The Lineages of Conformity in Mailer’s The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster”

When reading about the beboppers, Leland’s description of them reminded me of the hipster culture we see today. For example, the beboppers rejected the roles of entertainment and “held themselves above the taste of the public” (112). They thought of themselves as being so much “smarter, harder, colder, purer” than anyone else in the industry and they seem to have an attitude of being better than others (112). Hampton Hawes believes the beboppers where trying to rebel and “trying to be different” (113). Bop style was not made to please the general public, or give whites a commercial advantage; Bop culture was unique to black individuals. Bop’s whole idea was based on countermoblity and being apart of something different and to be “far out

Part biography, part social view, a very thoughtful look into inner-city violence and the rules surrounding it. This book describes how his personal history with violence influenced his work with youth and the programs that he has started to support youth. Geoffrey Canada describes the progression of violence that had happened in his lifetime. He also points out that there is a disturbing difference between what the streets were like in the 1960s compared to those of today.

The hippie aesthetic era was an important time in rock and roll during the late 60’s and on into the early 80’s. It was a time were rock had a sense of purpose. They sung about the issues that plagued the country. It was also a time where technology would play an important roll in the sound of music, with the advancement in recording and synthesizer technology (Covach, “The Hippie Aesthetic”). The hippie aesthetic was not immune to the advancement of music. This essay will go over three songs that represent the different aspects of this era. It’ll will review a song that is predominately hippie aesthetic, a song that is a little of both, and finally a song that has no trace of hippie aesthetic.

The Article, Musing New Hoods, Making New identities: Film, Hip-hop Culture, and Jazz Music by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. addressed an important and conflicting aspect about the opportunities that African Americans feel they have in modern society. He continues to address the idea of “guiltsploitation”-feeling guilt for going against one's culture to move up in social class, an idea introduced by Henry Louis Gates and the different message that is received by society from the underlying message surrounding African-American films (Ramsey, 311). Stereotypes conceived through movies and hip-hop music create the identity and character through an authentic representation that is expected of African-Americans in modern culture. Although African-American films and the hip-hop music industry have worked to build and identify a culture through the art form, they have instead created a stereotypical image--a different inner struggle has resulted that remains in society today.

The rise of counterculture in the 1960s was caused in large part by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, military conscription, and the teenagers of affluent middle-class parents. The teenagers of those families wanted more than anything else to experience life to its fullest, before it was too late. The irony was that “ behaviors by counterculture youth were and are an easy target for criticism, especially on the part of those eager to belittle the decade’s significance ( Morgan; 170). There were two waves of the counterculture (hippie) movement; the first dealt with the shock of JFK’s assassination, government aid to Vietnam, the student sit-ins and the militant stance of the Black Panthers. All of which caused a weariness to hippie-dome

Henry is a model American teenager—and the prototypical consumer at which the hip-hop industry is squarely aimed, which has his parents sitting up in their seats. The music that was once the purview of black America has gone white and gone commercial all at once. A sea of white faces now rises up to greet rap groups as they perform, many of the teenagers like Henry, a NASCAR fanatic and self-described redneck (468)

After World War II, America underwent an era where they saw themselves as undefeatable and superior to the rest of the world. America sought to get rid of Communism in the world and because of the extreme paranoia caused by it, conformity became an ideal way of living in order to seperate American culture from the rest. In the 1950’s, the suburbs were beginning to develop and grow larger. Masses of African Americans were migrating towards the north to the big cities, and white middle-class/rich families left to live in the suburbs to get away from crime and redlining in the city.

The African-American literary period of Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism, also referred to as the Age of Wright, was when the writers and artist would expose the realities and identities of living in America and the harshness of society. This African-American literary period would begin around the time the Great Depression ends and would end the year in the death of Richard Wright, which was 1960. One of the most notable writers of this period was, of course, Richard Wright. By his way of thinking and the way he wrote literature, “Wright [had] effectively executed his own blueprint by rejecting what Locke termed the ‘decadent aestheticism’ of Harlem Renaissance writers and by drawing on the presumably more ‘nourishing’ elixir of Marxism and social protest” (Gates, 97). Richard Wright’s Blueprint for Negro Writing appeared in the journal New Challenge that he and other African-American writers had published in 1937. Although Richard Wright’s Blueprint for Negro Writing was written before 1940, this literature work makes an excellent representation of Urban Realism. This text represents this literary period because it tells about the reality, but also the promotion of success in African-American literature by criticizing black culture and nationalism in literary works.

