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Please Explain This Terminology To A Brit. Thanks.

posted 10 years ago by fun-niji
1 reply | jump to latest

I'm from the UK. I've just read a few post regarding the term "hipsters" and that it seems only "hipsters" are allowed to like or appreciate this film. I've got American cousins who explained the terminology to us when we visited them, we understood them and where they were coming from. In our point of view though, we just thought it was a very narrow and limiting view of people, and quite frankly, understating an individual and is such a sweeping judgment. I'm just happy this term doesn't exist in the UK. The first time we heard it was when we met our USA cousins for the first time.

The other time I heard (read - more accurately) of it was in a chat forum. So, curious, I decided to really see what this term supposedly means. I saw a few youtube videos, and honestly I feel sorry for those people called "hipsters". In every video I've seen that's uploaded on youtube about this subculture, these people are targeted, bullied and made to feel ostracized.

In one of the videos I saw, there was a girl in a subway train who got picked on because she was wearing a bow-tie, top hat and coat. The full work. She choose to wear it, it's a free country, so why does that mean she's got to earn such deriding comments from strangers who don't know her? Because she stood out or put herself out there - she was calling to be the center of attention? Please, there's like no call for it. It's just plain bullying.
If she had come out with that outfit anywhere in the UK she won't get verbally attacked.

So, as someone not from there, I would like someone to re-explain this American terminology and why so much negative associations around it? Our cousins explained to us that "hipster" are people who do not fit in the mainstream, who stand out, etc. (My cousins are not "hipsters" btw, They are sooooooo far from it.) Is their explanation correct? And how is this relevant to liking or appreciating Chungking Express?

(Rotten eggs are everywhere)

[–] FerdiadmacDaman 10 years ago

It really depends who you ask.

I've heard Hipster used to describe people who immediately consider anything "old" better than anything "new." Then I've also heard it used to describe people who dress a certain way, with things like thick-rimmed glasses, scarves, sweaters, ear gauges, etc. Then I've also heard it used to just mean someone that someone else doesn't like, or people who take a contrary stance on something just to stand out.

The main stereotype that comes to mind is someone in "hipster clothes"(just google it and i'm sure you'll get the idea) at Starbucks typing away on a typewriter about how "people just don't get it."
I think, in most peoples eyes, it's something easily tied into kids in a Liberal Arts program at college who think they have the world figured out.

Now. What the hell that has to do with this film? No damn idea. The one thread I saw it mentioned in I'm guessing the person just used hipster in the "people I don't agree with" way. I wouldn't give it much more thought than someone just trying to insult other people for not having the problems with the film they did.