[PREV - STANDUP_TRAGEDIAN] [TOP]
March 9, 2004
Rearranged: June 18, 2006
About jargon:
I use "subculture",
"scene",
"underground"
What is the drive behind the
formation of an underground Interchangeably.
subculture? Except when I don't.
SUBCULTURE
What were they
after? This is some material spun off
from a discussion of a theory
What are we of the stages of subcultural
after? evolution presented by
erithromycin of alt.gothic, in
the thread:
"You're In A Maze Of Twisty
I have been known to call it Venn Diagrams, All Alike"
a "quest for enlightenment"
(with the words sticking in In rough outline, the
my post-ironic throat); and notion is that all
I've also talked about it as subcultures go through
"chasing your muse", but I four stages:
have the feeling that's all
just dancing around what adjective
it's really about... noun
stereotype
So, let's keep dancing. archaism
There are many simple I have some minor
answers like the cynical disagreements about
"they're only in it for this model...
the sex and drugs" theory. For example, it
would seem that
I'm of the opinion there has to be
that this doesn't a "proto" stage,
hold... when a quality
develops though
In any Scene you can name, it hasn't yet
there's usually a lot of been labeled with
hedonism going around (is an adjective.
there any reason there
shouldn't be?), but the e.g. There
mainstream has it's own were punks
hedonisms. before there
was punk.
And it isn't clear why a
hedonistic subculture would The Velvet
need an overlay of style, FIRST_PUNKS Underground
art and/or politics.
The New York Dolls
I think you also need an STYLE_IMPAIRED
explanation for the form
that the hedonism takes.
A scene coalesces, an aesthetic
Any answer I can think of to evolves, *before* anyone even
"what were they after", runs has an adjective for it.
up against the problem "but
you could find that somewhere Except in rare cases,
else": enlightenment, meaning, where someone creates
understanding, place, a movement with an
position, belonging, sex, energetic manifesto.
drugs, kicks, fun, esteem,
ego... Possible example:
"cyberpunk" and
The mainstream world already Sterling's "Cheap
has it's resources in all of Truth".
these areas. That pretty
much leads nothing but
negative definitions. The GENESIS_OF_THE_CYBER-PUNKS
alternative is desirable
because it's alternative.
Some of it is clearly
a matter of ego, of a
need to feel different
from the common run of
humanity... and
that's okay by me too
(who am I to look down But there's no
on your need to feel shortage of
superior?). such reasons.
Why pick one
spurious difference
over another?
AMERICANBEAUTY
And to say why, you BRAIN_PULP
need to describe the CIRCULAR_MOTION
failings of the
straight / square /
mainstream / mundane / To say something like "it's
establishment all about adolescence" is
framework. just another reductive
answer. Sure it *could* be
that that's a big part of
it... but on the other hand
So the failings of adolescence existed for
the uberculture is millennia before teenagers
the key to the were invented.
subculture...
Once upon a time,
that was a question
on everyone's mind.
Oh, how could Johnny
have ever wanted to
turn his back on our
wonderful Dreamtown?
The "rebel without
a cause" line was
popular because it
let everyone off
the hook, and
pointed the finger
back at those damn
crazy kids.
And there is another
issue that needs to
be addressed: why
a culture at all?
Why not go solo?
To drop-out from
one side, must
one drop-in on
another?
I think the answer is
"yes, obviously".
The recurrent notion
that a *real* rebel,
a *true* artist must
be a lone, isolated
individual is a strange
romantic ideal that
bears very little
connection to the
way human beings
have ever lived.
AUTHENTICITY
Still another
question:
Is the subculture a
product of the modern
era?
When was the
first SIGHTING_SCENES
subculture
Is it a reaction
to a (nearly) Once assimilation succeeds,
global culture? the only thing left is
counter-assimilation, The splintering off
attempts at self-conscious of "subcultures"
sub-division. from the main
culture...
Subcultures
arise only when
conditions are
so universal
that there are And later, the
few local same impulse
Could it be a differences left manifests itself
product of that matter. when people feel
increasing that their
wealth? Otherwise you subculture is now
wouldn't have the main culture.
It may be subcultures,
necessary to live you'd have
in poverty to local cultures.
chase your muse,
but it's a much
more livable
"poverty" now
than it once was.
COLLAR
Now it's more a
willingness to
undergo mainstream
approbation than a
risk of death from
exposure or
starvation.
Or at least, that's the
way it seems to me...
for someone living in There are indeed many
the United States. people in more dire
straights, but that
often seems like a matter
of substance abuse
and/or mental health.
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