Congress censoring again? This time hip hop...

Setting aside Northrup frye for a minute, and turning attention towards issues of authenticity and censorship. This article from the New York Times details a current hearing in which hip hop artists and record comapny execs debate the need for cleaner language and less sexism and violence in hip hop music. This works well as contemporary context for issues of authenticity (Cobain), and censorship (Frankenchrist) that we've been discussing in class.

About a Son

Speaking of tragedy, Kurt Cobain's demise by suicide at age 27 is among the greatest rise and fall stories of modern times, especially in contemporary music. Cobain as a cultural fixation is evidenced by the new film about him, released on 9/11/07, About a Sonfeatures music from bands of influence to Kurt.

So, this was supposed to be an image I made for the banner on this page, but alas, the darn thing is too big to fit, so here it is, with my own custom "Frye wheel" included. Actually, doing a simple image search on Frye, I came across a wheel that was similar, although not as detailed or exactly the same strategy as mine. But, since Frye aligns his genre map with the four seasons, it makes sense to approach them as a circular, recursive structure. The spatial arrangement in a visual structure, such as the wheel, also emphasizes the relationships between the genres, for example, comedy and tragedy don't really meet, except that sometimes there is irony in both. Romance and Irony/Satire do not overlap either. If you are watching Lord of the Rings (an excellent example of romance), in which the hero(es) have magical powers over their world, in which they are admirable characters, you are unlikely to see them mocked or to see ironic content.

Rep. Barney Frank on Bill Maher show on gay Republicans

On his political talk show, Maher provides Barney Frank a supportive audience for his informed status report on the current status of gay political issues. Aside from the enthusiastic audience and the talk show format, this clip draws our attention away from the cultural framing of gay issues through spin and towards the real-world, institutionalized, repressive state apparatuses that define what is legal (gay sex) or not, what deserves government support through tax code (gay marriage) or not. For both camps, the political utiilty of the Larry Craig scandal remains to play out. - MF

Republican Sex Perverts (Sen. Larry Craig, part 4)

Okay, here's more on the Larry Criag scandal from the satirists who work the late-night stand-up realm. Satire needs a target for its derision, and the mocking is intended, then, to have a bit of meanness to it.

The coverage here quickly sets aside any attempt at tragedy, and instead reinforces some genralized tension around the issue of gay sex anywhere. Thus, it contributes to a certain cultural imposition of ideology.

In critical thought, "hegemony" is a useful term for understanding and defining the way ideological boundaries around sexuality and acceptable behavior are inscribed by the ruling classes through culture and media.

Interestingly, this montage, which largely could be taken as lighthearted entertainment, ends with commentary on how the scandal affects the Republican "brand," a very pragmatic and serious political concern. Thus, the derisive satirical laughter in the cultural milleau has more than lighthearted significance. - MF

CSPAN - 070828 - Larry Craig Statement

Here is Senator Craig, unfiltered, running a bit long-winded in his speech to acknowledge the news story of his guilty plea for disorderly behavior in an airport mensroom.

Craig has been implicated in gay scandals before, and this has an ironic twist in that the senator has a history of hostility towards gay rights legislation. On page 213 of the Anatomy, Northrup Frye defines Augenblick, an important plot event in tragedy that is well illustrated in this clip. Here's Frye's quote:

Tragedy seems to move up to an Augenblick or crucial moment from which point the road to what might have been and the road to what will be can be simultaneously seen. Seen by the audience, that is: it cannot be seen by the hero if he is in a state of hybris [arrogant and mistaken presumptions about his own power and capabilities, see "hubris" for dictionary definition], for in that case the crucial moment is for him a moment of dizziness, when the wheel of fortune begins its inevitable cyclical movement downward. - MF

Idaho Senator Larry Craig Resignation Speech

Here, stright from the tragic hero himself, is Craig's speech. Frye, following Aristotle's model, shows how tragedy is defined by certain customary plot developments. Pathos, or the fall/death of the hero is indespensable to tragedy, and here we witness Senator Craig having to abandon his life's accomplishments and political influence in a shroud of shame and accusation. While he is not physcially dying, we look on with the sobriety of an audience witnessing a fall. - MF

Olbermann- Larry Craig Reenactment

Here is a comic newsreel of Senator Larry Craig's recent bathroom sex solicitation scandal. The satire of Dragnet in this retelling allows the news media outlet to frame Craig's situation as laughable, but also ironic in its serious implications. Frye writes that comedy is accomplished largely through mood, characterizations, and antics. The portrayal of Senator Craig with the mockable skin cap, and the retro-tv framing by the "Countdown Players" sets this up as a clear attempt at comedy. Keith Olbermann's more somber comments outside the frame, on whom the bell is tolling for, well, that drags the cllip out of straight comedy, and puts it in satire. For satire, there has to be target, Craig--the mighty who has fallen. In comedy, Frye tells us we look down on the hero as someone beneath us. The fallen is Craig, here offered up as a laughing stock. - MF

Welcome to Fryetown!

Hello cultural studies people and friends of Northrup Frye,

Okay, you may not consider him a friend, but nonetheless, you might be reading his book for my class, or just be curious, or confused. I'm going to use this blog to randomly catalog web-based materials to support my Cultural Studies classes, where The Anatomy of Criticism plays large.

Frye's 1954 Anatomy of Criticism dominated critical thought and college reading for a few decades before falling into the disdainful and bloody carnage of postmodern criticism, which invalidates the fundmamental basis for Frye's structure and argument. Without fixed meanings (a casualty of postmodernism) the rhythms of nature and the canon of literary tradition become an unstable basis for the Anatomy's argument. However, if we can set aside postmodernisms wonderfully useful provocations for a minute, we'll notice that Frye's work speaks to traditions that persist. In human nature, in the seasons, in the passage of time.

Frye's models are Biblical, classical, and canonical--rooted in the Greeks, Shakespeare, and ancient mythology--but his model applies equally well to modern, and even postmodern culture: texts as vast as media reports, newsreels, songs, sports, video games, television shows, reality tv, magazine covers, comics, and infomercials.

Once you understand Frye's models and breakdown for tragedy, comedy, romance, and irony/satire, you can understand cultural materials by reading their intended emotional spin. What genre are the authors calling on for meaning making? - MF