New Sincerity and You: Counter-Counter-Countercultural Warfare

In today's culture of needy oversharing, cultural voyeurism, and [post-]post-modern irony it can seem as if nobody is willing to simply be their own self. It's possible that being a human being will no longer be as attractive an option as it used to be in the so-called 'simpler times' but most likely it is the old struggle in which mass culture tries to either force itself to be interesting or lays down a smokescreen of excuses about why it isn't. A reasonably recent phenomena, born out of cultural desperation and distaste, is New Sincerity. And, goddamn, the term is hot right now, and getting hotter by the moment – so come inside, place your bets, and learn a little something about nothing!

I'm no expert. New Sincerity, as a term, doesn't sit well with me, just like so many other facets of contemporary cultural shorthand. In many ways New Sincerity can be simplified as the diametrical opposite of that vague modern boogeyman 'the Hipster'. And yet, research I have done on the matter seems to suggest that mainstream 'hipster scions' are in fact loosely associated with New Sincerity. I don't really know what Zach Braff would say about the matter. Was Garden State actually a determined piece of New Sincerity propaganda? Did it manage to cash in on the credible? Worse yet, have the bewildering, out-of-favor films of Wes Anderson been appropriated by the movement? By the other movement?

My intention in this article has changed from simply making fun of New Sincerity to undertaking somewhat of a census about it. Mostly this will be the type of armchair cultural criticism I am known for, worldwide. For the most part New Sincerity is often used as a prescriptive term. In music this situation changes: many bands, hearkening back to the simpler, more heartfelt times of Bruce Springsteen, term themselves part of the New Sincerity movement, performing lyrics based less on conceptualism and cleverness and more on love, loss, sorrow, joy, and excitement. These are the earnest topics for music, but what keeps them from becoming pop music is a blend of aesthetics, identity, and intent. The prime axiom is to be authentic at all costs by not making attempts at authenticity, and never to ask 'what is authenticity?'

Unsurprisingly, New Sincerity stems from classic rock superstars such as Bruce Springsteen, Ted Nugent, John Mellencamp, and Bob Seeger, among others. Hair metal and psych are too ironic, or too insincere, or illegal, so lots of 'dad-rock' played to death on classic rock radio is actually questionable. Or perhaps they are valid inspiration, it's quite foggy to me and researching these kinds of things is slower than decisive critical strikes. What have these (and other) roots inspired?

Modern popular/indie acts such as The Hold Steady, Japandroids, Passion Pit, and evidently even Animal Collective are considered New Sincerity. These are just loose examples. To my mind the absolute pinnacle of new sincerity is probably Japandroids - they're not as bland as The Hold Steady and they're not politically or philosophically newly sincere. They just rock out and sing and holler and scream about partying, kissing girls, how life is and what they feel about it.

It's not slavish imitations of Springsteen topics about living in a shit down and running out of hope, or shooting up a bank in the back-roads of Nebraska. One has to admire the mixed positivity in songs about change, nostalgia/heartbreak, or raw excitement. The sense is that it's all youthful enthusiasm and angst, sometimes regret, and the energy cannot be denied. Their lack of pretense, deliberate simplicity and raw force all stand in contrast to established hype bands like The Hold Steady (with Springsteen and hearts worn on the sleeves). However, Japandroids' sophomore album is either too earnest or actually ironic in the ennui mode (or simply underwhelming after their debut), which may or may not say anything about New Sincerity.

Myself, I think the best part is that New Sincerity is often hailed as the redemptive force of contemporary hipster culture. It's a pretty great lie, but it makes everything seem much more epic and heroic, as if there really is a struggle against insincerity in culture. I stress, again, that the modern hipster has roots in Victorian England and earlier German youth movements. We see again and again the sorrows of young Werther in the trappings of a modern-day dandy. However it was inevitable, after the crushing nihilism of the 80's and the strung-out apathy of the 90's, that some kind of cultural force would rise in opposition. The only questionable thing is whether terming it 'new' is not a smidgeon untrue.

Sincerity didn't go away in 80's and 90's. It just wasn't very fashionable, and in the hipster explosion of 2007-2k10 sincerity became almost counter-cultural (giving a lot of fuel to the New Sincerity fire), but it was always present. Many, many musical acts regularly affect sincerity to varying degrees; though it is very cynical (and contrary to New Sincerity) to suspect that all musical groups are insincere. There are certainly many, but since irony and cynicism are going out of style (if New Sincerity makes its point), those groups will be found out and publicly shamed for their part in perpetuating false enthusiasm and ironic enjoyment of dissimulating media.

