(pop) culture matters

February 26, 2007 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

A few years ago I took an advanced workshop for coaches. The workshop leaders had us watch a video that was a montage of clips of commercials and programming over the course of a couple of hours on typical cable TV. It went on and an and it was annoying to watch but I was surprised by the reaction of some of the attendees who were covering their ears, pleading for it to end and calling it everything from ‘banal’ to ‘painful’. That was the point. It was about how you work with clients in the world we live in, not the one you wish we live in.

I thought of that workshop again this week when I was trying to find the connection between these two stories that I sense are important: Al Gore’s transformation and comeback, and, a new book (added to my list) based on a ‘dreampolitik’ idea. I’m seeing that emerging trends and resulting strategies are becoming increasingly complex and boundary-less, touching the core of identity. Knowing how to ask the right questions, and to help our clients do the same, will be a valuable skill for providers of professional services.

Al Gore, global rock star:

Al Gore, the Oscar hopeful known to his most fervent fans as ‘The Goracle’, has gone from failed presidential contender to the most unlikely of global celebrities in the wake of the release of his film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’

Incredible as it may seem, Al Gore is not only totally carbon neutral, but geek-chic cool. No velvet rope can stop him. He rolls with Diddy. He is on first-name basis, for real, with Ludacris. But what does this mean? And how did it happen? Did Gore change? Or did the climate — political, cultural, natural — change around him?

(Via MSNBC.com: Politics.)

Books: Why the Left Should Indulge Americans’ Fantasies: “Stephen Duncombe explains why the left should indulge Americans’ fantasies (By Emily Weinstein)
Village Voice Arts 2/22/07 5:15 PM”

Dream could have simply been an elegy to that pre-9-11 era—a nostalgia piece for the recent past. Instead, it reads like a manifesto inspired by a pop culture fever dream. Seizing upon references high and low, Duncombe makes the case that spectacle can be an ethical and sophisticated means of appealing to, even seducing, the American public. Rather than bemoan the fact that people are obsessed with Paris Hilton and condemn video games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, both of which Duncombe discusses with a mix of awe and critical glee, liberals need to determine why that obsession exists—pop culture as road map into the American mind. “We can’t afford to ignore it,” Duncombe said. “If we do, we’re writing off the passion of a hell of a lot of people.”

(Via Village Voice Arts.)

Technorati Tags:

Filed under: Consciousness, career, going solo
Tagged:
Comments: None