“Do you know that he
called me a hipster? Hipster! Do hipsters walk around
wearing $300 jeans from Italy?” There was no more hated figure.
of the post-millennium era than the hipster. “Ugh, hipsters.” (shooting sounds) “Aren’t you getting
a little tired of this? I mean, the clothes,
the antique yo-yos.” Here’s how you spot a hipster,
on and offscreen: First off, they’ll never
call themselves that, and will vigorously deny
being one. “He’s like a hipster, right?” “No! No, I’m not a hipster
at all.” “Yeah, yeah. You do seem
to hate a lot of things. And the bottom of your pants
are awful tight.” The hipster is defined
by what they don’t like, rather than what they do. “But you hate movies that are
universally loved.” “I don’t even—” “You like Forest Gump?” “No! No, it’s a horrendous
piece of s[BLEEP].” They have a superiority complex
based on disdaining anything mainstream and preferring obscure treasures
no one else has heard of. “I really only listen to, like,
German Death Reggae and Halloween sound effects
records from the 1950s.” Ultimately, the hipster is defined
less by an ideology than by an aesthetic -- what HuffPost’s Julia Plevin terms the
“carefully created sloppy vintage look.” “Hipster or homeless pop quiz,
ready?” The hipster believes
their superpower is their ultra-discerning,
highly specific taste. “It pains me will live in a world
where nobody’s heard of Spearmint.” But they have to keep chasing
new discoveries and discarding old favorites as soon as they’re
embraced by the masses. “Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit
off of Nevermind.” “Oh no, Rob, that’s not
obvious enough. Not at all.” Yet, while all this has led to
hipsterdom being dismissed as pretentious or fake,
the authentic version of this character is in search
of something deeper -- a truly alternative existence. And this can be a noble pursuit
if they can overcome the addiction to irony and put some heart into it. “I can help people.” VICE declared the death
of the hipster in 2015, but the figure’s aesthetic
is more ubiquitous than ever. So, did this persona actually die
or has the hipster become what it always hated: mainstream? Here’s our take on where
the hipsters came from and where they’re at today. [Music] So, we’re so excited to announce that we have a brand new episode
of The Takeaway. Today, we’re delving into the
season 5 finale of The Expanse, and we’re telling you all about the
deeper symbolism and hidden meaning in that finale. So, after you watch this video,
please click on the link in the description below,
and check out the latest Takeaway, only on the Amazon Prime
Video YouTube channel. Because when the show ends-- --the conversation begins. [Music] “2020 vision is just a pair
of empty frames. Dressing like a nerd,
although I never got the grades.” The modern “hipster” label
emerged in the early 2000s to describe someone who
(according to Robert Lanham’s 2003 The Hipster Handbook) “possesses tastes, social attitudes,
and opinions deemed cool by the cool…” -- “I said I love The Smiths… You have—you have good taste in music.” “You like The Smiths?” “Yeah.” -- and who “shuns or reduces
to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream.” “When you’re used to listening
to the raw power of Iggy and The Stooges,
everything else just sounds, kind of like… precious.” A lot of the hipster’s cachet
is tied up in the idea that they’re an arbiter of taste. “Because you’re just some
wannabe hipster who judges everything
because you’re too scared to take a chance on anything.” They’re experts on high culture,
and they love low culture, but only with an ironic detachment. [keytar playing Star-Spangled Banner] Almost as soon as this type had a name,
the hipster character took off in film and TV both as an indie hero
and a subject of satirical mockery. “Sorry, I was taking a selfie
while shooting a Snapchat, while periscoping that Snapchat,
while instagramming latte art.” In the late aughts and early 10s,
actors like Michael Cera and Zach Braff played hipster heroes whose
fashionably alternative tastes seemed to connote
superiority of the soul. “Cuz you’re, like,
the coolest person I’ve ever met…
and—and you don’t even have to try,
you know?” “I try really hard, actually.” Hip-to-the-max
500 Days of Summer was a love story
that denied being one -- “This is not a love story.” -- starring a hipster
