culture-ghost-io-yb12ir.txt (11701B)
1 [1] Culture: An Owner's Manual 2 [2] 3 Login 4 Jul 29, 2024 7 min read 5 6 Cultural Stasis Produces Fewer Cheesy Relics like Rocky IV 7 8 Cultural Stasis Produces Fewer Cheesy Relics like Rocky IV [4]Let's get ready 9 to crumble 10 11 The much-maligned 1985 boxing film provides a few hints about the causes of 12 21st century artistic stagnation: namely, popular artists now work in a 13 risk-averse creative paradigm that avoids making instantly-outmoded artworks 14 15 Sylvester Stallone’s 1985 film Rocky IV is so infamously schlocky that it’s 16 become a cliché to even discuss its flaws. The Cold War Russia-versus-America 17 plot is cartoonish, and Stallone’s direction is thoroughly over-the-top, from 18 the opening sequence with exploding American and Russian flag boxing gloves to 19 the superfluous montage sequences of pre-existing footage meant to stretch the 20 film to feature length. Compared to other cinematic masterpieces, Rocky IV is 21 not a well-made film, and no one has ever thought it to be. In his 22 contemporaneous review, Roger Ebert called it “a film so predictable that 23 viewing it is like watching one of those old sitcoms where the characters never 24 change and the same situations turn up again and again.” 25 26 But unlike most bad films made in 1985, Rocky IV remains fascinating nearly 27 forty years later. It has great value to us in 2024 as a relic — an artwork 28 that embodies the unique stylistic choices of a particular point in time. Rocky 29 IV is a time-traveling passport to 1985: the Manichaean Reaganite politics, the 30 sassy robot maid, the soundtrack of power ballads and cold digital synths, the 31 artless action-film editing and over-use of freeze-frame fade-outs, the casual 32 lack of verisimilitude in using Wyoming as a stand-in for the Russian 33 countryside. 34 35 There can be good relics, of course. Nothing represents the artistic decisions 36 of 1967 better than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and until recently, 37 it was long canonized as the best album of all time. By comparison, almost all 38 of Rocky IV’s bold aesthetic choices quickly soured. Just five years later, 39 movies no longer looked or sounded like Rocky IV, and the end of the Cold War 40 calmed the American spiritual anxiety powering its ridiculous plot. “Eye of the 41 Tiger” became a joke. So did Carl Weathers. And in the last few decades, we’ve 42 seen so many [5]parodies of Eighties montage sequences that it is nearly 43 impossible to watch the originals as earnest filmmaking. The musical montage in 44 the middle of Rocky IV, where Stallone remembers clips from the previous Rocky 45 films, is absolutely ludicrous. 46 47 Watching Rocky IV in 2024, however, was clarifying to me in the ongoing debate 48 around "21st century cultural stasis." The basic argument is that culture is 49 less healthy because there are fewer significant aesthetic changes. This 50 implies a healthy ecosystem produces a large quantity of relics, as new styles 51 outmode old ones. Songs that are "so Eighties" imply that the Nineties rejected 52 all of those artistic choices. In the logic of the stasis narrative, if The 53 Bourne Identity doesn’t scream 2002 with the same volume as Rocky IV screams 54 1985, culture must be slowing down. 55 56 Of course, the 21st century produced many now-outmoded looks: “early 2000s 57 gel-spike-hair guy,” “2012-era pork pie hat speakeasy bartender,” “background 58 extra in Legally Blonde.” At the same time, 2003's “Hey Ya” and "Drop It Like 59 It's Hot" feel timeless rather than ludicrous. The 21st century seems to 60 produce fewer novel aesthetics that humiliate the previous attempt at novel 61 aesthetics. 62 63 Debates about the causes of 21st century cultural stasis always begin by 64 blaming the economy and technology: monopolistic control of the media industry, 65 the hollowing out of the middle class, rising health care costs, algorithmic 66 feeds, the proliferation of media-making tools, etc. These are certainly 67 legitimate factors and set the horizon for our social activity. Yet Rocky IV 68 makes it clear that stasis also must involve how artists think about 69 production. In 1985, Stallone made most choices as director that broke with 70 pre-Eighties filmmaking techniques, and unfortunately for him, very few of 71 these radical decisions became conventional in the future. He swung, and he 72 missed. Compare that with original Rocky director John G. Avildsen who chose to 73 do his film as a grainy, naturalistic underdog story. Both are products of 74 their times, but the original is canonical, while part four is famous as the 75 world's most dated film. 76 77 But Stallone was doing what a lot of 20th century artists felt was their core 78 responsibility: pursuing bold aesthetics. He operated from a vague avant-garde 79 mindset of wanting to make something that felt au courant. A major part of 80 cultural stasis, then, may stem from most artists refusing to embrace 81 contemporary aesthetic choices. In fact, I would argue that the Nineties 82 ushered in a paradigm of rationalized, naturalistic aesthetics anchored in the 83 meta-knowledge that artworks have a longer shelf life when they feel “real” and 84 avoid mannerist/over-indulgent faddish aesthetics. 85 86 Technology and economy do play an indirect role in this change, but there seem 87 to be three values guiding the anti-relic school of art: 88 89 1. A Rejection of Radical Stylization 90 91 In many cultures, art is expected to involve mannerism. Even today older 92 Japanese audiences expect and enjoy “overacting." For maybe the last century, 93 however, Western acting has instead emphasized acting that attempts to recreate 94 real-life human expression. 95 96 This second approach itself is an aesthetic — not the lack of aesthetics. As 97 Susan Sontag wrote in her 1965 essay “On Style,” “There is no neutral, 98 absolutely transparent style.” Hemingway’s bare prose, for example, is its own 99 style. Sontag complained in her day that “Today styles do not develop slowly 100 and succeed each other gradually, over long periods of time which allow the 101 audience for art to assimilate fully the principles of repetition on which the 102 work of art is built; but instead succeed one another so rapidly as to seem to 103 give their audiences no breathing space to prepare.” And perhaps as a backlash 104 to this failure of new aesthetics to stick in the postmodern era, there was a 105 move to naturalism — an attempt to find a common universal artistic language. 