It seems to me, there are two broad axes of human existence - the popular, and the esoteric. Most of what one does can be subsumed within either of these axes the former has many names - commercial, acceptable, common, etc etc. the latter has its share of names too - personal, hipster, underground, etc etc. my focus, in this installment of ramblings, will be on the esoteric.
First off, isn't the notion of hipster something of a double inversion? Negation of the popular made popular makes it... nothing, in effect. But of course, this argument has been done to death.
The Tarantino formulation of the hipster is an idea worth exploring, I think. Hipster- the negation of the popular and thus an inversion, made popular, hence inverted a second time, and the Tarantino formulation of this, which rests on an inversion of the inverted hipster. Perhaps, this is the only thing that can save the notion of hipster from what it's proponents have don't to it.
The kind of esoteric that I find myself subscribing to, more and more, is what some might call a peculiar, even unnecessary fascination with the written word, and (this seems a little peculiar) the kind that was once popular, but is now treated with distant respect, at best, and blatant apathy, at worst. Unfair accusations are levelled, often, at this latter kind of esoteric that I subscribe to. It's decried as the shit fuddy-duddies are into, as nothing but antiquarianism, as even not capitalist enough. In the sense of comparing it to one's own taste, I understand where they are coming from, but beyond that, it's quite unnecessary. Te popular-esoteric binary is one that must be acknowledged as a fact of existence, one can't ever run away from it - it's an universal phenomenon. As the old adage goes, live and let live. But of course, that's wishful thinking.
First off, isn't the notion of hipster something of a double inversion? Negation of the popular made popular makes it... nothing, in effect. But of course, this argument has been done to death.
The Tarantino formulation of the hipster is an idea worth exploring, I think. Hipster- the negation of the popular and thus an inversion, made popular, hence inverted a second time, and the Tarantino formulation of this, which rests on an inversion of the inverted hipster. Perhaps, this is the only thing that can save the notion of hipster from what it's proponents have don't to it.
The kind of esoteric that I find myself subscribing to, more and more, is what some might call a peculiar, even unnecessary fascination with the written word, and (this seems a little peculiar) the kind that was once popular, but is now treated with distant respect, at best, and blatant apathy, at worst. Unfair accusations are levelled, often, at this latter kind of esoteric that I subscribe to. It's decried as the shit fuddy-duddies are into, as nothing but antiquarianism, as even not capitalist enough. In the sense of comparing it to one's own taste, I understand where they are coming from, but beyond that, it's quite unnecessary. Te popular-esoteric binary is one that must be acknowledged as a fact of existence, one can't ever run away from it - it's an universal phenomenon. As the old adage goes, live and let live. But of course, that's wishful thinking.
