"But then there’s also the fact that the Grey Lady, which will fact check the claim that the sky is blue, published a piece of what is really just speculative fanfiction."
As long as its the right kind of oppressed minority writing the right kind of fantasies about the right kind of celebrity. Then, they and those like them are just so special that they are entitled to everything that they deserve. Even if La Swift herself doesn't feel like going along.
The wrong kind of minority writing the wrong kind of fantasies about the wrong kind of celebrity is just icky and cringe and unrealistic.
Seriously, for sheer lack of contact with The Real World. these people make Marie Antionette look like a medieval gong farmer or a pygmy tribesman by comparison.
It puts me in mind of that unbelievable tweet asking if girls in Afghanistan were aware of Black Girl Magic, tagging Beyoncé, Lizzo, and Regina King. The spirit of Tumblr has become a strange sort of pantheism.
"I’m forever battling people in the comments here who insist that nothing that ever happens on the internet can ever have any real-world impact."
Yes! Without the internet, the Unite the Right rally would've never happened. People organize to gather in physical space on the basis of this hyper self-reinforcing internet dynamic.
You really get it right when you question the actual political impact of representation. I think it's pretty clear all of these mass media shows are mainly about allowing people to congratulate themselves for not being a racist or a homophobe, like it's an achievement in life.
Or making them feel they've done a good deed each time they sit on their ass for a few hours watching TV. Eaten their greens and helped to make the world more diverse.
And the vast majority of people watching or listening to all of this representation-forward content are white and straight - it's just culture as vitamins.
Perceived political value has become a prized metric for how people praise or criticise art. It's reflected too in the way TV and podcast companies now make sure to add some spurious shit about the victims to their murder or true crime stories just so that people can still like those in 'the right way' and pretend that's the reason they're watching, as some form of reclaimed justice, since god forbid anyone admit that humans might be intrigued by violent crimes or aberrant behaviour.
I normally avoid comparing culture to food since McDonalds will kill you and no amount of pop music will, but a lot of what we see on Netflix etc these days seems to very similar to food labs and their endless quests to create a snack that doesn't make you feel full or sick after eating the whole bag.
Be fair. The kid in Dead Poets Society killed himself because he was being forced to go to an Ivy League university and medical school. It apparently didn’t occur to him to just take the Ivy League bachelor degree, enjoy some theatre electives on the side, and then tell his parents sayonara upon graduation.
I wonder how much of this is also an outgrowth of the fact that the only financially viable feminist websites were basically entertainment gossip sites aimed at people aged 15-25. Older women or women less focused on parasocial relationships with celebrities just read the Times or the Post. When Feministing switched to long form reporting pieces, it failed financially, while Jezebel limped along for years acting like pieces about the Kardashians and Pete Davidson's dating life were going to bring about Bernie's revolution. The Cut ran that horrible Julia Fox piece on it's cover, while Ed Kilgore wrote a New York piece on abortion regulations. For about a decade, feminist media could only get clicks by telling young women that feminism was having pop culture make you feel validated because they couldn't afford actual female reporters who could report on things like healthcare, criminal justice, foreign policy, etc.
Excellent post that brings out the complexities but still nails what is in my view the bottom line. I especially appreciate that DeBoer, in critiquing the idea that art is supposed to speak for and to one's ascriptive identity, does *not* take the position that diversity in art is silly or pernicious. It's not. That the film industry finally started offering films like Malcolm X and Daughters of the Dust matters tremendously, for all kinds of reasons.
Yes, Fiona Apple was right. But it's even worse than she knew back in 1997. Then she worried that people were copying what famous people thought was cool and letting it shape their lives. But today, in the era of the influencer and Youtuber, I have a feeling that many, many people think they don't even really *exist* unless they themselves are something akin to a celebrity––that is, unless they have their lives witnessed by a mass audience of strangers.
When I was much younger, I would get into some of the gossip for celebrities because, let’s face it, life can be boring and it was a fun escape. However, with the rise of toxic fandoms and all the like, I stay away from it as it’s just sad to watch.
I read the article in the NYT and thought it was a bit off…wishing for someone to be a different sexuality that publicly and in the NYT was an interesting choice.
I understand why Swift would be angry at it but I refuse to feel bad for someone who has the wealth and privilege she does. This legitimately doesn’t affect her all that much and it will pass as all internet things do.
I would love for us to stop worshipping celebrity as a culture, but I don’t see it coming. Let’s just hope that more insane crap isn’t spun up in the sewers of the servers and unleashed upon us all.
