POP CULTURE ON THE SKIDS: Romping with Dachshunds
(NOTE: If you want to be a bird/Why don’t you try a little
flying/There’s no denying/It gets you high/Why be shackled to your feet/When you’ve
got wings/You haven’t used yet/Don’t wait for heaven/Get out and fly)
Beanie Babies, Garbage Pail Kids, Fizzies, Pop Rocks, Silly
Putty, velvet paintings by Leeteg of Tahiti, Frederick’s of Hollywood, mood
rings, pet rocks, surf speak, Alf,
apps, Jeffrey Koons, water pipes, Game of
Thrones, and Miley Cyrus being nasty with Robin Thicke. Cargo pants, Jerry
Garcia neckties, Rocket Radios, Doctor
Strange, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Snuggies, The Simpsons, Beavis & Butthead, MTV, Batman, Iron Man, McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Burger King, and
iPod, iPad, and iPhone. America continues to outstrip every other country in
generating pop culture. With any luck and in a fairer world than where we live
now, every piece promises to eventually fall from the collective memory.
YOU CALL THIS A CULTURE?
Pop culture attracts the generation with the greatest
disposable income. The bits consist of ninety-five percent marketing and five
percent actual physical material. Pop culture has as much connection to real
culture as yo-yos to intercontinental ballistic missiles. Stick a poster for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen next
to a landscape by Richard Diebenkorn and you see the difference. One says See,
Breathe, and Imagine, while the other waits between Blu-ray and toy sales for
the custodian’s recycle bin.
UNTYING THE SILLY STRING
Writers use pop culture references to fix a story in time
and place, but they age faster than clichés. Such references also have the
ability to disappear before the story hits print. Pop culture is better
described as disposable culture applicable to only to this day, this hour, this
minute, and not a second more. Forcing the reader to dig through the detritus
of network television shows and blister packs from Toys R Us yanks them out of
the story about people, and why they are reading in the first place.
YOUNG ENOUGH NOT TO CARE
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote effectively about the Jazz Age
from being a participant, as in the short stories “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” and “The
Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” He used intimate knowledge of the language and
attitudes to identify his characters’ generation as different from the
previous. Both stories would sound false if Fitzgerald had been older at the
time of composition. His involvement engaged the reader then and now.
Pop culture is marketed to those under the age of
thirty-seven. After that milestone is passed, income previously used for fun is
taken over by doctors, dentists, mortgages, and retirement plans. Marketers
in search of the next big thing ignore the men and women who no longer have the
means to drop serious money on a 1/72 scale Millennium Falcon. The older and
more responsible ignore them in return.
PASS THE CRONUTS
Pop culture is supposed to be a reflection of the zeitgeist
yet it rarely rises above the limitless bottom of money-grubbing. Sometimes a
crossover occurs, like the really cool Oscar Wilde action figure, but these are
meant to be an ironic comment on how shallow the culture in general has become.
Writers should only refer to pop culture they know or are an
active participant. Anything else is a trial for the reader, especially when
they know more than the writer. More important than mention of Gummy Bears and
lava lamps are character, story, and setting, those nice essentials that keep
writers writing and readers reading.
JOIN HERE
Never to be outdone or overdone, a new cult has formed in the
Carolinas around The Dog Walked
Down the Street: An Outspoken Guide for Writers Who Want to Publish
(Cypress House, $13.95). Members wander the villages wearing oversized white
tee shirts with the letters “CTFU,” and harangue passers-by with gospel fervor
about the coming of the Big Blue Pencil. “We deserve the right to know about
writing,” they clamor. “We deserve the right to know about how publishing
works” is writ large on placard signs. To ensure these goofs miss your
neighborhood, consult www.indiebound.com for an independent bookstore near you.
Buy several copies from the understanding clerks and expect to be congratulated
on your fine taste and being far ahead of the crowd. “Pretty soon” is close to
happening.
NEXT: A Sleeping Cat is an Easy Target
Labels: Antonia Duren, F. Scott Fitzgerald, marketing, pop culture, RIchard Diebenkorn
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