The Hipster Hunt, A French Woman Discovering What Hipster Means

Journalist Lorena Galliot moved to New York from France and wanted to learn what about hipsters. The Hipster Hunt is a short video that shows her going to Williamsburg, Brooklyn (aka “Hipster Central”) and learning about the world of hipsters with the help of her friend Julie Percha. The video also provides a lesson in the word’s origin.

We all know hipsters. Every New York City neighborhood has its share of them, and a quick Google search brings up dozens of hipster blogs, hipster YouTube videos and hipster hangouts. Hipsters are the ones everyone loves to hate.

Everyone? When Lorena arrived to New York City from France last August, she’d never heard of hipsters. And when she asked, she got vague, often contradictory responses: Hipsterism is a lifestyle. No, it’s an attitude. No, it’s a pseudo-attitude. Hipsters are penniless creative types. No, they’re just rich kids pretending to be. Hipsters are environmentally conscious. No, they pose as tree-huggers but shop at Wal-Mart.

She was confused.

This video attempts to de-code the hipster for the clueless foreigner, like Lorena. In this piece, she invites viewers along for the journey as she hunts for the meaning of the term “hipster.” This quirky piece takes viewers around the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where they are guided by an “accidental hipster” blogger. It also incorporates the voices of the Journalism School’s own Prof. David Hajdu, as he delves into the term’s jazzy origins.