I suppose many people are sick of irony and cynicism, two overused themes which have been pillaged for value for too long. However, both are bottomless and can be mined repeatedly for the same sickening sensations of purposelessness, futility, and defeat – in much the same way that New Sincerity (affected or not) can repeatedly overtop itself and provide unlimited enthusiasm, positivity, and earnestness. In media such as poetry and literature these effects are glaringly obvious (American Psycho vs. a different reading of American Psycho for one obtuse example) or Walt Whitman's poetry compared to just about anything you can find today with an ironic bent. Short stories emphasizing satire over characterization, relationships (or other things you have no patience for because you are an uncultured boor with snide, ironic, and insincere ideas about the arts and humanities) are another burden of postmodern irony.

Some of the most compelling claims New Sincerity makes are in the realm of film. David Lynch, despite absurdist tendencies, has at least one very sincere movie (Blue Velvet) for one example that I can provide offhand. However the exemplar would be Wes Anderson. His newest movie, in many ways emblematic of disgust at modern viciousness, is Moonrise Kingdom. This is a sincere movie about a love affair between two unpopular, disaffected children living on a small island. It is the ultimate coming-of-age story, and it is expertly cast, acted, and executed. It is often also derided as 'hipster' pablum, impenetrable, pointless, and too arty.

In short, depending on your perspective, the movie is either very sincere or wildly ironic. Moonrise Kingdom takes a good number of risks in actually depicting tweens in love, but the idea is that the two lovers are not overly corrupted by cynicism or prejudiced by irony (as are most of the adults) or immune to sensibility and callow (as are many of the other children). It also takes place in 60's, so nostalgia is a big theme as well. It is in few senses 'realistic' but for all its eccentricities it does have a core of emotional realism and conflict that cannot be ignored nor denied.

It is therefore a rather compelling effort, making statements wrapped in the guise of narrative which concern (not condemn) modern identity and existence. Each and every character is flawed, and the film climaxes in a stormy fever-dream delirium (which may well be an ironic take on the already ironic trope of unreliable narration) in which solutions slowly dissolve and re-emerge. It's a great movie for a number of reasons, with some problems (general preciousness), but a large part of moviegoers were instantly hostile to it and remained hostile to it. Arguably, the film fails to be populist, which is apparently a big thing in New Sincerity, but I think the label stands – if it doesn't then the whole movement isn't coherent enough to be worth applying to anything.

Why such hostility to a beautiful, earnest, heartfelt, vulnerable, redemptive movie with such undeniably pertinent hard edges? Did it face an audience that was conditioned by sarcastic media to be hostile to anything which perpetrated a sincere stance or narrative? Or was it because Wes Anderson is a 'socialist-intellectual' type whose movies are loudly enjoyed by 'hipsters'? It was most likely a blend of the two factors, with a third, which is hard to stomach but true: filmgoers have lost their ability to be challenged without feeling insulted or bewildered. In a multi-billion dollar industry like film, some cultural flattening is to be expected, but mark my words it is worse than you ever thought and worse than is worth it to elaborate.The art is still there, you typically have to sift and look for it.

Through the gravity lensing effects of extreme cynicism, postmodern irony and New Sincerity basically mean as little as each other, and look alike. Nobody is wise to invest their whole identity or outlook in either mode. The greatest weakness of New Sincerity is that it can get too earnest – plenty of oversharing, 'creative', 'care-bear' online content and personalities come to mind. It is also very nostalgic for youth, in particular teenaged life and the innocence of childhood (see M83's 'Graveyard Girl' or 'Raconte-moi une Histoire'). Not all art is yearning for the impossible. It also lends itself to suspiciously outrageous stances, which nearly brings it around to the so-called ironic hipster nihilism it purports to oppose. Postmodern irony can be just as excessive and annoying, however, and just as nostalgic to boot – its greatest weakness is that it often has nothing to stand on (though it wallows knowingly in this).

In any case, lots of non-identifying media efforts (in literature, music, poetry, visual arts, film, and rarely television) are gradually tending towards increased sincerity (arguably what led to, for instance, Das Racist's fizzling burn-out), albeit with the typical lack of depth, wonder, or sincerity that generally lurks in the background of popular culture. The doors are definitely not closed to unwashed cynics or the ironic set who are probably too cool for you, me, or most other people. Most of the time these labels come not from true philosophical objectives, but wardrobe departments and marketers.

It's a confusing landscape filled with the tone-deaf shouts of cultural 'experts' and the general background noise of dissent and hype. Fortunately it doesn't have a huge bearing on actual life, and contains many positive elements. Nobody just comes by authenticity, however, no matter how earnest their desire for it. In the urban areas, the cynical temptation is to deride all identities as shallow, impossible, and/or counterfeit. Mostly this is a side-effect of identity fetishism, just like New Sincerity and its most dedicated and vocal adherents. If there is one defense for postmodern irony it is that, at its most rarefied and sharpest level, it understands the disingenuousness of applying sexy labels too willingly, to oneself or to others.

I got out with few conclusions, in short. Nobody's right – that seems heartwarming enough. None of it is particularly counter-cultural at this point, since both sides are largely composed of obedient consumers who mistake taste elitism for cultural revolution. Authenticity in your lifetime? If you've got to ask that question, don't hold your breath.