Every countercultural movement has a story behind it, a story driven by a set of questions and concerns, which are perceived by its followers to be unanswered by the previous generations; hipsterdom is no different In the article “Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization” the magazine Adbusters argues that hipsterdom is “an artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning.” Yet adbusters is wrong, hipsterdom does not mark the end of Western civilization, instead it echoes something much greater, the postmodern death of metanarrative.
When a person becomes stripped of their cultural metanarrative, they are left to create their own. Usually what results is a collaboration of what they know, or to borrow a line from the Adbuster’s article, “an artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras…a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning.” When meaning becomes relative to individuals, creating anything of substance becomes artificial because its foundation is subjective.
The questions that drive the hipster movement have concern individual’s search for meaning. This is seen in their willingness to shed their individuality; all for the sake of feeling like they are a part of anything bigger than themselves, yet, at the same time trying to hold on to any part of their individuality in a search for autonomy. One example from the Adbusters article reads, “Standing outside an art-party next to a neat row of locked-up fixed-gear bikes, I come across a couple girls who exemplify hipster homogeneity. I ask one of the girls if her being at an art party and wearing fake eyeglasses, leggings and a flannel shirt makes her a hipster. ‘I’m not comfortable with that term,’ she replies.” Raised in a culture where metanarrative is relative, the girl is uncomfortable with the term because she is still unwilling to let any metanarrative define her; well, anything but what she sees as her own individuality, which in fact is not so individual after all.
What the girl, as well as most hipsters, fails to realize is that an individual cannot identify himself or herself in a vacuum, in fact whether people admit it or not, they cannot escape the metanarrative with which they were raised in. That is why even in their process of destructing their personal metanarrative they reach for know past metanarratives to create something “new,” seeking to find meaning. People find their identity within communal metanarrative; they need others to help them construct their meaning and individuality. Take a baby for instance, if a newborn is left by itself, only kept alive through being fed, the baby will be severely developmentally delayed because they have no way of learning how to talk, walk, sit up, or execute other vital human processes. People need the support of others to help them create understanding, in fact people search for community wherever they can find it. In the book Hurt, Chap Clark discusses the reason why teens, and might I add even college students and adults, seek parties full of drinking, sex, and drugs, is because they are in such need of community that they will seek any community that they feel a part of.
Take for instance the following quick interaction with a 17-year-old boy at a party documented in the Adbusters article:
"He’s 17 and he lives for the scene!" a girl whispers in my ear as I sneak a photo of a young kid dancing up against a wall in a dimly lit corner of the after-party. He’s got a flipped-out, do-it-yourself haircut, skin-tight jeans, leather jacket, a vintage punk tee and some popping high tops.
"Shoot me," he demands, walking up, cigarette in mouth, striking a pose and exhaling. He hits a few different angles with a firmly unimpressed expression and then gets a bit giddy when I show him the results.
"Rad, thanks," he says, re-focusing on the music and submerging himself back into the sweaty funk of the crowd where he resumes a jittery head bobble with a little bit of a twitch.
The reason this teenager lives for the scene is because it is the only community he has; these are the only people that help this boy create meaning, and give him a metanarrative to live by. In a postmodern world where metanarrative is under attack, hipsters are forced to search for the meaning of life, who they are and why they are here amongst late dance night parties, beer, and drugs as they scream out, “help me find who I am, why I am here, and what this life is all about.”
The metanarrative of salvation can be the identity-forming story that helps to answer the questions those within hipster culture are asking. The one distinguishing element one must have is an authentic life-changing element of Christianity. Post-modern students can see through phony unauthenticity like it is glass. Unless your faith translates into life changing action you will not have a voice among the generations to come. On top of that, today’s teens and college students needs to see a faith that not only changes you as an individual, but affects and changes the world around you. Something that I have failed to mention until now is that while Hipsters are artificial, they do have a heart for social change. For most part this is because they are looking to be a part of something bigger than themselves; yet this also means that unless you are involved in issues that are affecting the world, you will not earn a voice among this community. Basically, Hipsters want to know that the answers you are providing them are concerning something bigger than your individual self. The days of accepting Jesus as your personal savior are gone; the teens and youth of 2010 and beyond want to know if your Jesus is a part of something bigger than your personal little life. They want to see if your Jesus metanarrative can answer their questions about life, community, and global issues. If those you call yourselves a Christ followers cannot and fail to communicate the life changing metanarrative of the gospel by the way you life, then those in the Hipster community, and to all teens in coming years will not hear one word you say. The youth of the future have grown up in a world where they have not seen Christianity affect anything but moral reasoning. Youth need to see a faith that goes beyond morals to a lifestyle that looks much like that of which Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount or Luke outlines in Acts 2: 42-47. At the same time, the youth of today and the future will require a non-judgmental faith where forgiveness and grace are daily realities as they struggle though adolescents to find who they are in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, as another decade comes to an end and a new one begins, may the Church be the one who lives out the metanarrative of God authentically as it reaches out to those who are searching for meaning amongst new counter-cultural tends, party crowds, and artificial communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment