Popular Pleasures

Today's many popular aesthetic pleasures have a very long history. Paul Duncum considers the historical critical discourses, and socio-political issues raised by aesthetic pleasures in fifteen thematic chapters. Using illustrative examples from the past, present, and across cultures, he challenges the idea of any decline of cultural standards and argues that no grounds exist for cultural pessimism. Refusing to condemn popular culture on the basis of taste, he reserves critique for the socio-political ideologies aesthetics invariably serve. Art history, film, cultural studies, and philosophical aesthetics are each employed to show that the sensory/emotional lures of today's popular culture are mostly identical to those of premodern fine art. They include the violent, the horrific, the sentimental, the exotic, the erotic, and the humorous. Some of these pleasures derive from our evolutionary biology; they are all an important part of what it means to be human, and central to understanding contemporary society. Examples are wide-ranging, including British seaside postcards, Disney films, Nazi propaganda, burlesque, modern advertising, as well as many exemplars of fine art. The book reveals fresh insights for all those studying visual culture, art history, aesthetics, media studies, and media and art education.

Paul Duncum is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, USA, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He is the author of Picture Pedagogy (Bloomsbury, 2020).

List of Illustrations Introduction But What is Aesthetics? And What is Popular? Popular Pleasures and Politics Previous Attempts So What's Different Here? The Mind/Body Context Scope and Outline Chapter 1: A Realistic Style What is Realism? Idolatry and Ideology The Search for Realism Painting Screen Imagery The Pleasures of Realism Making Comparisons Appreciating the Skill Evaluating Realism is Easy Pulling Back the Curtain Realism and Reality When Too Much Realism is Bad When Seeing Shouldn't be Believing Fake versus the Bona Fide Veridical, Virtual, and Verifiable Chapter 2: The Illusionistic Illusion versus Realism Magic, Miracles and the Devil The Persistence of Illusion Trompe-l'oeil Three-Dimensional Movies Optical Illusion Devices Stage Magic Magic, Wonder and Mischief Being Deceived Being in the Know Conflating Realism with Illusion Illusion and Delusion Illusion and Life Chapter 3: The Bright and Busy Terms and Taste The Doctrine of Decorum Reason and Restraint Modernist Minimalism The Relativity of Restraint Serious versus Superficial Purpose Brightness and Business Delighting the Eye Enhancing the Ordinary Resisting Restraint Bright, Busy and Biology The Seriousness of Selling Bright, Busy and Business Chapter 4: The Highly Emotional An Empire of Emotions Emotion versus Emotionalism The Rhetoric of Emotions versus the Aesthetics of Emotions The Theory of Emotional Rhetoric The Pictorial Practice of Rhetoric The Rise of Sentiment Rejecting Rhetoric The Rise of Romanticism Expression versus Imitation Fine Art and Popular Entertainment What Arouses Emotion? Why Do Emotional Lures Work? Catharsis versus Cognitive Coping Escaping Identifying Searching for Authenticity Seeking Attachment Participating For Better or Worse Chapter 5: The Sentimental Surveying Sentimentality A Discourse of Abuse A Sentimental Journey The Sugar of Sentimentality The Comfort of an Aestheticized Sanctuary Longing for a Past as Pleasant Love and Compassion as their Own Rewards The Ironic Distance of Camp and Kitsch Social Progress Exercising Power The Sins of Sentimentality Disempowering and Harming Sentimentality's Subjects Disempowering and Infantilizing Viewers Poor Public Policy Sense and Sentimentality Chapter 6: The Vulgar Vulgarity and its Variants Vulgarity and Fine Art A Historical Perspective Grotesques and Carnival Vulgar Porn Scatology Vulgarity and Reform Viva Vulgarity! Disgust and Delight Transgression Social Bonding Joyful Resistance Haunting and Humanness Vile Vulgarity Transgression and Suppression Ridicule and Reaction Vexing Vulgarity Chapter 7: The Violent Violence and is Variants A Violent Present A Violent Past Explaining Violent Entertaiment Excitation Transfer Simultaneous Emotional Pleasures Fear and Mastery Seeking Stimulus Everything But Violence Algorithmic Allure The Problems of Violence Purgation Does Not Work Diminishing Returns Mental Scripts of a Hostile World A Cycle of Violence An End to Violence? Chapter 8: The Horrific Horror, Terror, and Dread Sublime Terror versus Popular Horror Horror Hedonism Performative Pleasures Escape and Stimulation Transfixed Fascination Making Moral Judgments Wish Fulfillment and/or Recognition Transgressive Liberation Repetition Horror and Humor Horror, Hostility and Hate Repression Unleashing Hatred Uncanny Uncertainty Chapter 9: The Miraculous Miracles and Marvels The Skeptical Discourse An Enchanted Universe of Miracles Wonder Curiosity Creating Social Identity Finding Patterns and Purpose Debunking Absurdities Parodying Absurdities Escaping into Fantasy Being Confounded Spectacles of Wonder Miracles and Mirage Rejecting Rationality Vulnerability and Vultures The Wonder of It All Chapter 10: The Exotic Exoticism Explored The Exotic Discourse Exotic Enchantment Wonder Spice Seasoning Cultural Renewal Defining Difference Feeling Culturally Superior Taking Symbolic Possession Being Reassured Distortion, Disparagement and Denigration Selectivity and Distortion Inferiority Complexes Superiority Complexes Denial and Projection Exiting the Exotic Chapter 11: The Erotic Exploring the Erotic Sexual Discourse The High Culture Alibi Enjoying the Erotic Voyeurism Fetishism Sadism, Masochism and Sadomasochism Identification Exhibitionism Queer and Queering Prohibition, Permission, and Perfection Permissiveness and Perfection Pornification Selling Sex Sex, Sin and Suppression Chapter 12: The Spectacular Sizing Up the Spectacular The Spectacular versus Sensationalism Size Matters Wonder Thrills and Spills Immersion Ego Loss Humor When Might Makes Right Requiring Submission Failing to See/ Failing to Feel Ignoring the Unspectacular Tedium Summarizing of the Spectacular Chapter 13: The Narrative The Nature of Narrative The Modernist Rejection of Narrative Narrative Norms Narrative's Gratifications Organizing Complexity Satisfying Curiosity Escaping into Alternative Realities Emotional Identification Everything Else The Stories We Tell The End Chapter 14: The Formulaic Recipes and Road Maps Formulaic Fine Art Formulae and Form Why Formulae Work Easy Communication Reducing Complexity Further Ongoing Comfort and Anxiety Innovation Reading Complexly Formulae and their Challenges Boredom Formulae and Falsity Finishing with Formulae Chapter 15: The Humorous Humor and Mirth Humor and the Haughty Humor versus Gravitas Why We Smile, Snigger and Snort. Feeling Superior Descending Incongruity Emotional Release Humor's Disciplinary and Dark Side Anaesthesia of the Heart Imposing Social Discipline Ridicule and Repression Humor and Hate Humor and Hostility References Index