who characteristically refused the label. “All you people calling me a hipster
can go f[BLEEP] yourselves.” But it showed how the hipster’s
trademark differentness and detachment could produce valuable insights; the script used a playfully ironic
third person narration to critique its protagonist’s clichéd,
unrealistic views of love. “This belief stemmed from
early exposure to sad British pop music…
and a total misreading of the movie The Graduate.” The actress who played
unattainable love interest Summer, Zooey Deschanel,
embodied the female hipster in almost all her roles
of that era -- “I teach a jogging photo group
for people who want to both exercise and practice photography.” -- but especially as Jess
in New Girl. “Ugh! C’mon bangs,
you sons of bitches.” Jessica Day epitomizes
the adorkable girl, who revives seemingly uncool hobbies
like knitting, crafting, and baking, and channels a vintage ultra-femininity (which Deschanel also commercialized
via her website HelloGiggles). Alternative Hollywood A-listers likewise
profited from the rise of the hipster, as former indie darlings like
Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. harnessed their hipster credentials
into fronting major franchises. “He’s got another buyer for the
Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it, yes or no?” “Is it a good representation
of his Spring period?” But at the same time as
the hipster was being embraced, they were being mocked. “A guy like that’s hanging out here?
This bar is over.” When they weren’t being ridiculed,
they were openly distained, blamed for the gentrification
of formerly working-class neighborhoods like
Brooklyn’s Williamsburg or London’s Shoreditch. “They’re trying to make the
neighborhood spiffy for the invading hipster hordes.” Hipster culture was associated
with fakeness and lazy posturing by slackers who had no talent
or work ethic. “Working feels bad and I don’t
ever wanna work one more day in my entire life.” At the center of the hipster hate
is a portrait of the figure as a hypocrite. The Guardian’s Alex Rayner wrote,
“detractors might not know exactly what a hipster is, but they do know
what they don’t like:.. a tiresome sort of trendy, ostentatious
in their perceived rebellion, yet strangely conformist.” “So, guys, what should we do?
Send them to heaven or make ‘em burn in hell?” [Chanting] “Burn in hell!” “Yeah! That’s what I thought!” In 2009, Paste’s Kate Kiefer
charted various phases of the hipster’s evolution in subtypes,
like “the scenester,” “the twee,” “the mountain man,” and
the “vintage queen,” touching on the hipster’s
contradictory aspects, like a desire for “working class authenticity”
and an attachment to their iPod. The common denominator
in all these examples is not a fixed-gear bike or a can of PBR,
but how the hipster shapeshifts to stay ahead of trends. “It might be the hair.” “What might?” “It changes a lot… the color.
That’s why you might not recognize me.” This appropriation of
a range of aesthetics betrays the upper-middle class
white privilege that’s central to the hipster. “Between you and me, like,
my parents pay my cellphone bill and everything else that I need.” Drawing on French sociologist
Pierre Bordieu, The New York Times’ Mark Greif argues that the hipster’s
obsession with the idea of good taste is just another way of reinforcing
class structures, writing, “Those superior in wealth use it to
pretend they are superior in spirit.” “It’s important to remember that many
of these cops are poor, uneducated, and bad at their jobs.” “I close my eyes and try to imagine
growing up in a place like this, living with a feeling that I’ll
never be able to leave.” [Music] The “hipster” term was first coined
In the 1940s by jazz musician Harry Gibson as a way to describe
himself and his fans. [Singing] “They call him
handsome Harry ‘The Hipster,’ He’s the boy with all the chicks.” Beat Generation figures like writers
Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac -- who were also avid jazz fans --
epitomized the post-war hipster with their mission to live
for the moment outside of conventional society. Old hipsters and new hipsters
share a parallel in both thinking of themselves as a part of
a wider counter-culture. But one thing that distinguishes
the earlier hipster is that he was shaped by the aftermath
of World War II. “I saw the best minds of my generation
