A friend of mine sits on the admission board for a local liberal arts college. Over dinner the other night he was telling us of this admissions season and the kids he is interviewing. Its always really exciting to meet the latest crop of best and brightest from around the country. My friend had the observation this year that all the kids he is interviewing have become so hip and worldly over the years. Their affectations are all so urban and tough, with tattoos, piercing and clothes that would make a bike messenger proud.
“Lucky jeans, Pac Sun tops, Pumas?” I asked “like from any mall, in any town, on the outskirts of anywhere in America.”
With mass production and mass distribution now reaching to the ends of the earth everyone has access to fashions rooted in experiences that one never had. For the cost of a good meal you can wear fabricated memories, let your brands talk about the live you never had. That sweat stained work shirt came that way. As we all move toward consumer culture based on outlet malls the visual indicators of “hip” are disappearing behind a wall of cool bullshit.
A pierced tongue just doesn’t mean what it use to. Muffin tops and booty tattoos are as American as apple pie.
What does it mean to have an experience?
Through media events like the X games we can all share cultural experiences and gain insight into cool. But gaining insight is not the same as jumping a motorcycle off a yo big ramp. So what does having an experience mean? Watching it on TV? Playing it on Xbox? Going to the event? Actually getting your ass on a motorcycle? Watching, going, doing Can experience be gained through consumption, or is it really the act of producing something that defines experience.
-Next up: is efficient distribution the savior of authenticity?
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