Film "Hipsters". A systematic view of the youth subculture of the 50s
The colorful and positive musical film "Hipsters" was released on the big screen in 2008 and in an instant brought bright makeup, fluffy skirts and plaid jackets back into fashion at parties.
Who were these "dudes" and why did they have this irresistible desire to stand out from others? Why did Soviet society oppose Western influence and compare the saxophone with a cold weapon?
The colorful and positive musical film "Hipsters" was released on the big screen in 2008 and in an instant brought bright makeup, fluffy skirts and plaid jackets back into fashion at parties.
Who were these "dudes" and why did they have this irresistible desire to stand out from others? Why did Soviet society oppose Western influence and compare the saxophone with a cold weapon? Let's see the film "Hipsters" together with the System-Vector Psychology of Yuri Burlan.
Today he plays jazz, and tomorrow he will sell his homeland
The protagonist of the picture, an exemplary Komsomol member Mels, falls in love with the girl Polina, nicknamed Benefit, during the next roundup of the "dudes". Armed with tailor's scissors, the fighters for Soviet morality cut the narrowed trousers of the caught dudes, shear their coca in the style of Elvis Presley and spoil the catchy outfits of fashionistas.
But after meeting Polina, Mels already looks at the dudes differently. Literally in a couple of days from a gray "goon" he himself turns into a "Broadway" party-goer. And later, having earned a saxophone as a loader, he becomes one of the best jazzmen in a local restaurant.
With a custom-made bright green plaid suit and a fashionable tie, Mels becomes one of those whom he considered his enemies yesterday. Commissioner Katya, his recent girlfriend, calls Mels a traitor. Now he has no place among normal people, which means that he is no longer a member of the Komsomol. How dare he delete from his name, in which behind each letter stands a great man for that time (Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin), the letter "s", becoming Mel in the Western manner?
In the post-war period, dudes were persecuted and ridiculed among Soviet youth. Newspapers were published and feuilletons were written, shaming fans of foreign dances and outrageous appearance. They were equated with parasites, idlers, capable of committing a crime not today tomorrow. Members of the voluntary squad raided the dudes and tried to re-educate them.
Thus, active Komsomol members tried to preserve Soviet society as an integral people, despising in every possible way those who disregarded moral norms, trying to oppose themselves to society.
Ours and yours
The Soviet ideology was very strong and in many ways contributed to the consolidation of society, helped the people to survive and win in difficult historical periods. Yuri Burlan's system-vector psychology explains this by the fact that it was complementary to the urethral-muscular mentality of the Russian people.
The mentality of each nation is formed depending on the geographic and climatic conditions of its residence. In the difficult climate of Russia, with its harsh winters and periodic hungry years, people survived only together, together. It was impossible to survive alone. Therefore, Russians are distinguished by their communal character, collectivism, and the priority of the public over the personal.
This is confirmed by living in Mels' communal apartment - one of thousands of similar apartments in Soviet times. In such conditions of a hostel with a shared kitchen and a single bathroom, only people with a urethral mentality can live.
That is, Russian society did not have its own and someone else's, it was always ours, common. That is why Mels' father meets his black grandson with the phrase "OUR Bogatyr" from the maternity hospital. It doesn't matter that the child is different in skin color. In Soviet society, all children are “ours”.
The urethral mentality is based on justice and mercy. This is in direct opposition to the Western skin mentality with individualistic values, where people are governed by law and order. In Russia - the urethral freeman, in America - freedom. In the Western understanding, freedom is not lawlessness and permissiveness, it is, first of all, the same standards for everyone and the law that protects everyone: me from a neighbor, and a neighbor from me. And for this you do not need to stand out, for this you need to observe the law, work and not violate moral norms. The heroes of the film "Hipsters" wanted to achieve a Russian, not a Western understanding of freedom, when they imitated American life.
Victims of delusion
This difference in concepts was immediately felt by Fred, who went to America for an internship. On the instructions of his dad, a diplomat, he got a profitable marriage and went to work abroad in the homeland of Chuck Berry. Having calculated the benefit-benefit for himself, Fred, as the owner of the skin vector, quickly gave up the life of a dudes.
Returning, Fred visits his old comrades Mels and Polina, brings them overseas souvenirs and tells the "terrible truth" that there are no dudes in America. The truth about the fact that the most fashionable American wears a monochromatic stylish suit, raincoat and hat, which differ from Russian ones only in quality and label.
