Oh, those Hipsters.

"Hipsters are the friends who sneer when you cop to liking Coldplay. They're the people who wear t-shirts silk-screened with quotes from movies you've never heard of and the only ones in America who still think Pabst Blue Ribbon is a good beer. They sport cowboy hats and berets and think Kanye West stole their sunglasses. Everything about them is exactingly constructed to give off the vibe that they just don't care."
— Time Magazine, July 2009

The term "hipster" came up frequently this weekend as I walked the streets of New York City and spent some time in New Brunswick, NJ--both hipster centrals. (Thank god I didn't go anywhere near Brooklyn). As two friends and I tried to explain to another friend what the word even meant, I got to thinking about the history of the term and the people. It made me wonder, why would anyone want to label themselves as a "hipster" or anything really?

According to Wikipedia, the term first originated in the 1940s during the jazz age. The original hipsters were white young people who were trying to be like the black jazz musicians that they admired. However, after World War 2, literary geniuses Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg expanded the movement by coining themselves hipsters as well as founders of the Beat Generation. The movement actually gained a definition, though, when writer Norman Mailer referred to hipsters as one who chooses to "divorce oneself from society, to exist without roots, to set out on that uncharted journey into the rebellious imperatives of the self." The history of "hipster" seems really awesome and it probably was, considering the times and the social limitations.

Ginsberg in the 1950s-ish

But today, in 2009, "hipster" has become something else entirely. Hipsters only listen to underground indie or alternative rock and only watch indie films. They are usually vegetarians or vegans and have to eat organic, locally grown foods. They drink cheap beer and wear skinny jeans. They read more books than anyone (or so they think) and have a liberal arts major or liberal arts career.

WELL, if that is the criteria, one may argue that I (and a lot of people I know) am similar to a hipster. I love underground music and indie films. I don't really eat red meat too often and organic foods swarm my kitchen. I love Coors Light and I wear skinny jeans. I read a shitload of books and graduated as a Journalism and English major.

BUT what sets people like me apart from hipsters? We like other things too! We love all types of music as well as indie because its genuinely good. We like popular films and we drink cheap beer because we like it, not because we're "starving" artists. We read shitty books sometimes and we wear whatever we like, not what we're supposed to like.

And the funny thing is, hipsters do all that too, they're just scared to admit it because then, god forbid, they might not be "cool". It just seems as if they're trying too hard to be a subculture that is different but they are all just the same. They might end up being in the same lame category as guidos soon.

Something that originated from rebellion has turned pretentious. Anyone disagree? I love hearing new theories!