Gary - I've been trying to post this to xmca, but it keeps bouncing
back, so I thought I'd try sending it to you:
Gary Shank wrote:
"the following piece came wandering to my computer, and it struck
me as not only being strange, but also illuminating in some un-
usual way. i was struck by the rapidity of cultural co-opting
that is documented here, and the effortless response of the writer
to what is certainly a clash of value systems. for our non-USA
readers, the Grateful Dead was a rock band that served as a symbol
of anti-establishment thinking, the drug subculture, and the
peace and love subculture, while the Fantasia Ball most surely is
a white, establishment, protestant if not religious fundamentalist,
business culture in the deep south. two worlds in the usa could
not be more far apart.is there something of interest going on here?"
Gary then sent a reprint of a newspaper article about the ball.I was fascinated.
But then I, too, may be prone to overdosing on
semiotics. Bakhtin's notion of carnival comes to mind. But so
does an awareness of my own initial emotional reaction of "How
dare they!" I'd be interested in knowing the reaction of thosewho, unlike us I
assume, Gary, do not have a historical, if notpersonal, "vested interest" in
this as members of (another assumption)
the same generation and, shall we say, "musical persuasion." (Sorry,
I don't mean to sound cryptic but I am deep in the mire of another paper and
only stuck my nose out long enough to check messages I have
been neglecting - but I just couldn't resist some response to
this one, although I'll probably be forced to leave any ensuing
discussion to others).
The paradoxes of your posting are intriguing. I would love to
be able to interview those who attended this ball, the reporter,
and maybe even you ;-), to get deeper below the surface of this.
These "ballers" have taken what started as an anti-genre of sorts
and, I think, done more than co-opted it. Let me try to explain
what I am trying to get at here:For example, when white,middle and upper-middle
class kids in the suburbs co-opt
the walk,
talk, and dress of inner-city kids, part of the attraction - of
what makes it "cool" - is that they have some awareness, however
superficial, of it being an anti-genre. There is, when the
co-opting begins at least, some awareness of it being
carnivalesque, I think. That element is missing here and that
is one of the most interesting aspects of your posting.
Another thing I did
want to point out is that such co-opting often
takes place relatively
quickly. But I share your amazement and interest in the phenomena
of this event.
Please write more.
stephanie
stephanie urso spina
spinast who-is-at hugse1.harvard.edu