Pop Culture Shock

words by Rachel Carter

10.21.2009

Moving to New York City three years ago was a little bit of a culture shock. All of a sudden I was confronted with things like “public transportation” and “Starbucks.” If I sound like a cliché, it’s because I was one – I grew up in a small rural town, and New York was pretty daunting. Every time I got my bearings I had to figure out something else. And this included the people. It turns out that I-bankers, short for investment bankers, is a term for guys who wear polo shirts, go out in the meat-packing district, and have enough money to pay for dinner. Brooklyn “green” moms only give their kids organic food while fighting campaigns for breast-feeding rights. And then there are the hipsters.

Like hippies and punks of the past decades, hipsters are the new cornerstones of alternative youth culture. But instead of believing in free love and/or preaching anarchy, hipsters like to listen to indie bands, wear skinny jeans, and do everything ironically.

I like irony as much as the next person. Actually, that’s not true. I’m diabolically sincere, especially when it comes to cheesy pop culture stuff. I like so much stuff unironically. Things that are not cool for anyone to like. Things like “One Tree Hill.” And Twilight.

But living in Brooklyn puts me in the heart of the hipster world. Many of my friends fell out of the womb in skinny-jeans. In the past few years, I’ve developed a healthy appreciation for hipster culture, even as I recognize that I can never truly be a part of it (fedoras just don’t look good on me).

Therefore this column is a chance for me to blend two things I love: hipster stalking and pop culture. I’m going to “out” hipster culture. Well, sort of. It’s kind of tough for me to write anything without mentioning Robert Pattinson, so fair warning, there’s going to be a lot of cheesy stuff mixed in with the too-cool-for-school. But if the word “hipster” leaves you scratching your head, think of me as a hipster-culture translator — or, if you’re a hipster-in-training, as a big fat warning sign. Because let’s be honest, if it’s gotten to me, it’s probably no longer cool.
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Rachel Carter has an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. Her work has appeared in Girl Zone magazine and The Faster Times. She is currently living in New York and working on a young adult novel about ghosts. Visit her Pop Culture Blog.

Tags: Hipsters, One Tree Hill, Outing the Hipster, Rachel Carter, Twilight

Whitney Port

I know exactly what you mean! I just moved to New York City, and there are all of these black people here! Let me tell you, it’s hilarious how they all wear their baggy jeans and Rocawear hoodies and Air Force Ones and talk on their limited edition Stephon Marbury T-Mobile Sidekicks. Like a fucking uniform! Why would anyone do that?

Anyways, disclaimer, I’m not black but I have a black friend. She’s at least half black. So if you have any questions about black culture (“What’s up with that hip-hop music?” or “Why are so many of them in jail?”), just holla and I’ll help translate!
nathan

your point is made, but to introduce race baiting into a debate about the finer points of what is essentially a self serious fashion culture is adorably cheap. i can only assume you must be the real whitney port to put forth such refined satire. i look forward to more sharp commentary from the star of The Hills and The City.
Whitney Port

Culture =/= race. Thanks for proving my point!

Can’t wait to read more great articles about how “hipsters” are “a self serious fashion culture.” It’s both riveting and informative! Gotta write what you know, right?
nathan

not my column. i don’t know what she’ll write. but i think she made her perspective on the direction of this column pretty clear. feel free to debate it now and forever. i welcome your delightfully self serious perspective on all things hipster. it can be like a point/counterpoint where you make unequal comparisons. yay!
Whitney Port

Hip-hop culture is misunderstood, by people outside of it, as “black guys who wear baggy jeans and only make music about guns and hos.” What you’re defining as “hipster” culture is misunderstood, by people outside of it, as “self-important fags wearing skinny jeans who listen to depressing shitty music.” It’s fair to say that every culture is misunderstood by the people outside of it, and it gets stereotyped as a result.

