Week Six: The Roots of Hipster

Hipster: noun, Slang.

1.

a usually young person who is trendy, stylish, or progressive in an unconventional way; someone who is hip.

2.

a person, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by a particularly strong sense of alienation from most established social activities and relationships; a beatnik or hippie.

3.

a performer or admirer of jazz, especially swing; a hepcat.

--dictionary.com`

This week we are considering the nature of the "hipster"--possibly an urban myth put into motion by advertising or alternatively, maybe a description of an actual sub-culture. As the Wikipedia article on the term explains, the underlying sense of the reference is to someone who is aware, in the know, hip. 

It's hip to be hip.

Since the 1950s, to be hip has also meant to be cool. In his observations on the mediascape of this period, Marshall McLuhan registered/projected the pattern of Hot and Cool as a significant media effect. What is "cool" is defined as the antonym of what is "hot." 

Reading Assignment: This week we will consider some core works of the hipster canon. From the links below and from this week's selections on the course resources, choose several works and read, view or listen to them. Many of these works are linked from UbuWeb which I highly recommend.

Lenny Bruce in Lenny Bruce
Warning: Offensive language, sexual references and intentional provocation. 

Lenny Bruce brought to mature fruition a style of stand-up comedy that was founded on jazz-like riffs and improvisations, personal experience, social and political commentary and a strong impression of style and attitude. This style was highly influential on most of the major stand-up comedians that followed him. Bruce was provocative in a time of political and social repression in this country. As a result he was frequently arrested for obscenity. 

William Burroughs reading the novel Junkie (1953)

Fuck You: a Magazine of the Arts (1962-65)

The City Wears a Slouch Hat Radio Play (1942) by Kenneth Patchen and John Cage

Maya Deren A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945)

The Text of Light (1974) a non-narrative film by Stan Brakhage 

Ron Mann Poetry In Motion (1958) poetry performance film. Classic anthology of beat poetry.

Charles Mingus Live in Belgium, Norway and Sweden (1964) concert/recording film

Jack Kerouac Poetry for the Beat Generation with Steve Allen (1959)

Interview with Painter Peter Saul with some pictures of his paintings.

Diane Di Prima Buddhist New Year Song poem

Poems by Gary SnyderA Dent in a Bucket
Above Pate Valley
Axehandles

Poems by William Everson (Brother Antoninus)
Dust and Glory
The Watchers
We in the Fields

Poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Canticle for Jack KerouacAutobiography
Don't Let That Horse
People Getting Divorced

Poems by Weldon Kees
Four Poems of Fourteen Lines
1926
On a Painting by Rousseau
The Umbrella

Alwin Nikolais dance. 
Tribe
Noumenon (1953)

Writing Assignment: Be a cool hunter. Using the three primary elements of the liberal arts, classification, collection, and appreciation, write a blog post that defines the contemporary hipster. Besides an explanation of the category provide a series of links to works that help define the hipster in the 21st century. Write a statement of appreciation for each of the links you provide explaining the relevance and value of the example to the notion of the hipster and to what is hip. This is due next week, Feb. 25.