The Un-Hip

We have been talking a lot about the Hip, and we even wrote an essay of the hippest person we know.  I was wondering about the opposite, the Un-Hip, and the most unhipest person I know.  I think this is a little bit harder than I first expected, as I was thinking of the unhipest person I know, I discovered, that every one I could think of has  a little Hip in them, according the Leland's definition.  That no one is completly void of hip, that I could think of.  So the more difficult question for me is who is not hip?

The Californicaion of Pulp Fiction

The idea that people aren’t always who they seem to be is made apparent in pulp fiction stories and film noire movies.  The idea that identity can vary, especially an individual’s identity was brought out in these fiction stories and movies.   

                It is very interesting why so many of the authors chose to have their setting of these stories in the west, specifically Los Angeles.   When I think of the West and what I assume it represented in those days is a place of expansion.  An area where there is room for growth, prosperity.  A place where you make your own future, and are not held back to your past, not held to what your father or mother did for a living.

                I also think that the west represented a negative side as well.  A place room for corrupt government, corrupt politicians, corrupt law enforcement, and corrupt people in general.  It is a place of high crime, where you had the extreme rich and the extreme poor.

                Pulp fiction as I understand it is deals with shorter than novel length works of literature that often had the genres associated with mystery, detective and gangster.  I would assume that this style of written work was magnetic to the west coast because a lot of mystery, detective and gangster related issues were going on in the west at that time.  Especially if the west represent a place of high crime, corrupt people, and both extreme rich and poor.

                The film noir as I understand it are really crime dramas that primarily take place in Hollywood.  I think that these films take place in Hollywood because it is a perfect setting for them.  As in the pulp fiction, much goes on in Hollywood.  There are extreme rich, and the extreme poor, corruption and high crime.  All these factors make for an excellent setting of a crime drama.

hip pitch

The most hip person that I know goes by the name of Jon.  In many ways this kid is hip, and in some ways he is not.   I believe that he is hip by his material possessions.  If materials possessions can make you hip, then this kid has it.  He drives a new white Avalanche, and wears name brand name apparel.  He is currently enrolled at BSU, works at the Blue and Orange Store in the Mall, has a good looking girlfriend, and likes to spend his weekends hanging out with his friends.  This is really my definition of Hip, the way you portray yourself.

                How does this kid fit in to the definition of Leland’s hip?  Well Leland’s hip, in a nutshell, as I understand it, involves the hip person challenge orthodoxy, or not conform, or go against what is accepted.  Jon goes against the orthodoxy of the day by when he goes to parties and hangs out with friends on the weekends he will not drink, or smoke, or take any drugs.  In this day of time it seems that it is normal for one to have a few drinks after a long hard week, but in Jon’s case he does not.  So if going against the current beliefs is hip, in that sense Jon is hip.

                According to Leland what also makes one hip is their perception of time, and an enlighten perception.  In Jon’s case I imagine he falls in both these categories.  Just as Emerson has his religious beliefs that were a little unorthodox for the time, so does Jon.  He believes that time is just valued to man, that time to God is a continuous round with no beginning or end, kind of like a circle.  With this belief, Jon also believes that before this life on earth, we existed, with God, and after this life we will continue to exist.  He has a different sense of time, and a different perception or some may say enlgihtmenment.

HIp and the City

I believe that urbanization and the city can play an essential role in the creation of hip.  A quote from Leland’s book comes to mind.  It is found on page seventy towards the top.  It reads: “In practice, hip needs this constant exposure to the larger groups; if no one is looking it isn’t really hip.”

                For the most part I would have to agree on this statement.  It seems that “hip” things for the most part come from the city.  Hip cell phones, hip fashions of clothing, hip language.  It seems that the majority of items that we classify as “hip” generate from the city life, or at least these items are used in the city and urban life.

                I believe that it takes a crowd for something to become hip.  If you are wearing Converse All Star Shoes, alone in your basement, it really isn’t hip because no one is there to admire them, or comment to you about them.  Especially if you are the one who invented the shoes, and no one else knows about them yet, and you keep them hidden and no one ever gets to see them or wear them, how can they be hip if no one other then you gets to use them or see them?

                So if “hip” items take a crowd to become hip, what about hip people?  I do not know where the hip people of today or hip people of the past come from but I imagine that if you have the potential to become hip, and you live in a rural area, a small town, you may be hip to those people in your town. 

                I also imagine that if you come from a rural area and you have a great talent let’s say to sing songs that are hip in your day, or you have the talent to make hip songs, then if you move to the city you can be hip in the eyes of many.  And isn’t that what you need if your want to be hip, a crowd?

What does Ethos mean?

What exactly does Ethos mean?  Wikipedia states that "Ethos  is an English word based on a Greek word and denotes the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, a nation or an ideology. Its use in rhetoric is closely based on the Greek terminology used by Aristotle."  So Ethos is really the "beliefs" of people.  This now makes more sense to me on the assignment that we were assigned, the "Ethos" and "This is what ye shall do."  It is just explaining your beliefs on how you should live.

Ethos

This is what you shall do:  Live to the best of your capabilities.  Become the person that you know you have potential to become.  Laugh at yourself, more than others.   Go get an education that you can use and apply into today’s world.

  Develop a work ethic that you can be proud of, learn to love to work and learn to love to play.  Bite not the hand that feeds you, and bite those who attempt to tear down your world.  Live the dream that you can become anything you put your mind to become.

 Value honesty, integrity, loyalty.  Value good friends who have you back, and value your family whoever they may be.  Value everyday as gift to live your own life.  Value where you live.  Value your hobbies.  Value your passions.   Value your language.  Value your values.

 Scorn those who oppress others.  Scorn those who take the advantage of others.  Scorn those who fight for nothing.  Scorn those who lay snares for others.

Question anyone who says they have the answer.   Never take insult to something about you that is not true.  Never give an insult that is not true.  Follow what you know is to be right. Find passion life.  Never  never give up.