Of Hipsters

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      Book preview

      The Sacred And The Profane - Jake Kinzey

      The Sacred

      and the Profane:

      An Investigation of Hipsters

      First published by Zero Books, 2012

      Zero Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Laurel House, Station Approach,

      Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK

      office1@o-books.net

      www.o-books.com

      For distributor details and how to order please visit the ‘Ordering’ section on our website.

      Text copyright: Jake Kinzey 2010

      ISBN: 978 1 78099 034 7

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

      The rights of Jake Kinzey as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,

      Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Design: Stuart Davies

      Printed in the UK by CPI Antony Rowe

      Printed in the USA by Offset Paperback Mfrs, Inc

      We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

      Dedicated to Aunt Jane, Ken Winterbottom,

      William Roberts PhD and Liz Pis.

      "Don’t pull me down, this is where I belong

      I think I’m different, but I’m the same and I’m wrong

      Don’t pull me down, this is where I belong

      I think I’m different, this is where I belong"

      Blink 182 – Pathetic

      Chapter One

      The hipster has been understood in many ways, but most popular explanations are false, misleading, or at best a small piece of a larger picture. An example is N+1 Magazine’s recently published What Was The Hipster? The title suggests that the hipster is no longer with us (R.I.P.), but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The hipster is neither dead nor buried. The children of the hippies and yuppies live! in the streets, the malls, the media, the cities and the suburbs the world over. Ironic postmodern-kitsch zombies are finding comfort in the apathy and over-consumption of late-capitalism. Is there anything new to say about the hipster? Hasn’t the subject already been endlessly analyzed in books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs, etc.? Who cares? Isn’t it just another subculture?

      Another way to understand the hipster is through Apple’s well-known 1984 Superbowl Ad. Apple introduced their new line of personal computers to the general public in a well-known parody (or is it pastiche?) of 1984. ¹ The commercial is set in a grey dystopic industrial setting, with shots of a Big Brother-like figure talking to people who all look the same. Then there are full-color shots of a nameless heroine, a track star carrying a hammer, representing Apple. She throws the hammer into the screen and destroys it, liberating the grey populace.

      This commercial can be read in many ways: the shift from centralized capitalism to decentered capitalism; the shift from TV to the computer; but the most powerful message the commercial seems to send is are you bored and confined within your grey late capitalist world? Do you feel like a lifeless automaton? Buying an Apple computer will revolutionize you and bring creativity and color to your life! Today it’s easy to see how these late-capitalist hopes are utopian (in the negative sense). Rather than endless creativity we are still stuck in conformity. An easy test is going into any college lecture hall of reasonable size and looking up: one is bound to see a sea of illuminated Apples staring back at them. The white Apple headphones became so ubiquitous that they made people easy targets for thieves on the New York subway. It seems like we have gone back to 1984; yet people seem to believe in bringing creativity and authenticity to their lives more than ever. By now it has become a truism that being anti-mainstream is the mainstream: here one is able to locate the truth in the typical assertion that hipsters think they are being different but really act the same.

      But, while this is undoubtedly true, that is not enough to properly explain what is going on. Why do they all act the same, and why is the appearance of being unique necessary to the process? The platitude doesn’t acknowledge what is distinctive about the hipster, while being able, at the same time, to show similarities to other subcultures. What is a hipster? The hipster has clearly identifiable progenitors (the bohemians, the beats, the (post-) punks etc.) but is not explained away in a narrative of previous subcultures. When asked, most people describe the hipster in terms of concrete objects they consume (what they wear, listen to, eat etc.) or as an attitude (e.g. they are elitist snobs masked in an aesthetic populism). They make the same mistake as critics who examine the hipster in isolation rather than seeing their place in larger processes (i.e. global ones). Hipsters are the most postmodern mainstream-subculture to date and are perfectly integrated into postmodern late-capitalism (à la Frederic Jameson).

      Since there has been no dominant mainstream culture for a while, hipsters have reluctantly filled this empty place with their own question mark. Hipsters rarely refer to themselves as hipsters, seeing themselves as beyond labels. If hipsters do acknowledge that something like a hipster exists, they will be glad to show you that hipsters exist out there, having nothing to do with themselves. Distance and irony are key concepts in understanding this outlook. Hipsters rarely passionately believe in anything, preferring cynical distancing.

      The hipster was born in the era of globalization driven by free-market fanaticism; they represent the socio-economic realities around them. It is no surprise to hear that, "Across the developed world, from Copenhagen to Cape Town, from Tokyo to Sao Paolo, from Kreuzberg [in Berlin] to Williamsburg [in New York]– from Grangemouth to Guildford, for that matter – today’s [hipsters] all wear the same clothes and accessories, listen to the same sounds, ride the same bicycles, and read the same magazines, e-mailouts and

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