“The first thing we must do is get the smoke out of our eyes. Which is to say that we must start afresh, and concede publicly what most earnest men and women have always conceded privately, that the ancient apology for bad art-“the work is shoddy and disjointed because The Times are shoddy and disjointed”-is …
The Root of Affectation
“Sir Henry Savile (one of the scholars who prepared the King James Version of the Bible) read the indictment, almost four centuries ago” ‘Vanity,’ he said, ‘is the sin, and affectation is the punishment: the first may be called the root of self-love, the other the fruit. Vanity is never at its full growth till …
So Much Genius, So Little Talent
“Reputations born of hyperbole must gather ever more hyperbolic hyperbole unto themselves, else they die (and take their fabricators with them). The problem, of course, is that there is a point above which a reputation cannot rise: once a writer has become the most important writer of the day, he or she has nowhere to …
The All-Purpose Disinfectant
In talking about Christ and pop culture, we should always remember the basic options. Among them would be a basic distinction that appears to be beyond many afficianados of pop culture. It is this: you are either persuading or being persuaded. And watching evangelical Christians try to act like a “Christian worldview” is an all-purpose …
Everything Is Important Because Nothing Is
“The Let’s Pretend We’re Living In A Golden Age game was not a new one. For decades the entire cultural establishment had been putting itself to sleep at night by telling itself over and over again that it was a truly stupendous little cultural establishment, probably the most important little cultural establishment that had ever …
Yesterday’s Avant-Garde
“It was a sign of the times that nobody bothered to correct him, simply because it didn’t seem to matter anymore: an era was dying with bewildering speed, and not all the righteous incantations in the English-speaking world could restore the patient to health. By 1980, even the most persistent apologists for the old regime-the …
Entertainment Inside the Bubble
“The deeper problem with our culture is this: the most hip, the most clever, and the most humorous films and television series are laced with references to pop culture itself, as if there were no world beyond that culture.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 183.]
Blink and Giggle
“Seinfeld’s world is populated by Nietzsche’s last men, who, when faced with the great questions and ultimate issues of life, blink and giggle.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 162.]
Ah, Realism
“Apologists for contemporary television often appeal to its realism–the predictable last line of defense for bankrupt artists.” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows About Nothing, (Dallas, Tx: Spence Publishing Company, 1999), p. 150.]
Multiple Reflections
“In the absence of the old distinction between high and low art, sophistication now involves witty commentary on pop culture. Art has narcissistically turned in upon itself as if there were no reality independent of it. Or better-art reflects life but life itself is now indistinguishable from pop culture. The nihilism underlying such a world …