This NYT piece haunted me since it came out, for all the reasons FDB talks about and then some. At the ripe old age of 33, I am old enough to remember when that sort of public speculating (and potential outing) about a celebrity's sexuality was trashy at best, dangerous at worst.
Item: My spouse is enrolled in a Masters of Environmental Science program and came home one night frustrated because the professor—the professor!—was musing about how we, as a society, might finally start taking climate change seriously if only Taylor Swift said something about it. I'm not necessarily a climate change doomer, and I shouldn't dismiss a professor, program, or field based on a few idle remarks, but if that's the sort of problem solving happening at the level of Environmental Studies these days then we are well and truly screwed.
Also: it is fine and fun to be invested in popular things, but I can assure you that, while it may not offer the ecstatic highs of the eras tour (which is a blast, I'm sure, if that's your thing), there's a more dignified, democratic, and emotionally/financially sustainable way of interacting with your favorite musicians as they get more independent and/or local. Like, you could buy Melissa Carper a beer and briefly chat with her at the merch table next time she comes to town, if you feel you must meet your favorite musicians. But maybe it's the safety in knowing you will never get within 100 yards of Taylor Swift that allows for this level of emotional investment. The presence of the human face, in person (not in a stadium) has a way of dissuading the sort of disordered behavior that otherwise normal people are engaging in online these days.
And, yeah, I'm not easily offended, and I'm not a part of the queer community, but I was offended at how this piece just erased the artists you mentioned and dozens more. Justice for Lavender Country! Brandi Carlile is out there like, "See that I'm the one who understands you/ been here all along, so why can't you see..."
At some point don't we have to acknowledge that we're an animal evolved to exist in tribes, and we crave acceptance in a tribe nearly as much as oxygen? It's pretty clear to me that religion filled that need for people for centuries, and now that America is a lot less religious people are grasping for something to take its place. I agree with some of your previous writings that religion without a literal belief in God probably doesn't work. But God damn, I hope we can find a better replacement for religion than whatever this is.
I still think the fact that the NYT opinion section published someone who had written slashfic about Dennis and Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is funnier than them publishing this.
"But then there’s also the fact that the Grey Lady, which will fact check the claim that the sky is blue, published a piece of what is really just speculative fanfiction."
As long as its the right kind of oppressed minority writing the right kind of fantasies about the right kind of celebrity. Then, they and those like them are just so special that they are entitled to everything that they deserve. Even if La Swift herself doesn't feel like going along.
The wrong kind of minority writing the wrong kind of fantasies about the wrong kind of celebrity is just icky and cringe and unrealistic.
Seriously, for sheer lack of contact with The Real World. these people make Marie Antionette look like a medieval gong farmer or a pygmy tribesman by comparison.
Personally, I stopped taking the Times' pop culture coverage seriously in 1992.
https://www.theringer.com/music/2017/11/8/16615842/grunge-new-york-times-slang
You can take the rest of the year off after this tour de force. But I hope you do not.
It puts me in mind of that unbelievable tweet asking if girls in Afghanistan were aware of Black Girl Magic, tagging Beyoncé, Lizzo, and Regina King. The spirit of Tumblr has become a strange sort of pantheism.
"I’m forever battling people in the comments here who insist that nothing that ever happens on the internet can ever have any real-world impact."
Yes! Without the internet, the Unite the Right rally would've never happened. People organize to gather in physical space on the basis of this hyper self-reinforcing internet dynamic.
Personally I think Taylor Swift shows great empathy with the plight of mothers-in-law who are murdered by their mercenary children and their spouses.
You really get it right when you question the actual political impact of representation. I think it's pretty clear all of these mass media shows are mainly about allowing people to congratulate themselves for not being a racist or a homophobe, like it's an achievement in life.
Or making them feel they've done a good deed each time they sit on their ass for a few hours watching TV. Eaten their greens and helped to make the world more diverse.
And the vast majority of people watching or listening to all of this representation-forward content are white and straight - it's just culture as vitamins.
Perceived political value has become a prized metric for how people praise or criticise art. It's reflected too in the way TV and podcast companies now make sure to add some spurious shit about the victims to their murder or true crime stories just so that people can still like those in 'the right way' and pretend that's the reason they're watching, as some form of reclaimed justice, since god forbid anyone admit that humans might be intrigued by violent crimes or aberrant behaviour.
I normally avoid comparing culture to food since McDonalds will kill you and no amount of pop music will, but a lot of what we see on Netflix etc these days seems to very similar to food labs and their endless quests to create a snack that doesn't make you feel full or sick after eating the whole bag.
Another hidden gem, now I know about Mitski.