106 This meant fewer obvious breaks with the past — and with the future. 107 Alternative music in the 1990s stripped down production back to basic live 108 instrumentation, making it sound like 1970s rock and teenage garage bands. Same 109 goes for fiction: Most contemporary fiction avoids the overly stylized prose of 110 a Woolf, a Gaddis, or a Pynchon, thereby making it seem era-less. 111 112 In clothing, the overall de-formalization of society led to a similar outcome. 113 Men in suits gave the suit industry a literal canvas to direct sequential 114 changes in silhouette, lapel sizes, and jacket lengths. This created clear 115 chronological differences in looks. In a world where the baseline is T-shirts 116 and shorts and the brands/graphics are primary over silhouettes, there is less 117 opportunity for subtle stylizations that mark the eras. A Supreme T-shirt in 118 1998 doesn't look that different than a Supreme T-shirt in 2024. 119 120 2. Rationalization of Techniques 121 122 The cultural industry has always had a core business problem of not being able 123 to anticipate demand for its products. The more these companies can reduce 124 risk, the more they can profit. One way to mitigate risk is to collect audience 125 data and try to create goods that better respond to human psychology. This has 126 produced formulas and templates that increase the odds of success. Streaming TV 127 episodes, for example, mostly end with small cliffhangers so that audiences 128 will click to watch the next one episode immediately. 129 130 This kind of rationalization crowds out the possibility of idiosyncratic 131 choices that can be made by a single auteur (and then sour). Moreover most 132 big-budget films and albums are no longer made by a single person. Big studio 133 productions — especially those made with computer graphics — require massive 134 bureaucratic planning and technocratic decision making. Larger staff numbers 135 are likely to pull the work towards an “average” approach based on time-held 136 conventions. 137 138 3. A Deeper Respect for Pre-Existing Audience Tastes 139 140 Avant-garde art bombarded the audience with aesthetic choices that made them 141 uncomfortable. More naturalistic art avoids this by conforming to the 142 audience's conventional understanding of artistic forms. Everyone knows that a 143 woman singing with an acoustic guitar is "music"; aleatoric composition on a 144 prepared piano requires the audience to work harder. 145 146 Whether meant for market maximization or as a sign of respect for the audience, 147 21st century artists seem more interested in speaking their fans’ pre-existing 148 aesthetic languages rather than pushing them into new styles. This results in 149 the use of more classic artistic techniques. Simon Reynolds’ idea of [6] 150 “retromania” now makes sense as an audience-pleasing strategy. And the more 151 that things pull directly from canonized past artworks, the less they’re likely 152 to end up as embarassing relics. Janelle Monae’s [7]“Tightrope” today sounds 153 like a take on Sixties soul rather than “so 2010.” 154 155 That being said, the overuse of a particular retro sound can become associated 156 with a specific contemporary era. Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” so resembled a 157 [8]Marvin Gaye song that royalties now go to his estate. But as that song 158 became de-canonized, it's now starting to sound “very 2013.” Same for “Uptown 159 Funk” being “very 2014.” Yet I’d still argue that “Blurred Lines” is much 160 weaker as a relic than Rocky IV, which is solely "1985." 161 162 [caomart] 163 164 The question is simply: are artists themselves choosing to reduce aesthetic 165 risk-taking in their art? In an era where past and present songs all exist on 166 the same Spotify playlist, few musical artists would want to create songs that 167 may be ridiculed as passé a few years later. And all artists have the 168 historical knowledge that helps them avoid mistakes of the past like Rocky IV. 169 But this result — a lack of embarrassing relics — is what makes us feel that 170 culture is less healthy. New genres like trap and drill feel vibrant because 171 they outmoded "boom bap," yet it's this vibrancy that puts them at risk of 172 feeling dated in the future. When artists stick with the classics, it's good 173 for stabilizing their careers. But if they don't push for outrageously now 174 sounds, we're left with the feeling of stagnation. 175 176 [9] 177 178 Published by: 179 180 [10] W. David Marx 181 [11] Share [12] Tweet 182 Culture: An Owner's Manual © 2024 183 [13]Published with Ghost 184 [14] 185 186 References: 187 188 [1] https://culture.ghost.io/ 189 [2] https://twitter.com/wdavidmarx 190 [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrXxGf1lDd0 191 [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Q2F6QYiD4&t=65s&ref=culture.ghost.io 192 [6] https://pitchfork.com/features/paper-trail/8010-paper-trail-simon-reynolds/?ref=culture.ghost.io 193 [7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnefUaKCbc&ref=culture.ghost.io 194 [8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iStrNY_8n_U&ref=culture.ghost.io 195 [9] https://culture.ghost.io/culture-is-an-ecosystem-a-manifesto-towards-a-new-cultural-criticism-3/ 196 [10] https://culture.ghost.io/author/wdavidmarx/ 197 [11] https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://culture.ghost.io/cultural-stasis-produces-fewer-cheesy-relics-like-rocky-iv/ 198 [12] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://culture.ghost.io/cultural-stasis-produces-fewer-cheesy-relics-like-rocky-iv/&text=Cultural%20Stasis%20Produces%20Fewer%20Cheesy%20Relics%20like%20Rocky%20IV 199 [13] https://ghost.org/ 200 [14] https://twitter.com/wdavidmarx