The hat is a form of media that shows the difference of class and social status as well as breaks the barriers of class as it also represents where you are from. Many people, men and women wear hats daily. They where it as a sign of fashion as well as a tool, or medium, to represent something about themself. Whether you wear a flat brim baseball fitted hat from a certain city, or a faded polo hat can tell someone about your style and about yourself as a person. The faded polo hat tells a story of a preppy kid, while the fitted flat brim hat would lean more towards the urban style as well as athletic. I know as being a member on the baseball team you can always find a majority of our players around campus wearing their favorite teams hat or the team of where they are from. Just like a jersey, the hat resembles the team as well as the person who wears it. Depending on the type of hat, or the team you wear, one can distinguish one self from others as well as bring themselves together with other people they usually wouldn't. This is how the hat breaks the barriers of class because people from all different social and economics class can come together to support one team by wearing their hat. The hat tells a lot about a person and can sometimes serve as a form of advertisement as well as representation.
The hat is a form of media that shows the difference of class and social status as well as breaks the barriers of class as it also represents where you are from. Many people, men and women wear hats daily. They where it as a sign of fashion as well as a tool, or medium, to represent something about themself. Whether you wear a flat brim baseball fitted hat from a certain city, or a faded polo hat can tell someone about your style and about yourself as a person. The faded polo hat tells a story of a preppy kid, while the fitted flat brim hat would lean more towards the urban style as well as athletic. I know as being a member on the baseball team you can always find a majority of our players around campus wearing their favorite teams hat or the team of where they are from. Just like a jersey, the hat resembles the team as well as the person who wears it. Depending on the type of hat, or the team you wear, one can distinguish one self from others as well as bring themselves together with other people they usually wouldn't. This is how the hat breaks the barriers of class because people from all different social and economics class can come together to support one team by wearing their hat. The hat tells a lot about a person and can sometimes serve as a form of advertisement as well as representation. 
The hat is a great medium that is often overlooked. I agree that logos and styles of hats can be used to display geographic location, interests, and even socioeconmic status. However, these ideas rely on stereotypes that have been established in our society which are not always true. Does the benefit of being able to bring people together outweigh the wrongful ideas that peopele perceive about another simply by his/her hat?
ReplyDeleteHats do act as a medium. I also agree with Cameron as to saying that hats as a medium are directly related to stereotypes. Like you said a faded polo hat can possibly mean that someone has a Prep school background. So people who use hats to with a fashion purpose in mind can be unfairly judged. I have seen people who wear that horrible Yankees hat simply for style get teased simply because they chose to wear a hat.
ReplyDeleteI like your observation about hats being social barrier breaker. But you should also not ignore the opposite side of the argument--hats build up barriers as well: they turn strangers against each other. Remember in Seinfeld, Elaine wouldn't take off her Orioles hat in a Yankee game, then she got kicked out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you should note that you're only concerned with baseball hats. The history and cultural scope of hats are so long and wide (well into the beginning of human civilization) that baseball hats are only a drop of water in the big ocean.
c.d.