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textualdevianceI wonder if there will ever be a point where being ironically anti-social, sarcastic and retro will become out of fashion and being well-groomed, well-dressed, nice to people and mentally healthy will be cool.
See, I think when Hot Topic started, all of that actually became uncool. If you can buy it in a mall, mass-produced, it's not subversive anymore.
Which is not to say that the fuzzy bunnies are the way to go, either, just that when a suburban mallrat dyes her hair blue, gets a nose piercing and wears a t-shirt with a Dukes of Hazzard iron-on on it, it's no longer counter-culture, but pop culture.
I blame Buffy.
It's annoying that, at nearly 33, all of the stuff that I've always authentically been, since I was a teen myself, has now been co-opted by a bunch of sniveling brats who see it only as fashion. Those of us who were authentically disenfranchised and disaffected and expressed that in the music we listened to and the way we dressed are now seeing that culture being bought and sold by spoiled kids who have no freaking idea why we were doing what we were doing. Sarcasm, depression, anti-social attitudes are cultivated as a means to be "cool" and not because they're really things that were really happening to us.
And yes, we had to walk uphill both ways to school in our Docs and we liked it, dammit. ;)
I guess mostly, I'm just annoyed that I've had to cut back my own "counter culture" expression because I don't want people getting the idea that I'm trying to be like the cool kids when I'm obviously too old for that anymore, not realizing that I was doing the same damned thing, and doing it as more than fashion, before these kids were even out of diapers.
ETA: Unlocked this since a few folks wanted to see it.
See, I think when Hot Topic started, all of that actually became uncool. If you can buy it in a mall, mass-produced, it's not subversive anymore.
Which is not to say that the fuzzy bunnies are the way to go, either, just that when a suburban mallrat dyes her hair blue, gets a nose piercing and wears a t-shirt with a Dukes of Hazzard iron-on on it, it's no longer counter-culture, but pop culture.
I blame Buffy.
It's annoying that, at nearly 33, all of the stuff that I've always authentically been, since I was a teen myself, has now been co-opted by a bunch of sniveling brats who see it only as fashion. Those of us who were authentically disenfranchised and disaffected and expressed that in the music we listened to and the way we dressed are now seeing that culture being bought and sold by spoiled kids who have no freaking idea why we were doing what we were doing. Sarcasm, depression, anti-social attitudes are cultivated as a means to be "cool" and not because they're really things that were really happening to us.
And yes, we had to walk uphill both ways to school in our Docs and we liked it, dammit. ;)
I guess mostly, I'm just annoyed that I've had to cut back my own "counter culture" expression because I don't want people getting the idea that I'm trying to be like the cool kids when I'm obviously too old for that anymore, not realizing that I was doing the same damned thing, and doing it as more than fashion, before these kids were even out of diapers.
ETA: Unlocked this since a few folks wanted to see it.
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no subject
But, I'm 35 and I still let my inner punk out. I shop at Hot Topic. I listen to "cool" music. I have short, spikey really red dyed hair with my bangs pinned back in barettes. I don't care if I don't "look" or "act" my age. It's just a damn number and if the youths of today are gonna hold that against me, so be it.
Yes, it meant more to us back then, now it's just a trend to them. Who knows, maybe us oldsters can teach the young-uns what being an individual and making a statement is really all about.
no subject
Except I'm afraid that the "statement" we were making 20 years ago has been irretrievably watered down by the pop-culturization of it. Granted that, in some ways, it still annoys the "normals" and therefore it still has some value, but it's become so mainstreamed now that I think most of the impact of it has all but disappeared. When I was 15 and chopped my hair off and dyed my tail blue and wore a safety pin chain as an earring, it meant something, and had an effect on the shit kickers, metal heads and preppies I had to put up with then. I think it all changed when people started making money off of it. When Manic Panic became widely distributed, and Hard Candy started up, etc. Once Hot Topic showed up, I knew we were lost. I still shop there on (very rare) occasion but there's no joy in it anymore. Part of what we were doing then is creating our own style, our own individuality that was different than the monoculture we were expected to adhere to. We made our own clothes, our own jewelry, or bought them from independent vendors and craftspeople. We made mix tapes from friends' indie records because we couldn't find them anywhere for sale in our town. There was a family in that subculture. People you could trust to understand why you didn't want to wear pink sweaters and Jordache. They knew you were probably queer, probably had a shitty childhood, probably had a strong creative streak. We were the kids who prowled the streets at 3 am, couch surfed at friends' houses because we didn't want to go home to whatever madness awaited us there. We had kinky sex in someone's brother's bedroom. We cut and dyed each other's hair (with kool aid, thanks) saved up the black nail polish and green lipstick from when it came out at Halloween. Wrote our zines. Went to Rocky Horror to get laid. Drank cappucinos at the one place in town you could get them. Dreamed of living in San Francisco or Europe.
Now you can buy this stuff anywhere. The people who wear it just think they're cool. They're all the same mall kids as they always were, they just have sarcastic comments and pink hair now. It's just another trend to follow, it's not a statement of individuality or solidarity with other disenfranchised people. The girls I grew up with who dressed like this would have kicked the living shit out of the giggly little twits who wear it now. My culture, like everything else, has been sold to poseurs and wannabes.
I'm reminded of some of the stuff Poppy Z. Brite has talked about in recent years, since she stopped writing horror and got out of goth culture because of all the little baby bats who kept clinging to it as fashion. I feel for her. Never read her stuff myself, but as a person, I can totally understand why she's so angry at those kids. The same thing happened to the hippies, too. And black culture. And it's starting to happen with queer culture. I don't mind people getting into something if it really truly speaks to them personally, but it really bothers me how so much subcultural identity has been bought out by people who want to make money off of it and sold to het suburban white kids who are embarassed by their bland lives and want to be cool so they co-opt the fashion of the disenfranchised. Fuck them. Fuck them all.