Hipsters: The Tragic and The Chasers

If you’ve watched the hilarious show Portlandia then you’ve heard of hipsters. I hear this phrase pop up repeatedly at the mall, in the halls, and even at Goodwill. So what exactly is a hipster?

I’m not the urban dictionary, but I would split hipsters into two categories – the tragic and the chasers. The tragic should be addressed first since they really started the whole movement. They seem to be made of people are not willing to accept that they have grown up and the beauty of whatever epoch they came from is over. Whether it was the 80’s, 90’s, or coming soon the 00’s they keep bringing back forgotten styles, lingo, and music. It is almost like they found a real Never-never-land, where they will never have to grow up and act like adults e.g. wear grown-up clothes, get grown-up jobs, and talk about grown-up things – like realistic politics.

The chasers are everyone else who follows the fad. They look to be on the crest of whatever new wave of cool is crashing in this week. Nerd power is a great example of this. When did everyone start wearing the dorky glasses again? In boot camp they gave those out to all the kids who needed glasses. We called them BC’s as in birth control. Wearing them was essentially the same thing, but not so for the hipsters. Those glasses are cool. Flannel is another great example; I keep flashing back to 1995 when everyone in Home Improvement was wearing it.

Things I expect to hear from hipsters are phrases like “I liked (insert band) before they sold out/ were cool/ were popular,” and words like "cliché" or “over.” Something I never expect to hear from a hipster is “I love the new popular movie/band that just came out.” Maybe I’ve got it all wrong, after all I could be applying the word to the wrong group. The real point here is that there is a reason those fads died, it’s the same reason your families’ photo albums remain hidden: they were embarrassing. Do you really think all these guys wearing skinny jeans are going to be proud of it in ten years?  I think not…unless of course they become hipsters.

by STUART ENKEY

Staff writer and co-creator of The Accolade News.