destroyed by madness.” Norman Mailer defines the hipster
mindset as a kind of existentialism brought about by witnessing the horrors
of the Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb. Faced with this specter of
sudden death -- or of (quote) “a slow death of conformity” --
the hipster rebels against “square” society. Over time, the “hipster” label
came to broadly define young, middle-class progressives who
emulated working-class styles and stuck two fingers up at
mainstream culture. 1969 road movie Easy Rider depicted
rebellious, hipster characters trying, and failing, to forge a sustainable path
outside of capitalist American society. “It’s real hard to be free when you are
bought and sold in the marketplace.” In Europe, French New Wave
filmmakers also tried to embody an alternative mindset by marrying
existentialist philosophy, left-wing politics, and stylish young actors like
Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. [speaking French – English translation:] “I told you, the worst flaw
is cowardice.” But while all these manifestations
of hipness may heroically reject mainstream culture, there’s a
bleakness to the stories they tell. “You know Billy, we blew it.” “And then you go for the big money,
man, and then you’re free… You dig?” “We blew it.” By the end of The Graduate,
Benjamin Braddock may have taken a stand against conforming to his parents’ will,
but the victory is hollow, as he and Elaine will probably end up
turning into their parents anyway. [Music] “Within the sound of silence.” The millennial hipster of the aughts
retains his predecessor’s pessimism, and also channels the malaise and
sarcasm of ‘90s Gen-X slackers like Ethan Hawke’s Troy Dyer
in Reality Bites -- “At the beep, please leave your name,
number, and a brief justification for the ontological necessity of
modern man’s existential dilemma, and, uh, we’ll get back to you.” -- and sensitive, sullen
emo-types like Daria. “People judge you by your expression.” “Yes. And I believe there’s something
intrinsically wrong with that system. I have dedicated myself to changing it.” We can see the legacy of older hipster’s
darkness and doomed search for purpose in modern hipster Dory on Search Party. The hollowness of her aimless existence
leads her to seek meaning in the disappearance of a girl she only
superficially knew. “I think you’ve decided that this
matters to you because you have nothing else.” While her friends typify the status
and self-obsessed notions of the millennial hipster -- “I mean she was very…
jealous of me.” -- Dory, at first, exemplifies
something deeper. But (SPOILER ALERT) after she
gets into trouble and might be held accountable for her
increasingly harmful actions -- “Could these two seemingly
charming hipsters be cold-blooded murderers?” -- she leans into her privilege,
counting on it to help her literally get away with murder. “I don’t need your permission
to do anything. And I don’t regret saying what I did So you need to stop crying about it
and do your job.” Throughout the hipster’s history,
there’s a theme of resisting the capitalism that underlines
mainstream society, stamping out individualism,
in the name of making everyone good little consumers. But one of the criticisms of the
millennial hipster movement is that it’s essentially capitalism
in counter-culture clothing -- a commodification of
alternative aesthetics. Far from taking down the man,
the privileged modern hipster serves to uphold the
existing hierarchies. Norman Mailer’s essay
“The White Negro” argues that the original hipster’s identity, too,
was an appropriation of black culture (and especially
jazz culture). 2017’s Get Out makes this
ongoing cultural appropriation into horror with (SPOILER ALERT)
the story about literally transplanting white minds into black bodies,
as white characters who want to be hip try to steal a young, black artist’s
perceived “coolness.” “Black… is in fashion!” The castigations of hipster culture
always come down to the criticism that they’re actually
hypocritical conformists. But what if a hipster is for real? Isn’t it admirable to earnestly
seek an alternative life and not just mindlessly do
what everyone else does? “You just always seemed…
Like, how do I put this? In search of yourself? Like looking for
constant purpose.” It’s more difficult to live differently,
which makes it all the more worth it to try. “It’s like my photography.
I know there isn’t that much Demand for blurry photographs
Taken while running but—" “I wasn’t gonna say anything.” [Laughs] “You know, who cares? And it’s important to have people in
society who care about art and culture as much as the hipster does. High Fidelity’s protagonist Rob
may be a music snob -- “It’s the best collection
I’ve ever seen.” -- but Rob’s also an idealist
with a deep love for music as an art form. “Making a playlist… is a delicate art…
You get to use someone else’s poetry to express how you feel.” This combination of passion and
exacting standards contributes to the appreciation and preservation
of great cultural creations. The film director version of the hipster
is arguably Wes Anderson, whose been both revered and parodied
for his devotion to his signature style. “From the twisted mind
of Wes Anderson, it’s The Midnight Coterie
of Sinister Intruders.” Because his aesthetic is so defined –
from the Futura typeface to the meticulous symmetrical framing –
it’s easy to write off his films as only style and no substance. However, while some of his characters
may appear pseudo-intellectual Or pretentious -- “My top schools where I want to
apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety’s Harvard.” They are far deeper than that. “I think we’re just gonna have to be
secretly in love with each other and leave it at that, Richie.” Similarly, David O. Russell’s
2004 film I Heart Huckabees might play to some as twee
or contrived looking back, but at its core it is a film
about a young person caring enough to examine
the deep nature of existence -- “Everything is the same
even if it’s different.” -- while taking a stand against
The rising tide of consumerism. “I’m talking about not covering every
square inch of populated America with houses and strip malls until you
can’t even remember what happens when you stand in a meadow at dusk.” We can sympathize with hipster
characters who feel lost, like life isn’t living up to their
high standards. Jess Mariano, Rory’s hipster
love interest from Gilmore Girls, is an outlier in Stars Hollow. “Potlucks and Tupperware parties
aren’t really my thing.” “Too cool for school, huh?” “Yes, that is me.” But his interests aren’t all
that different from Rory’s. “You’ve read this before.” “About 40 times.” “I thought you said
you didn’t read much.” “Well, what is ‘much’?” It’s just that Rory has a path
laid out for her to follow, and Jess doesn’t. “I want to be good.
Life’s just not letting me.” The hipster character may hide behind
their irony or judgmental taste to paper over what they don’t like
about their lives or themselves. But their happiness often comes
in finding the courage to overcome their ironic detachment -- “I guess I just figured… why make
something disposable, like a building, when you can make something that
lasts forever, like a greeting card?” [Laughs] -- to admit how much they
do care about things, to put themselves out there
and risk failing, and to pursue a life that
really fulfills them -- “I quit the office.” -- cool or not. The hipster has journeyed
from cultural outlier to mainstream agitator
to just mainstream. Their aesthetic has now become
fully commercialized, with seemingly every
restaurant and café embracing reclaimed wood
and exposed lightbulb fittings. Hipster archetypes are a fixture
of mainstream movie and TV worlds. Hipsters have grown into
stable adults and parents; and the traits once associated
with hipsters are now viewed as synonymous with millennial culture
at large. “Everything I hate about young people:
rich, beautiful, corrupt. What are they calling them,
millellials?” So, who are the new hipsters? Some hipsters onscreen today finally
represent more diverse perspectives and deeper experiences. “Are you the girl who wrote
Chronicles of a Fed Up Millennial?” “Rolling with a literary star.” The college students in
Dear White People have a recognizable hipster aesthetic,
but these characters are also politically aware and striving
for a better America. “Everyone said we were crying wolf,
But this is our proof.” “A bunch of white kids
dressing up like us. This is some real shit.” Meanwhile, the trend cycle
continues on: Esquire crowned 2020
the year of the shipster, who would look more at home
on a windswept beach than at a Williamsburg bar,
while sea shanties have gone viral over TikTok. [Singing] “Someday
the Weller Man comes to bring us sugar
and tea and rum.” But rather than racing to keep up,
the truly hip person today can zero in on what it’s really all about:
searching for an alternative way of life, beyond taste,
that lives up to your ideals. “The world’s a playground.
You know that when you’re a kid, but somewhere along the way,
everyone forgets is.” And now, you have plans:
You’re watching the latest episode of The Takeaway on the Amazon
Prime Video YouTube Channel. Today we’re delving into the
season 5 finale of The Expanse and we’re telling you all about
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the description below and check out The Takeaway: A fun, smart, and original series
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