Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson battle it out for hipster... whatever.
Seeing as I’ve been in their presence for several years now, it’s still a surprise to me when I meet people who are not familiar with the phenomenon that is the hipster. Existing mainly within major metropolitan areas, they’re usually artsy, skinny jean wearing, indie-rock listening, vintage hunting, irony loving youths who, like so many generational ‘fringe’ movements, end up looking the same by trying to look different. I’m not sure where this began, but it reaches as far as Eastern Europe, Russia even contributed a documentary to this year’s Toronto Film Fest about their own youth culture aptly titled Hipsters. Another defining characteristic is that a hipster will almost never identify themselves thusly, as this would be implying that they are part of a larger trend and not the most original person that ever lived. One thing that keeps them secure in their individualism is liking obscure things, which is why I like to use this joke when defining them:
How many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
You know what, it’s actually a really obscure number, you’ve probably never heard of it.
That being said, every now and then they can begrudgingly unite behind something that is mainstream. I predict that this Fall will actually see two such (seemingly unlikely) films battle it out for hipster supremacy. With their era-transcending outfits and love of anything postmodern, it can be said that making the old new again speaks to their more nostalgic sides; which is why the upcoming release of two children’s book adaptations will probably find their movie audiences a little older than the source material’s readers. Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (Oct. 14) and Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (Nov.16) will likely earn a fair portion of their box office return from those who usually don’t like to pay more than $10 for anything made this century unless it’s a specialty poutine.
Below I examine some similarities between these films while trying to determine which one has greater hipster cred. Read the rest of this entry »