Racialized bodies are not always objects that are subjected to discriminatory practices by white institutions, but become subjects that advocate for social change in different ways. In accordance, the Citizens’ Committee of 1941 “addressed areas of city life that were primary sources of grievance among Harlem residents: housing, health, hospitals, education and recreation, employment.” as an attempt of “long-range social reconstruction of New York City in relation to its black citizens” (Mendes 91). In effort to become part of the body politic, Harlem’s black residents advocated for basic necessities and worked to counter discriminatory practices that contributed to their poor living conditions. Similarly, in response to public health discriminatory practices, the Chinese Six Companies became the largest Chinese organization in the U.S. that advocated for the property rights of laundry business and their adherence to proper sanitation standards (Molina 41). This shows a form of organized resistance against white, public health policy makers who violated their property rights which proves that racialized bodies actively worked to achieve social membership. Also, the hip-hop genre of the late 1980s became a medium through which the realities of urban life and the hardships of living in

By the 1920’s the amount of African Americans in New York City had more than doubled. Meanwhile the roadways and subway system had just begun to reach Harlem, where some of the most influential Blacks had situated themselves. Soon after, Harlem became known as “The Black Mecca” and also as “The Capital of Black America”.

The term ‘hip-hop’ refers to a complex culture compromising of four elements: deejaying, rapping, rhyming, graffiti painting, and b-boying. These elements incorporate hip-hop dance, style, and attitude. “Hip-hop originated in the primarily African American economically depressed South Bronx section of New York City in the late 1970s” (Tate, pg.1). Hip-hop is a culture of fashion, language, music, movement, visual art and expression. The genre of hip-hop comes with a very significant history and evolution with its own heroes, legends, triumphs and downfalls. “Real” hip-hop is often stressed in the 21st century due to what is being passed off as hip hop, and it is often made clear that just because one takes a hip hop class, or listens to hip-hop music, does not mean they conform to the true immersion of hip-hop culture. Therefore, “real” hip-hop encapsulates the true essence of hip-hop culture, untarnished by impurities such as rapacious record labels, and vapid, materialistic subject matter. Due to the background of how and where hip-hop first emerged, the African American culture often feel responsible to protect what is for them, and to protect the culture of hip-hop entirely. Boyd states that even though hip-hop as a culture was created as a social movement, the “commercializaiton” of hip-hop demonstrated in film and media construes it to another form of urbanization and popularity”(Boyd, 79). However, in the two movies being examined in this essay (Save the Last Dance

Influences of the Beat Movement can be noted in the next phase of American History: Hippie counter-culture of the 1960s. The Beat Generation was an important political catalyst for those minorities that had no voice. The “beatniks” of the movement were seen as a threat by those Americans that lived in the typical suburbs of American who tried to raise their children in morally upright ways (Silesky, 81).

Most of the original rebellion was directed towards the British class structure. They wanted to express their disapproval of the structure that governed their country. In The Jam’s “Eton Rifles”, the band sarcastically attacks the upper class, calling them arrogant and preaching to them that rugby is the only thing making them strong (Punk 68). The Sex Pistols’ album “God Save The Queen” portrays the Queen of England with a safety pin through her nose on their cover. The reaction to this outburst of shocking rebellion from the mainstream society was a strong, displeased one. American writer Greil Marcus defined punk as, “…refusing the future society has planned for you.” Thousands of social misfits attempted just that. Through the many causes for this rebellious political expression: communism, anarchy, feminism, etc., the punks of England had a focus and a reason. It was this that made the “punk” a valid, yet undesired member of society, and the British public got to see this sociological change first hand (Chamberlain par.8). Although this movement was short lived, its impact was a phenomenon, and its effects were long- lasting, which distinguished this group from previous generations.

The teddy boys in the 1950s and 60s wore Edwardian suits and cropped hair, and created violence on the streets. Next were the Mods and the Rockers of the 1960s, the former dressed up in tailored suits and desired to be the upper class whereas the latter wore leather jackets and went against the upper class principles. Britain’s declining economy and the immigration of foreigners led to the emergence of the violent Skinheads who were extreme nationalists and racists. British media theorist and sociologist Dick Hebdige wrote in his book subculture: the meaning of style that “we are interested in subculture , the teddy boys and mods and rockers, the skinheads and the punks – who are alternately dismissed, denounced, canonized; treated at different times as threats to public order and as harmless buffoons (1979,

The Beatniks created art, music, and literature that is now hailed in its daughter movement, Hipsterism. The hipsters of