Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are going to let him choose his own hairstyle.
Yes. I will ask my 2 year old what hair styles he likes.
You could show them pictures.
Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
241–250 of 273 posts
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would say that Toddlers are mostly not given agency. Toddlers want things and they don't want other things. Their parents don't permit much agency, because. I'm probably agreeing with you but I wasn't sure of your implication.
I guess what I'm saying is that a 3 year old can sometimes pick out their clothes (sometimes they will hate the consequences). They can't really commit to long term decisions about what hairstyle they will want to live with for months, or manage the upkeep of the style they pick.
With apologies for wading into culture war topics - there are three year olds who will absolutely scream their head off at someone trying to get them to wear a dress because "I'm not a girl!!!"
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would also add things that are unprofitable and/or participating in them requires a high degree of personal investment which can't be substituted with money. Which describes a lot of things if you think about it.
Those get commercialized quickly, too. You'd think that e.g. dumpster-diving for food would be "unprofitable" and require "high degree of personal investment which can't be substituted with money", but freeganism already turned into aspirational hobby for many, and has its own little ecosystem of influencers selling books. It fits in nicely among its even more commercial cousins, like "minimalism", "healthy eating",…
All protests need good baklava.
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#244I've seen a lot of talk about this phenomenon but not much about how to fight it. Has anyone written on that?
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Heart in the right spot. In what way? Seriously.
Someone imitating someone else is generally considered and act of something like respect and flattery. They're doing it because they sincerely believe that the target of imitation is doing something right. It is a friendly and supportive act.
I'm not convinced. In particular I think sincerity or any sort of honest judgment is missing when talking about [non-]conformity rather than the merits of individual choices.
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Curious what subcultures comes to mind for you. I havent finished my coffee, but and drawing a blank on cultural interests that cant be commodified.
Playing an instrument (or being part of a band), being part of a writing club. Anything where the meat of the activity either requires genuine ability and/or effort, or enjoying skillful humans performing that activity for you. The problem of a lot of subcultures is that they define themselves in large part by flashy externalities, and commodification is part of their DNA. For example: You like an underground band's…
Musicians are notorious for fetishising gear ownership. Old synthesizers routinely sell for five or sometimes six figures. Some of the buyers are talent-free collectors, others are industry successes who have the cash to spare and both collect and use them.
Post your beat made on a $100 commodity synth, and everyone will be "Good effort.." no matter how good it is.
Writing on social media is a lifestyle activity. You'll see endless reels showing "My cute working space", which inevitably has trailing plants and a lovely perfectly arranged bookshelf, probably with fairy lights, and never looks like anyone's random messy office.
And so on.
These are both promotional activities that signify belonging to cultures that allow you to buy a lifestyle identity by spending money on the appropriate gang signs and uploading them to your chosen forums and accounts.
Original creativity and artistry are incidental to this. If someone doesn't show the gang signs and doesn't respect the standard tropes and genre signifiers, many consumers don't know what to do with them.
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think with books like Neuromancer it is a matter of "when" you read it. If you read it today, it seems trite, like Snow Crash. If you read Neuromancer in 1984, it was mind-blowing. Same thing with Snow Crash in 1992. These books were decades ahead of their time. Neuromancer is more like PKDick, in that they are adult-themed books more about personal problems with sci-fi on the side, and it is actually part one of a…
If you read Neuromancer in 1984, it was mind-blowing. Same thing with Snow Crash in 1992 So do you like, only enjoy art produced in the last N years? Or art that was produced more than N years ago but didn't produce any imitators that retroactively diminished the original for you? I guess I'm not enjoying things right. I read Snow Crash in the 2000s (and LOTR in the 90s) and enjoyed the hell out of them even though t…
I think the "when you read it" has more to do with age than decade. I read Snow Crash back in high school in the early 2010s before even necessarily encountering a lot of the derivative media and I adored it.
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
They don't need to be obscene - I think a good example would be non-sparring martial arts like Aikido or Tai Chi. There isn't really an incentive to pay to watch top performers in the arts demonstrate technique beyond a handful of people wanting DVDs. There's zero stakes because you aren't competing against another person to be "the best". BUT, the physically can also be a turn off to many people. The joke I was taug…
BJJ feels like it fits well because it's super fun to play but super boring to watch. Gyms make a killing and some super stars exist, but at its core you'll just find dudes rolling around on mats for fun.
Every single bjj name makes their money off instructionals. I'd say it's well on the way to being commodified.
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#249Indelible characteristic of late stage global liberalism
Re: Anything threatening to be a subculture is commodified before it can walk (2014)
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
No offence, but fuck the true in groups and you sound pretentious. True in groups are always just 'cool kids' who happen to micro focus on XYZ. Skaters skate not gatekeep people, and were just hyped to skate with anyone (at least in Santa Cruz). 'Oh you got a Nash board, cool. We should probably check if your trucks need tightening.' is the only normal response, not 'we should probably check how ground your trucks ar…
I think a lot of the time there's an implicit clash of classes there. The people that lived it often can't buy the nicest gear and stuff, or if they did it's because it involved real sacrifice and dedication. Historically, they fucking made it themselves because it wasn't something you even COULD buy if you wanted to. So seeing some rich kid duplicate your drip overnight just because they can rubs people the wrong wa…
> ...implicit clash of classes there.
True.
> ...really good were that way because they suffered. ... But no one likes a poser.
Yup. Stolen valor.