Greetings, Toby Keith has died, but don’t worry, this essay isn’t about him. At least not directly. Just like the recent spate of essays on T*ylor Sw*ft, perhaps the best or even the only way to comprehend such figures of pop consciousness is via their mediation, that is, their representation and reception in a specific place and time. My guides for this kind of endeavor are as always Adorno and Debord, who with all of their manifest imperfections never failed to contextualize the contemporary/late modern pop spectacle by inserting it into concentrations of capital. Indeed, Debord’s “Spectacle” is nothing more than the visual (in this case complemented by the auditory) manifestation of that concentration. With this in mind, and for better or worse, Keith in particular is identified with a place and time very different from our own, and yet which also feels like a practice run for the current moment.
I find contemporary r/w pop-conciousness a lot less mystifying since I heard another describe DJT as an "opportunist." Like a big blind squirrel and his unlucky nuts.
It will be interesting to see how someone like Sw*ft will influence the memory of this time 20 years from now.
Great read, ty Dr.
I find contemporary r/w pop-conciousness a lot less mystifying since I heard another describe DJT as an "opportunist." Like a big blind squirrel and his unlucky nuts.
It will be interesting to see how someone like Sw*ft will influence the memory of this time 20 years from now.