Be fair. The kid in Dead Poets Society killed himself because he was being forced to go to an Ivy League university and medical school. It apparently didn’t occur to him to just take the Ivy League bachelor degree, enjoy some theatre electives on the side, and then tell his parents sayonara upon graduation.
I wonder how much of this is also an outgrowth of the fact that the only financially viable feminist websites were basically entertainment gossip sites aimed at people aged 15-25. Older women or women less focused on parasocial relationships with celebrities just read the Times or the Post. When Feministing switched to long form reporting pieces, it failed financially, while Jezebel limped along for years acting like pieces about the Kardashians and Pete Davidson's dating life were going to bring about Bernie's revolution. The Cut ran that horrible Julia Fox piece on it's cover, while Ed Kilgore wrote a New York piece on abortion regulations. For about a decade, feminist media could only get clicks by telling young women that feminism was having pop culture make you feel validated because they couldn't afford actual female reporters who could report on things like healthcare, criminal justice, foreign policy, etc.
The NYT article struck me as another manifestation of the "god-shaped hole;" we so want to make our gods in our own image.
Excellent post that brings out the complexities but still nails what is in my view the bottom line. I especially appreciate that DeBoer, in critiquing the idea that art is supposed to speak for and to one's ascriptive identity, does *not* take the position that diversity in art is silly or pernicious. It's not. That the film industry finally started offering films like Malcolm X and Daughters of the Dust matters tremendously, for all kinds of reasons.
Yes, Fiona Apple was right. But it's even worse than she knew back in 1997. Then she worried that people were copying what famous people thought was cool and letting it shape their lives. But today, in the era of the influencer and Youtuber, I have a feeling that many, many people think they don't even really *exist* unless they themselves are something akin to a celebrity––that is, unless they have their lives witnessed by a mass audience of strangers.
I worry for the parasocial amongst us.
When I was much younger, I would get into some of the gossip for celebrities because, let’s face it, life can be boring and it was a fun escape. However, with the rise of toxic fandoms and all the like, I stay away from it as it’s just sad to watch.
I read the article in the NYT and thought it was a bit off…wishing for someone to be a different sexuality that publicly and in the NYT was an interesting choice.
I understand why Swift would be angry at it but I refuse to feel bad for someone who has the wealth and privilege she does. This legitimately doesn’t affect her all that much and it will pass as all internet things do.
I would love for us to stop worshipping celebrity as a culture, but I don’t see it coming. Let’s just hope that more insane crap isn’t spun up in the sewers of the servers and unleashed upon us all.
This NYT piece haunted me since it came out, for all the reasons FDB talks about and then some. At the ripe old age of 33, I am old enough to remember when that sort of public speculating (and potential outing) about a celebrity's sexuality was trashy at best, dangerous at worst.
Item: My spouse is enrolled in a Masters of Environmental Science program and came home one night frustrated because the professor—the professor!—was musing about how we, as a society, might finally start taking climate change seriously if only Taylor Swift said something about it. I'm not necessarily a climate change doomer, and I shouldn't dismiss a professor, program, or field based on a few idle remarks, but if that's the sort of problem solving happening at the level of Environmental Studies these days then we are well and truly screwed.
Also: it is fine and fun to be invested in popular things, but I can assure you that, while it may not offer the ecstatic highs of the eras tour (which is a blast, I'm sure, if that's your thing), there's a more dignified, democratic, and emotionally/financially sustainable way of interacting with your favorite musicians as they get more independent and/or local. Like, you could buy Melissa Carper a beer and briefly chat with her at the merch table next time she comes to town, if you feel you must meet your favorite musicians. But maybe it's the safety in knowing you will never get within 100 yards of Taylor Swift that allows for this level of emotional investment. The presence of the human face, in person (not in a stadium) has a way of dissuading the sort of disordered behavior that otherwise normal people are engaging in online these days.
And, yeah, I'm not easily offended, and I'm not a part of the queer community, but I was offended at how this piece just erased the artists you mentioned and dozens more. Justice for Lavender Country! Brandi Carlile is out there like, "See that I'm the one who understands you/ been here all along, so why can't you see..."
At some point don't we have to acknowledge that we're an animal evolved to exist in tribes, and we crave acceptance in a tribe nearly as much as oxygen? It's pretty clear to me that religion filled that need for people for centuries, and now that America is a lot less religious people are grasping for something to take its place. I agree with some of your previous writings that religion without a literal belief in God probably doesn't work. But God damn, I hope we can find a better replacement for religion than whatever this is.
I still think the fact that the NYT opinion section published someone who had written slashfic about Dennis and Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is funnier than them publishing this.