Racism

Normally, I can't get behind charges of racism in TV shows and movies. I hate all the PC bullshit. But 2 Broke Girls is getting some criticism, and in this rare case, I'm leaning towards siding with the critics.

Why?

Well, part of the issue is the show sucks. This - without a doubt - leaves less wiggle room and forgiveness. But beyond this, it is actually a broader critique of hispterism and what hispterism has become.

I remember in college I knew this girl who very much was a preview of what hipsters have become today. Into Modest Mouse, the onion, and other ironic things. But she was smart. She once complained to be about the hipster guys she hung around were basically no different than the stereotypical drunk ass groping frat boy. She argued they would get wasted "ironically" and descend into the same sort of misogynistic, groping, pathetic behavior she associated with alcoholic fat dudes...and in a way, were worse about it because they weren't self-consciousness and thought they were really cool. She said - an alcoholic dumbass is no different than an ironic alcoholic dumbass.

It also reminds me of a critique I once read about Colbert which said the same thing - being an ironic right-wing blowhard isn't so much different from being a right-wing blowhard. What does the prior stand for in contrast to the other?

Now, 2 Broke Girls is the low-water point for the hipster movement. Hipsterism is now a sitcom on CBS. How far has this movement fallen since the days Jack White? But back to the point - how is an ironic racial stereotype different from an actual racial stereotype? Herein lies the hipster dilemma - it is a style and movement without anything to say. It is pose, first and foremost, and when forced to produce something resembling art - it can only dig into the only thing it knows - the self and the various ways one can pose. Hipsters are broke because work isn't cool. To try isn't cool. What's cool is to bang on drums and to treat your significant other like shit.

The Korean dude in 2 Broke Girls isn't a character. He is a hipster dream of what a funny immigrant looks and behaves like in a solipsistic mind. In this way, it is different from classical racism, which basically believes the races are inherently different - some inferior and others superior and justifies all sorts of legal and social segregation, and so forth. Hipsters don't believe certain races are inferior - they believe everyone who isn't a hipster is inferior. And deep inside, they believe themselves to be the most inferior of all. (armchair pysch alert - but am I wrong?)

The hipster movement started worshiping real talent - The Onion, Jack White, The Strokes first album, etc - and sure, it was a justifiable reaction against reality tv and the annoyingness main stream pop culture. But hey, Islamic Fascism is a reaction against Arab Nationalist autocrats. Who cares? Ideas must stand on their own at some point. Something has to matter. And honestly, who the fuck wants to wear used clothes all the time?