Monday, January 05, 2009
Rebel flags
"White Noise" has plenty to say about academia, but my favorite exchange was the pop culture throwdown about what faculty could remember about the day James Dean died. But how often have I been asked what I remember about Princess Di's death? What makes this kind of crap the moral zenith of pop culture? I don't know, myself ... what are the highlights in our time of cultural significance? What makes them special? Would DeLillo agree?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Great question. Wish I knew the answer.
It was hard for me to tell whether this was straightforward satire and DeLillo was poking fun or whether he found some kind of fundamental value in this pop minutiae that had invaded the ivory tower.
I figured it was satire -- the whole "American environments" department, the notion that stupid crap about celebrities and Hollywood movies is held on the same level as history and science and literature.
I found it interesting that the students thought movies were the culture, while the professors thought it was TV and packaging. Perhaps today it's blogs and banner ads.
I tend not to remember where I was when big things took place. I remember where I was for the Challenger disaster and September 11, both of which I watched on live TV, but that's about it. Oh, and I remember where I was when I learned that Mitch Hedberg had died -- but it was a few days after it happened.
Interesting issue, kc, regarding whether he found fundamental value in pop culture minutiae. I felt that he must have to have created Murray, but he clearly saw it as at least somewhat ridiculous -- otherwise, the faculty wouldn't have been so ridiculous.
Maybe the point the author wanted to take was how Erin suggested that it shouldn't be held on the same level as science and literature. It's easy and maybe human to register what's happening with pop culture and celebrities (such as gads, Brad and Angelina had more babies! Are they repopulating the earth? Would knowing the baby names help at all on trivia night?) versus revering it alongside more lasting contributions to culture.
Post a Comment