Rethinking Elvis / Mark Duffett.
| Author/creator | Duffett, Mark |
| Other author | Oxford University Press. |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2024. |
| Description | pages cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Subjects |
| Abstract | "When talking about Elvis Presley, no one asks "whose Elvis?," but the question might be worth exploring. As a tale of rags-to-riches, Elvis Presley should have epitomized the perfect American success story. And to countless numbers around the world, that exactly is what he represented. But this "Horatio Alger story in drawl" remains, to many in his own country, a pariah. A widely-read 1977 disapproving obituary written by syndicated columnist Mike Royko captured the ambivalence historically attached to Presley and the Southern white working-class culture that he personified. As the popular journalist surmised, "Elvis pulled off a marvelous con. There he was, a Depression-born, unread hillbilly, a marginally-talented pop singer" who "promoted a limited talent into a vast fortune...I think what Presley's success really proves is that the majority of Americans, while fine, decent people, have lousy taste in music." To many, Royko's inference that Elvis reigned as the "King of White Trash culture" merely stated the obvious. Once likened to a "jug of corn liquor at a champagne party," the hip-swiveling "Hillbilly Cat"-turned-B-movie star-turned-Las Vegas spectacle clearly never obtained the credentials necessary to rise above the caricatures and attain legitimacy. According to Simon Frith, Presley "was not just working class but, worse, Southern working class, [the object of] a class contempt which, among other things, assumed that someone like Elvis was incapable of artistry." The chapter will examine this quandary. In doing so, it will place Presley within a context that sheds light not only upon the singer's life and career, but also on the American South of his birth as it relates to the United States of which it is a part. Using Elvis as a means to explore issues of region, class, gender, and taste, the chapter aims to expand our understanding of prejudice and discrimination. In particular, it engages with the work of Linda Ray Pratt, whose 1979 discussion of Elvis and Southern identity is used to consider the nuances of more contemporary political maneuvers"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2024021266 |
| ISBN | 9780190094119 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 9780190094102 (hardback) |
| ISBN | (epub) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |