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Hipster (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:elitism_1407.png|link=Diesel Sweeties|right|Written by [http://dieselsweeties.com/archive/1762 a fictional hipster]. [[PoesPoe's Law|Is it ironic self-parody, or dead serious?]]]
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These days, self-identified hipsters (if such a thing can even be found as no one seems willing to call themselves by this name) view themselves as intellectuals who reject the mainstream and carefully define their own identities, taking [[Post Modernism|a buffet-style approach]] to elements of other cultures and subcultures. Your typical hipster outfit will appropriate and/or cannibalize elements from the punk, hippie, rave, and LGBT scenes, plus [[The Nineties|'90s]] [[Grunge|geek-chic]], and some token from a non-Western culture; lacking the ''[[Post Modernism|raison d'etre]]'' of any of these subcultures, the hipster will instead use [[Irony|an air of irony]] to tie the ensemble together. Hipsters' musical tastes are generally centered around indie rock, [[Baroque Pop]], [[Alternative Hip Hop]], [[Garage Rock (Music)|Garage Rock]] and [[Punk Rock]], and minimalist [[Techno]]. Particular bands hipsters tend to enjoy include [[Arcade Fire]], [[Beach House]], [[Belle and Sebastian (Music)|Belle and Sebastian]], [[Jens Lekman]], [[Animal Collective]], [[Joanna Newsom]], Grizzly Bear, Dr. Dog, [[Best Coast]], and all [[Elephant 6]] Collective bands (especially [[Neutral Milk Hotel]]), although only knowing those bands is only [[G.I. Joe|half the battle]] as an obscure and eclectic taste in music is preferred. ''Pitchfork Media'', a music blog, is probably the most important hipster taste-maker. Arcade Fire has been betrayed by many hipsters after they became more popular from Grammy nominations and uses in movies like ''[[Where the Wild Things Are]]'' and ''[[The Hunger Games]]''.
 
A critical mind might see [[Hipster|Hipsters]] as yet another subculture dedicated to individuality ended up manifesting just as much herd mentality as the mainstream it rejected, along with a tendency to act as though [[ItsIt's Popular, Now It Sucks|popularity and quality are inversely proportional]], and to be [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster&defid=2705928 very smug] about it.
 
From this was derived the strawman hipster of numerous parodies: A person who spends $60 on a new, designer-brand t-shirt which was faux-aged to look like something you could buy for $2 at Goodwill. A person whose taste in music is calculated to win "Whose iPod playlist is most obscure?" contests, and who disowns their favorite band for being played on the mainstream radio. A person who, upon admitting that she partakes in any form of mainstream entertainment -- especially anything with a [[Deep South|"redneck" stigma]] (like [[NASCAR]], [[Nickelback]] or [[Useful Notes/Mixed Martial Arts|Mixed Martial Arts]]) -- claims that she's only "[[So Bad ItsIt's Good|enjoying it ironically]]". A person who [[Hypocritical Humor|mocks every other hipster he sees]] but vehemently denies being a hipster himself. In short: ''that jerk who thinks he's better than you because he's so aggressively different''.
 
Due to this strawman, the term "hipster" is frequently used as an insult, lobbed in the direction of anyone deemed pretentious or the slightest bit "artsy". Further confusing the issue, hipsters themselves will, owing to their "indier-than-thou" attitude, [[Ruined FOREVER|frequently disown]] any hipster fashions or artists that [[ItsIt's Popular, Now It Sucks|catch on in the mainstream]]. One year, hipsters may wear distressed jeans and t-shirts with ironic vintage logos; the next year, self-professed hipsters will stop wearing those because they're available at every Wal-Mart in America, while the latecomers who start wearing those ''will still be labeled hipsters'' by outsiders. Which only further contributes to the decay of the label (although the term "scenesters" is sometimes used for these johnny-come-latelies). But the real reason hipsters get so much hate is probably just the smugness. According to certain alarmists, hipsters are not just [[Acceptable Targets]], but [[The New Rock and Roll|an occasion for]] [[You Can Panic Now|outright panic]]. To them, hipsters represent [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s Last Man: they stand for nothing and believe in nothing, so their ironic sneer is [https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html a harbinger of the downfall of Western civilization].
 
On a slightly more reasonable note, criticism of hipsters from right-wingers tends to focus on their left-wing, countercultural politics, while criticism from left-wingers accuses them of being the vanguard of [[The Man]] and undermining all the subcultures they appropriate from. [[MortonsMorton's Fork|So hipsters are bad because they're rebels, and they're bad because they aren't rebelling enough.]]
 
Compare [[Emo Teen]], [[Beatnik]], [[New Age Retro Hippie|Hippie]], [[Bourgeois Bohemian]]. Related to [[Irony]], [[Post Modernism]], [[Popularity Polynomial]].
 
See also [[I Read It for The Articles]]. Not to be confused with [[Rule of Cool]] or [[Isn't It Ironic|Isn't It Ironic?]] (It is.)
 
Usually this trope is in opposition to [[The Man]]. Yeah, we just had to point that out.
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Yv76csRTeto#! Expert Hipster Hunters at your service.]
* Eric, from [[Mall Fight]]. He basically checks every box aside from being a vegetarian. Instead, he is a pecitarian(outside of Chinese food).
* Grooveshark (a music streaming website) had a prank on [[April Fools' Day]] 2012, where any music you play would elicit on-screen commentary from Hipster Jen or Hipster Otis. "I have this song on limited-edition colored vinyl." "I guess this song isn't TOO embarrassing." "This makes my mustache sad."
 
 
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