Popular Culture and Identity

1. Popular Culture and Identity “Shiloh”

2. Outline • Starting Questions • re. popular cultures • re. “Shiloh” • General Introd. • Leroy vs. Norma Jean, their marriage • Mabel’s maternal guidance • The turning points • The visit to Shiloh.

3. Themes and Issues related to Popular Culture • Fictions • Overall Commodification: pervading everyday life • Massification & conformity of consumers  personal appropriations (Leroy and Jean) • Blurring the boundaries between high art and popular culture (Laurie Anderson)

4. Bobbie Ann Mason—New South Writer • Setting: Western Kentucky • her characters– • grappling in some way with the shift from rural traditions to a culture centered on television, junk food, and popular music. • unremarkable, working-class people who usually lack money and education but who are sensitive enough to realize that something is missing in their lives. • Minimalist style – flat and matter-of-fact tone, not much description • E.g. In Country

5. Questions • How do they each define their identities? • What’s the problem in Norma and Leroy’s marriage? How is it related to popular culture? • What does Shiloh represent for them?

6. Leroy after car injury pp. 271-272; feminized, losing memory • Not driving his rig anymore (271) ; collecting disability pension, • feminized or domesticated? • working on craft kits (e.g. a log cabin and B-17 Flying Fortress; a needlepointed Star Trek pillow)  wanting to build a log cabin • Observing Norma closely p. 275 The rig as a big bird  bird feeding • Knows the potential problems of his marriage through Donahue; • His memory fading all the time: not remember where he learns things. P. 272, 274 (remembers pop culture better) • Views of his ‘return’: 273 finally settled down (after 17 years) • get marijuana at a shopping center 273

7. Norma Jean –masculine role; missing something • Works on her muscle, like a “Wonder Woman” • Works in drugstore, knows cosmetics well  L: petroleum products • Re. his returning home, not happy • "Sixties Songbook" p. 273 “missed something. • The baby – died of sudden infant death 273 •  Norma’s suggestion: stand up all day behind a cosmetic counter (to get strong feet) 275 • Norma herself –doing goose steps Note: Goose step – A straight-legged style of military marching used by the armies of several nations

8. Their Marriage before/after the accident • P. 275 – Before: TV cards, cereal called Body Buddies • Now: observing details about Norma • Before: Leroy – tell stories to hitchhikers p. 276-77 • Now: wants to tell Norma his story before ‘they’ve forgotten a lot about each other.’ Then he forgets why he wants to do it.

9. Mabel and her Motherly Advice • Looks after Jean’s daily details (274 plants, laundry) • Buys Jean a dust ruffle;  Leroy to hide things under • Asks Leroy to get a job; • Suggests that they go to Shiloh, the Civil War battleground. • Talks about the dachshund dog accident p. 277  baby dies out of neglect. •  Can Mabel be of help?

10. Turning Point (1) • Norma’s going to school 277; aware of names and their differences 279 • cooking “unusual” foods 278 • No longer “goes to bed with the chickens” (= go to bed early at night) • Mabel’s suggestion to go to Shiloh, which means A. “history” • of the nation • Of Mabel’s only time away from home. --”prettiest place, so full of history.” B. “A little change” for Norma p. 279

11. The Visit to Shiloh • Like a golf course 279 • Tourists and campers mixed with historical sites • Leroy: • not knowing history, feeling awkward, like a boy with an older woman; • still drinking coke, get distracted by the views of the cemetery. • Leroy’s view of history pp. 280-81– empty; • the inner workings of marriage, like most of history, have escaped him.