Go ahead and defend that ignorant bullshit if you want, otherwise explain to me how it’s an unequal comparison. Me and my thick-rimmed tortoiseshell glasses are all ears.
nathan

absolutely. go back and read my original post. i heard your point and said i accept it. my issue was with your choice of satire, as if statements like “there are all of these black people here” and “Anyways, disclaimer, I’m not black but I have a black friend. ” weren’t created to introduce some (albeit coded) issue of latent racism and equate that to a misunderstanding about arts culture. it seemed inflammatory without reason and cheap since it introduced an unrelated sensitive issue while deviating from the main point of the column, so i made fun of you for it. i can’t argue that the column might, as an outsiders perspective, have inaccuracies or misrepresent certain aspects of so called “hipster culture” but i also think the columnist made her POV pretty clear. she’s not posing as an expert and this is a column, not an official in depth study.

feel free to have an opinion and share it here. but you should probably wait and see what she has to say before you slam her. no need to be so reactionary or self serious.

btw, you were hot in the last episode of The City. very sexy. no fooling.
Whitney Port

So then it’s not an unequal comparison.

The point of the satire is that when you stick another culture under that light, it goes from being “hilariously inflammatory!” to “unacceptably inflammatory!” The first post doesn’t do anything differently than this article does, it just talks about a different group. Lumping a large group of people into a single stereotype generally doesn’t go over too smoothly, but this article makes the distinction that “it’s okay to go after these people.”

If this site is looking for “non-experts” to write about other cultures, I’m available. I can probably crank out a “What’s up with those crazy cholos and their flannel shirts and reggaeton music?” article every week. I would even do that for free.

Aside from that, it’s just poor form for a music site to shit on its audience. It’s not like it’s an article about whitewater rafting or something, it’s an article on a music website shitting on a music-based culture.
Nate

this is silly. we can argue all day about whether your satirical comparison is equal. i don’t think it is but obviously you feel strongly enough about it to compare hipster culture to a group born from a culture oppressed over generations to arrive at a specific music and style-based culture born of those circumstances. whatever. i get it. your feelings are hurt.

as for your writing offer, we’re not looking for non-expert cholo bashers right now, only hipster bashers. but if you want to post your cholo bashing stuff in here, that’s cool. i’m sure you’ll get some interesting reactions.

i honestly hope that you continue to visit this site, but verbicide supports a broad spectrum of ideas and voices. some of them are more seriously themed, some are not. and, in fact, not all the stuff here is “hipster” focused. feel free to ignore stuff that doesn’t appeal to you. that’s what i do. i don’t agree with every review on this site either.

this is also not my column so i’ll end my commentary of it here since i don’t want to speak for the author. my personal opinion? it’s too early to even tell the overall direction of the column, but even so i think an honest critique is healthy. so thank you for your opinion!
admin

actually, i think it’s ideal form to shit on the hyper-sensitive, humorless, “dickbaggish” constituents of our audience — which this, nor any of the other 648 total posts on the site thus far, has not done.

and yes, it IS an unequal comparison. the more you argue that it’s not, the dumber you sound and the more diluted your original point becomes.
Patrick

This looks like it will turn out quite well! I look forward to reading it!
Pingback: Read Me! « POP!
Cornelius Coons

Wow, you guys are all fucking idiots
Greg

huh.
http://hottopop.wordpress.com/ RCarter

Hi, author here. Well, I have to say, it’s kind of nice to see such an immediate reaction to the column, even if it’s not all positive. That being said, “Outing the Hipster” is going to be a fun (sometimes satirical, usually celebratory) examination of how indie/hipster culture shows up in pop culture. Expect lots of posts about TV. And hot celebrities. And maybe even some shirtless pictures of Robert Pattinson, as I believe he can be appreciated by all cultures. But remember: fun and frivolous and…inflammatory? One can only hope.
Cornelius Coons

HI RACHEL
Kris

I once took the L into Myrtle-Wyckoff, and these circle of hipsters were talking about whatever hipsters talk about. I really don’t know why and it’s completely unwarranted, but I can’t stand the hipster culture. (CULTURE, not hipsters per se.) I don’t know why. I wonder if anyone else feels the same way. Anyway, this one hipster was waving around a loaf of bread to punctuate certain points of his hipster discourse, and it was kind of getting on my nerves, so as it came toward me, I bit right into it, and everyone just stared at me. The guy was so nice that he said, “I’ve gotta give you props, man. I can’t imagine anyone just suddenly doing that,” and then he gave me a bromance hug and ripped off a piece of bread for me. They’re not such bad people!
http://hottopop.wordpress.com/ RCarter

HI NEIL! How’s life?
Cornelius Coons

It’s going well! How’s New York?

Look everyone, kitties! http://bit.ly/1L9h8q
http://mariaciampa.com Maria

Good stuff Rachel! Can’t wait to read more.
:)

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