Five Reasons We Love The Beats (and Feel You Should Too)
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If you’ve been following along with our third season, you’re aware we’ve been digging into…and digging on…The Beats in our most recent episodes. Our curiosity about these iconic figures was fueled by what we thought we knew about them and—more importantly—what we were sure we didn’t know about them.
As two pop culture junkies, we wanted to know how Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs and the lot became who they became and, maybe more importantly, why they still have power to capture our (and very likely your) attention some eighty years later.
Here are five reasons we love The Beats, based on long hours of fun, non-scientific drinking…er…research:
The Beats appreciated the mundane. These were people fascinated by the intellectual stimulation of everyday life: travel, conversation, jazz, heavy smoking, benzedrine... (Okay, not so much for us with those last two.) But, like The Beats, we love a healthy conversation about Walt Whitman at the Waffle House or Jean-Paul Sartre at the Jean-Claude Penny’s as much as talking outsider art or pro wrestling in a downtown lounge. Those conversations, and the people bringing them up, touch our simple little hearts. Call us mundane. We love it.
They pushed personal expression when conformity ruled. The Beats promoted the importance of individual attitudes, philosophies, and expressions, along with a healthy dose of hedonism, during a post-war period of monolithic media and encroaching conformity. Our podcast is about pop culture and the iconic threads tying us all together. Although we don’t talk a lot about our politics or personal philosophies, we strongly believe everyone has the responsibility to stay informed on a range of topics that impact our world. So have your opinions. We may disagree on perspectives but solidly agree with you to have ‘em.
The Beats questioned authority. Now, we’re just two designers sitting in a bar. Although we’ve been thrown out of a couple of “respectable” establishments, we’re not about to overthrow an institution. Unless it’s a go-kart track. (We’ll tell you that story one day.) Cheesy amusement parks notwithstanding, we do appreciate the bounds of authority and keeping daily life humming along. However, in our main gigs as creative communicators, we aren’t doing our job if we don’t push the norm, which means questioning what’s expected and therefore “mainstream.” If our clients’ competitors are solidly zigging, well…we’d better zag. After all, in the attention economy, an audience ain’t into the same old, same old. Frankly, neither are we.
They were characters. Sure, they were intellectual, grumpy, and sometimes happy. Often dopey. Occasionally crazy. We embrace these twisted Seven Dwarfs and all characters who leave their mark on pop culture history and the world at large. It makes us curious to learn about these eccentrics, tap into their magic and then feature it on our show and maybe pepper in our own creative work. If after reading a certain Beat-era book you were itching to know what possibilities lay just over the horizon and outside of town, you know what we’re talking about.
The Beats broke form. The rebellion mentioned above meant shots across the bows of traditional literature, poetry, and visual and performance art formats. The Beats were asking why the status quo needed to be maintained and if there was more than one approach to the art of living life. Those sorts of questions sent rockets into space, dropped iPhones into pockets and, along the way, gave rise to some very talented people producing cultural touchstones. We’re talking big things like novels and art movements along with equally iconic products and the ads for them. For that, these two designers appreciate the cultural fingerprints of The Beats more than ever.
In short, The Beats were the sorts of curious characters we identify with, enough to attempt to share their story in our own small way. What have we gotten right? What have we left out? If The Beats matter to you as well, why?
Check out our Beats episodes and share your thoughts on our contact page. We’re always up for a healthy conversation. We’ll even let you buy.