timwburke

In last post, I posted about Horrid Redneck tropes turned up to eleven in an old “X-Files” episode. I wondered if we could have a Horrid Hipster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(contemporary_subculture)
http://lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com/page/2

What would we fear from Hipsters? They are objects of ridicule among the middle-class. It would be like having terrifying hippies or Amish. There have been terrifying hippy commune movies and there were terrifying religious primitivists in “Harvest Home” and “The Wicker Man.” Which brings us to what monsters need.

Monsters need their realm of control. Gentrifying neighborhoods have high traffic, high residency turnover. People come and go with some frequency. But you can go in and not come out.

Monsters have values beyond survival. We know the Hipster tropes of admiring obscure art, making everything by hand, compassion for the environment, and enthusiasm for simple proficiency with rock climbing and kickball leagues. In my estimation, all this is a desire to relive high school as a positive experience, and through this I wonder about Peter Pan. Why Peter Pan?

Because monsters are the result of a paranormal force. It would be easy to make our evil hipsters a bunch of devil worshippers, but that’s too easy. Lovecraft is popular, so it’s tempting to say “I knew that Abomination before It became mainstream.” But I feel there are so many horrible HPL pastiches out there, we should move along. Are they aliens or genetic offshoots? Nah. Nihilists living art for its own sake? With their maker culture, we could think of hipsters wanting to transcend life through extreme and obscure means.

Monsters wish to share their insight. How much does it want to Change Others?

Monsters have a striking appearance. Check for before with the mustaches and PBRs, let’s make it more striking.

Let’s start an outline. For contrast to our monster, we need a Protagonist who provides a foundation for what reality is supposed to be in this fiction. His values are a mix of empathy and pragmatism, for otherwise we may not like him.

A Protag is looking for his younger sister. Sister was living in a gentrifying neighborhood with Boyfriend and their Baby. Protag is a commodities trader who doesn’t have much truck with the simple life of the mind. He visits their house, and finds it still furnished, their clothes and personal items still in drawers, their breakfasts rotting on their plates.

The neighbors sort of knew the three. Old folks down the street (who have paid off their houses but are still Poor) remember Baby and Sister. But the car used by Sister and Boyfriend is still on the curb with many parking tickets.

The Co-op offers no help until Mysterious Guy takes Protag aside. “They bought lots of bulk food,” says Guy, “Truckloads. And I heard Boyfriend talk about oxygen and ventilators.”

And so it goes, clue after clue, not to get too meta.

It all leads to Squatter space where Protag’s company is looking to tear down. Squatter space is wired with obscure electric stuff. It is also the portal to an extraplanar space, an empty “fix-‘er-upper” dimension, where hipsters have gone to achieve All Goals.

Residual problems? Those who enter and exit Homeland develop Physical Deformities. Seeing as we are talking dimensional issues, the Homelanders even merge in weird, angular, planar ways, like they are mirrors. Even Baby oh no not baby horrid horrid horrid.

And the Homelanders have discovered they can walk into our reality anywhere.

What happens next? Who knows? We have layers of risk through potential Deformity, familial rejection, or just plain physical danger. Does Boyfriend decide to go Anarchist and weaponize the ability? “Occupy Space” might be a good title for this story, or maybe too thumping obvious.

Did you find this process helpful?