I’m working on my second comic strip of sorts.

I will publish this doozey once I have the introductory panel out in Deetz’ PERMATEEN zine. It’s a little indulgent but I’m finding it really fun. :P There’s vaguely superhuman/teen agnsty/pizza themes. And if you wanted to know, I am hoping to looseley nod to the comic DEADMAN, which has been an inspiration.

Star Trek, teenagers, hipsters, rage-wolf, perma-teens, memes and more…

There’s an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation that I was thinking about recently, called Darmok. In the episode, the Star Trek crew interact with a Tamarian, Dathon. Tamarian’s speak only in metaphor or allegory.

Captain Picard and Dathon are transported to a nearby planet surface after much misunderstanding between the crew and the visitor, the Tamarian’s prevent the Enterprise from beaming Picard back up, much to the crews dismay and confusion. On the planet, Dathon keeps repeating “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and throws Picard a dagger. Picard assumes this is an invitation to duel. A hostile creature attacks them, and due to their misunderstandings Dathon is fatally wounded.

In Dathon’s final moments, Picard catches on that the repetition of “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” is an allegorical reference to a Tamarian legend, where two warriors ally to fight a beast threatening them, and thusly become friends. Picard recognises that Dathon was trying to befriend Picard, the Enterprise manages to disable the Tamarian’s forcefield and Picard returns to the ship, the two races unite and lament Dathon’s unfortunate demise. 

I have mentioned this to a few people saying that I feel, particularly on tumblr, that I communicate with people unwittingly in this way- through allegory/metaphor. Those who communicate via tumblr, through photos, screen shots of movies/tv shows, gifs and memes, communicate in the same way as Tamarians. Tumblr users forge friendships and followings in this way.

Having a tumblr, can be very different from person to person. Personally, I look for people to follow whose content either relates to mine or for a blog with an aesthetic that I would aspire to or whose content suggests they have consistent but varied sources. This doesn’t make much sense but it’s not of great importance.

People I follow often mention how tumblr kills memes- due to the speed and efficacy with which they are shared and elaborated upon through the tumblr community, there is an implication that popular content becomes tired and frustrating quickly so more innovative and specialised content is prized. 

^Someone I follow expressing frustration at a recent meme, maybe 2 days after it became popular. This is evidentiary of the remarkable speed with which tumblr creates and destroys popular content- as soon as something becomes overly popular it is shared by many and becomes ubiquitous and bothersome on a dash board/feed.

I can identify and I’m sure other tumblrs too, blogs with little to no personality- these are blogs which to the untumblr’d eye may seem appealing but in actual fact mainly reblog popular content- trying to gain followers through mutual mass-interest- often including rage cartoon memes, popular gifs and gothic/creepers/american-flag-hotpants etc.

There doesn’t seem to be any standard formula to creating a popular blog on tumblr, there are categories though- personality blogs, photo blogs, fan blogs, and gif blogs. If there is one common theme to being popular is that a single tumblr must post regularly, somewhat topically and must be knowledgable about the sources or nature of it’s content.

But back to the point about Darmock- communicating through metaphor, allegory or interests. It is widely known, or was for a while, this time last year and earlier, through this rage wolf meme that tumblr was associated with ‘hipsters.’

To change your style regularly as the cycle suggests, is something a child or teenager does- it is flippant -we assume through puberty to ultimately settle into an adult personality that will mature and cement. (haha so untrue adults just pretend :P)

A single identity is also easier to fund- you know what to buy what to listen to, what to watch, what to talk about- there is a comfort in that familiarity- changing your identity regularly is something that causes discomfort and suggests privilege- my recent black lipstick wearing causing my mum to scream out is my own allegorical example… haha

Swift identity changes are also synonymous with mental illness. Having a solid identity- while being reliable and iconic doesn’t make you intriguing, one can appear stale. Like when you create a sim on the Sims, its not one family for the duration of your game- there is always the opportunity to create infinite identities- it’s fun. Having multiple avatars is a prevalent guilty pleasure.

There is a dichotomy between having a consistent identity (which suggests you’re a stable, informed adult) and a fluid identity (being able to indulge in/sample all the cultural material that is available to a person and being willing to be influenced by it). I can only assume due to the spiralling success and ubiquity of tumblr, that now a larger proportion of people are indulging in hipsterism, probably accusing one another of all kinds of shallow ironic interest in this or wearing of that.

