Random
Twilight of the American Idols
I’ve been having problems sleeping lately. When I have problems sleeping, I become restless. It’s hard for me to get much reading done, especially anything heavy, because when I’m at my apartment I prefer to read in my bed, and if I’m tired and distracted what generally happens is that I fall asleep mid-sentence (and bend my glasses). It’s hot out. It’s really hot out. I have no A/C in my apartment. This is perhaps the reason I’ve been restless, and hopefully that’s true, because the heat is something I can adjust to.
Because I live across the street from my favorite bar, when I get restless I head to the bar and have a few drinks, generally with the intention of facilitating sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I end up at the bar and there’s nobody I know there except the bartenders and it’s awkward. Usually I can count on familiar enough faces to at least guarantee conversation.
Last night I couldn’t sleep, found myself restless, had already watched two movies and an episode of Twin Peaks (which I’m revisiting for the first time in the decade since I originally saw it), so I said fuck it and headed to the bar. I ordered a vodka gimlet first. Then I ordered a whiskey & soda. I was out of cash by this point, because I don’t carry that much cash on me regularly, and I knew that after mixing vodka and whiskey it would be unwise to drink that much more anyway, so I went home. I had a bit of a buzz going on. I got on my computer.
Like I do every time I sit down at a computer, I immediately went to Facebook. I keep around 15 tabs open in my browser at all times. It’s a bad habit, I’m sure it drains resources, but as someone who has been heavily using the internet since he’s been able to think for himself, I’ve cultivated a specific sort of A.D.D. which necessitates the constant fragmentation. Two of the tabs that I keep open at all times are Gmail and Facebook. This is just the habit I’ve developed.
I click on my notifications, poke around my news feed, and I come across a video that my friend has posted. She has prefaced the video by saying “this is really, really wrong.”
httpv://youtu.be/1vqmILSKfew
I watch the video. It’s almost 8 minutes long but I’m drunk enough to not get bored. It’s kind of amazing. The video, that is. On the one hand, I’m aware that the TWILIGHT franchise has a fanatical cult following. On the other hand, the genuine & earnest emotions on display in this video are astounding. Rare even. Most of my life is drowned in irony, to the point where I considered enacting a performance art piece in which I swear off any sort of ironic posturing or appreciation. A refusal to buy into anything insincere. I imagine it’d be an interesting experiment, especially as, existing in what could be considered a ‘post-ironic’ time (all of that hipster irony that the New York Times warned us about seems to have muddled culture down to a pool of pure capitalist acceleration without any sort of actual consideration of “meaning”), I’m not even sure what the position of irony is in culture any more.
Today, on twitter, 2011 Poet Laureate Poncho Peligroso tweeted the following:
There’s an extent where my gut reaction is to agree with this. I harbor a specific ill-will towards the Twilight franchise perhaps due to being employed at a Borders during the height of the books popularity. Attempting to sell basically anything literate to a customer base with no interest in anything without vampires (sexy vampires at that) really beats you down. I mean, if you have any faith in humanity to begin with, and somehow despite a decade long stint in retail I did (and still do).
I think the Twilight series is terrible. I think the books are terribly written, I think from a point of morality & cultural influence they’re really god-damn harmful. I think that they’ve probably irreparably fucked an entire generation’s idea of gender-relations. But the more I think about it, the more I attempt to sort of consider the phenomena as a phenomena qua phenomena, the more interested in it I become.
As someone invested in some sort of idea about art being the most important, the most powerful thing, this actual demonstration is overwhelming. Some sort of Stephanie Meyer/Robert Pattinson/Summit Entertainment hybrid has created something so influential that this girl loses her shit as she watches a 2 minute trailer three times in a row.
I’m going to go ahead and be honest here: if I am ever responsible for a work of art, regardless of the medium, that results in this sort of fanaticism, this overwhelming desperation & potential insanity, I would ultimately feel like I was really doing something; I would feel like my work was successful. This is a dedication that passes beyond love, lust. This is a pure physical experience for the viewer. It’s almost fucking transcendence.
Tags: dedication, transcendence, Twilight
Can we just go on and say that the subtext here is that fanaticism typically has its sights on change (whatever change is) or transcendence?
interesting read. robert pattinson is good-looking, imho
I think that’s an interesting way to look at fanaticism… a sort of inherent disjunct between the negativity that a view of fanaticism generally follows & the connotations of transcendence. I mean I know there’s loads and loads of capitalism manipulation techniques that play into the branding of the Twlight franchise & probably specifically taps into a fragile psyche that’s more willing to physically react to this sort of shit, but I mean, damn, seems intense.
Excellent meditation that–due to my own ADD/OCD–I’ll have to reread tonight after my day settles down. Things I have in common with you: sleeplessness; a tendnecy to drink in order to facilitate sleep; multiple tabs up every time I’m online; ex-Borders employee. Considering the meaning of “meaning” is one of my favorite pastimes. You’ve revived my interest, and for this I give thanks.
Religious fervor is religious fervor. (Twilight = Myth + Cult of Celebrity)
You may want to check out Padgett Powell’s “Mr. Irony” and “Mr. Irony Renounces Irony” from Typical, if you haven’t. Sounds like what you had planned.
it never gets old.
I think this is a terrific insight.
I have wondered before how we’re ever going to end up with new religions, since it seems like we’re stuck with the same old ones from thousands of years ago, and all newer religions (from Mormons to Scientologists) get mocked and can’t establish much of a stronghold. I think you found the answer.
We’re not going to get new religions, people are just going to channel that energy into other obsessions. The celebrities are our saints. The popular fiction our new Scriptures. Experimental/indie lit our gnostic gospels, ha.
i really enjoyed reading this.
I’m going to go ahead and be honest here: if I am ever responsible for a work of art, regardless of the medium, that results in this sort of fanaticism, this overwhelming desperation & potential insanity, I would ultimately feel like I was really doing something; I would feel like my work was successful. This is a dedication that passes beyond love, lust. This is a pure physical experience for the viewer. It’s almost fucking transcendence.
Yes a thousand times. Excellent post.
I saw that video yesterday in a Gawker comment (I guess it’s already viral, or close to it) and I was thinking that, even though I wouldn’t want to be that excited about Twilight, I also kind of envy the girl for being capable of getting that excited about anything. I would love to have something to look forward to and get so pumped about. Even though I get upset about things too easily, I rarely, if ever, feel that kind of joy. Maybe this girl will die with fewer regrets than I’ll have.
If you did a series of post-irony posts here, I would definitely be interested.
(PS OT I wish I could get even a little drunk after only 2 bar drinks. I’m not even a super heavy drinker and have such a fucking tolerance that bar drinks are pretty cost prohibitive.)
i disagree stephen.
I recommend Karen Armstrong’s A Short History of Myth.
I’ve kinda been exploring this idea of celebrities as gods in some of the shit i’ve been writing on and off for a couple years; it seems, as you say, an especially viable route to take
now it’s on
xvr.in/O6
fans : success :: obedience : discipline
just now realized my post could be construed that i didn’t find this an interesting read, while i was only disagreeing on robert pattinson’s level of attractiveness
SAVEFACE.EXE COMPLETE
ta.gg/55j