ART, TRASH AND THE OMNIVORE

posted by James Reel

That NEA study regarding the decline of cultural omnivores I mentioned in my previous post has spurred some interesting thoughts from NPR pop culture blogger Linda Holmes. Primarily, she's taking to task not only those--like the provocative blogger A.C. Douglas, although she doesn't mention him--who insist on the supremacy of high art over pop trash, but also those--like Greg Sandow, although she doesn't name him, either--whose central thesis is that classical music culture has to become more like pop culture if it's going to survive. Wisely, Holmes recognizes useful distinctions between the two areas, without believing they are mutually exclusive pursuits. If you're short of time, I'll repeat her conclusion:

Omnivores thrive in an environment in which, if you are defined by your cultural interests, you at least don't have to be defined by any one cultural interest. Tolerating the ideas that classical music can be viscerally stirring and that Survivor can be sociologically interesting allows much better balance — which benefits everyone — than an escalating and unnatural war between fun and art. Fun and art are natural allies (despite often appearing separately), and forcing them to do battle just divides us into tinier and tinier camps, where we can only talk to people who like precisely the same kinds of culture that we do. That benefits absolutely nobody — not artists, not audiences, and not the quality of discourse.

That's the short version, but do take the time to read the full post.