This news makes Mels feel really shocked. It turns out that they imitated what is not in reality! They just got confused, accepted the values of the Western world through their understanding of freedom and made a mistake. Of course, Mels couldn't believe it. But what is behind his words “But we are”?
There is such a feature among Russians - to welcome foreigners and scold themselves. The muscular part of the mentality gives us the desire to divide people into friends and foes. Usually, in this case, ours are considered good, and others are bad. But in combination with the urethral measure, aimed at bestowal, on the priority of the interests of other people over personal interests, we get a muscle mentality turned inside out: we love and praise everything foreign, and we try to belittle our own, Russian, at any opportunity. We extol Western culture, but in fact we love ourselves in this culture, because Russia has the most elite culture, which is recognized throughout the world.
Being isolated for many years from everything foreign, the Soviet people received the first knowledge of life abroad, thanks to the trophy things that were brought to the country from Germany in 1940. And now we understand why everything abroad, which with such difficulty seeped into Russian life, was presented in a very positive light. Interest in him was fueled even more by the existing strict censorship - the forbidden fruit is sweet. Moreover, the censorship actually allowed only the highest quality films, music and literature. And it seemed to us that "there" in Italy, France, the USA all films and books, pictures and hits of the same high level.
Trophy films and fashion magazines brought in largely formed the Russian stereotype about European culture and became the basis for creating a wardrobe for dandies. The first Hollywood pictures with bright beauties on the screen and American gangsters in double-breasted suits were quickly copied by our fashionistas. At the same time, the first discs with jazz compositions and rock and roll appeared, and under strict secrecy they began to unlearn dancing to the rhythm of boogie-woogie.
In The Hipsters, Mels asks fellow medical student Bob (Boris) to teach him how to dance. And he conducts a master class for a friend while his parents are not at home. However, intimidated by political repressions and serving time, Boris's father asks to feel sorry for them and his mother and stop propaganda of Western culture in their house.
Tired of listening to "boogie on the bones" (records recorded on X-rays), one day Bob goes to the Intourist hotel in the hope of buying the original Bill Haley's record, he is detained by the police. The guys' friend, Betsy, is being expelled from Moscow. Another comrade is taken into the army. Life goes on as usual, breaking up friends and shattering dreams of Western freedom.
Lovers to stand out from the crowd
In the post-war period in the USSR, every man worked in a factory, cultivated virgin lands and built a communist future. On the shoulders of the woman lay the duty of educating the younger generation.
The values of the priority of society over the individual were instilled in everyone from childhood and were well absorbed by the owners of the urethral mentality. But we were already on the verge of a new era - the skin phase of human development, into which the whole world stepped after the Second World War, and Russia only after the collapse of the USSR. This phase is characterized by the growth of individualism and consumption.
It is now we see the world, "painted" by visual measure in a variety of bright saturated colors and shades. And before that he was gray and black, which is well shown in the film - on the contrast of the sadly dressed majority and the bright costumes of the dudes. These were the first bells and whistles of the consumer society.
From the point of view of Yuri Burlan's system-vector psychology, dudes are people with a skin-visual ligament of vectors. Bright colors, outstanding appearance, striving for novelty - all this characterizes them in many ways. In addition, the owners of the visual vector love to be in the spotlight.
The soul of a skin-visual person asks for a holiday, beauty, sensuality. The youth who joined the trend of the dandies tried to invent a holiday for themselves, to become bright actors even for a short time. After the dandies, quite a lot of youth subcultures appeared, which united on the screen at the end of the film. Among them are always skin-visual people who attract attention to themselves, unconsciously go to the call of nature and explain this by the desire to be different from everyone else.
A person with a more developed visual vector will no longer flaunt his appearance, hanging himself with bright paraphernalia or exposing his body. Such a person will fulfill his mission in socially useful activities: art, medicine, raising children, as well as volunteering and helping those in need.
Instead of an epilogue
The bright and musical film "Hipsters" fell in love with many viewers. But having a systemic mindset, we see not just a beautiful musical with an excellent cast and well-chosen songs. We become able to deeply understand the meaning of the film, as well as the characters and motives of the behavior of the main characters, look into their hearts, as well as understand the cultural and social vicissitudes of that time. So, to see a little more than just a beautiful holiday on the screen.
