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
• Mabels 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 MasonNew 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?
• Whats the problem in Norma and Leroys 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
• ? Normas 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
  theyve forgotten a lot about each other. Then
  he forgets why he wants to do it.

9
Mabel and her Motherly Advice

• Looks after Jeans 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)

• Normas 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)
• Mabels suggestion to go to Shiloh, which means
  A. history
• of the nation
• Of Mabels 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.
• Leroys view of history pp. 280-81 empty
• the inner workings of marriage, like most of
  history, have escaped him.