As it was mentioned in texts like Relational Aesthetics by Nicholas Bourriaud, artists (he deemed relational or post-productive), sample and curate material, more like djs than commercial artists - the receptive style glitteratti on tumblr have done the same- keeping fluid identities in order to communicate where their philosophical/political/cultural loyalties lie. They are susceptible to change and innovation, thusly they benefit from continued relevance and popularity.

I constitute a hipster as a person whose style you cannot emmulate/understand and whose heterogeneous choices threaten your established choices and symbolize a transience of identity- which is frightening- this is all definitely related to Freudian ego/ID, insecurity. Things that appear alien or unfamiliar cause fear. People fear hipsters because it threatens their current identity and symbolizes the inevitability of change. A way to neutralise this fear is to assert amongst your peers that the transience of identity- is a shallow behaviour- to mock it.

Hipsterism could be referred to as ‘Identity in flux’. Teens pick and choose identities to feel their were through the transformation of child to adult. Identity in flux is a very contemporary notion. The teenage program on iplayer vox-popped d-listers, and explained that for people who were teens in the 1930s and prior, it was not unlikely to go to work at 12, to be treated or even tried in courts of law as an adult.

Our transcendence from children to teens and to adults has to ADHERE to society’s bounds of 18/21. One may become an adult when puberty ends, this could be 16 or 18 or more like 20, or anything else. Adulthood is something that while inevitable is not accurately quantified by governmental law. Hence, in part, there are subcultures that embrace ‘regressive’ activities and I think the more conservative and dreary adulthood is- full of fear and repression - the more regressive and deranged it’s teens become. Also that teenagerdom- with which rebellion is associated, spills out and into the twenties like others and myself observe in Perma-Teens and Hipsters. 

‘Fear can have a cohesive effect- it can re-establish a sense of community that would seem to have been lost in the age of individualism.’ Lars Svensden 2007 A Philosopy of Fear.

Hipsterism is an extension of teenagerdom- the rejection of the hipster is society’s norms going through a puberty where popular culture has a less hierarchical formulae- no longer just governed by celebrities, tv, magazines, and movies but bloggers and online identites and collectives- who don’t adhere to established cultural speeds, or societal patterns.

I haven’t really set out to draw any massive conclusions from this, it’s more a collection of tenuously linked observations and opinions. I don’t think it’s more sophisticated to be a tumblr blogger, hipster or perma-teen, than any other subculture associated with teenagerdom, it’s just different and I notice it and am often labelled with all 3. ;) 

 And finally, “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” to all my dear followers.

<3 PERMATEEN ZINE <3

About 30 minutes ago I saw a post by fellow tumblr-r SweetHearted, HARK she is the purveyor of a new zine project with a working title of PERMATEEN ZINE or somesuch- I messaged her a while ago saying I felt like a perma-teen jovially and am flattered this may have taken root in her mind and ended up the title of her zine. Or perhaps I flatter myself thinking my flippant comment was that original!

I believed that I was relatively alone in seriously addressing the prevalence of the ‘perma-teen’ in what is now quite a popular subcultural phenomenon. It is odd and yet reassuring to think that someone has been having the exact same feeling as I. Re-animating our late 90s/early 2000 identities or just having another stab at the teen game- playing with your identity, informing your taste with new music, movies, fashion etc. Perma teen behaviour isa kinda personal matter for me, as I feel I missed out on a lot of my teen years by trying to grow up too fast, so here’s to regression *clink glass*

Only yesterday I was watching a program about teenagers on bbc ipplayer where even the 1990s teenagers were ungrateful for what seems to be their most open playful and vulnerable stasis from childhood to adulthood that is teenagerdom. The program is contemporary yet I feel it’s already dated and the vox pop of d-list celebs and industry types they used were so much uncooler than their teenage selves, despite their self satisfaction at their current banal liftestyle choices. Sure I was a huge huge dorky teen but I have found my identity has never cemented, I’v always continued to experiment and have fun and have failure(mostly) with all my lifestyle choices.

Some nobody lamenting her former far more awesome teen self.

It’s also played a large part part in my musings in recent text posts- the foray into tumblr fame and the other 90s appropriation post. This has not been a sudden realisation but a gradual one, which I had for a while tried to suss out and came to the conclusion that there is no singular culpable party for revisiting my teen ways… hmmm I am really excited about contributing to this zine! I hope that some of my questions can be answered and I can feel at home amongst the submissions for a zine so almost custom made for my studies and tastes! YAY.

Make sure to follow the links to sweethearted’s blog in the intro, get involved and submit! :)