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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
I completely agree with those who said that our sub-cultural icons/images/etc have been used to market everything from clothing to lunch boxes to TV shows. Everything old is new again. Remember when 'Interview with the Vampire' came out and people started wearing 18th century frock coats with frilly shirts and press on teeth? Or when the 'The Matrix' movies first came out and suddenly everyone wanted long nehru style coats and dark glasses? Hell, even LoTR costumes showed up briefly on the runway in Paris from certain designers.
Part of the problem, if it can be called a problem, is that our society is intimately tied to marketing. We are a product of advertising. Think about it. When you watch TV you get swamped with commercials. When you attend a sports event there is advertising on the uniforms, the scoreboards, etc. Go to the theatre and buy a program and guess what is on the back pages - ads. You go to buy a soda and the machine might talk to you or flash some bit of advertising across a little LED screen. We get spam over the net. We get telemarketers calling. We still get junk mail. And it is all advertising something so that we will BUY it.
That is what it boils down to. Consumerism. Money. Make it and spend it. Is that a problem? We here would say yes, I think. However, we here must also face up to the fact that this is what our society has become. It is why other countries look upon "Americans" as naive and superficial. They can see the pressure-cooker we live in and how artificial it is. Most people in the US cannot see that. They live their comfortable lives and have little interest outside the US and Hollywood. They are not aware of how pervasive marketing and advertising has become. That said, I still like living here, warts and all.