*BE
A CRITICAL CONSUMER
There is more to shopping
at Graceland Plaza than meets the eye. Shopping
for souvenirs involves the COMPLEX CULTURAL ACTIVITY
OF CONSUMPTION. Within a capitalist consumer culture:
the
very idea of consumption itself has to be set back into the social process,
not merely looked upon as a result or objective of work. Consumption has
to be recognized as an integral part of the same social system that accounts
for the drive to work, itself a part of the social need to relate to other
people, and to have mediating materials for relating to them (Douglas and
Isherwood 1979, 4).
Shopping, then, constitutes
the means by which consumers "relate
to other people." Souvenirs provide the "mediating
materials" used by consumers to relate to each other.
As good ol' Bronner (1986) says:
Analysis
of material culture simply as behavior would be misleadingly mechanical.
Culture would merely be the packaging. . . . But when unifying and conflicting
social effects, taking in the often-unforeseen political and ethical meanings
of productive and consumptive activity, become involved, then behavior
becomes cultural. Then it is praxis (21).
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So
when fans and funs shop, they are enacting their political meanings of
consumptive activity. Some literally buy their way into culture. Others
consume images for free and thus enact a different political relationship
to consumption (NO PURCHASE NECESSARY) in which they perform as a member
of fan or fun culture by shopping, but they retain the power over EPE by
choosing not to spend money.
Some fans and funs shop because
they enjoy the activity. Others shop because they use the objects as a
means for understanding why they are members of a particular culture. For
example, the story told in the "TCB" pendant offers fans a glimpse
of Elvis's practical side:
*he took care of business
*he was generous and frequently gave gifts
of jewelry to his friends
*he had a sense of style
When fans purchase the TCB pendant,
they are performing a relationship to Elvis mediated through the object.
This activity could be compared to the relationship between a Christian,
a cross, and Jesus: the Christian uses the cross as a symbolic way of connecting
to Jesus. The cross also serves as a symbol of cultural affiliation, a
way to let other Christians know you are one of them: it's the same with
ELVIS FANS.
where YOUR memories live again
I'm 28 now and truly believe that I've heard,
read and seen everything that has ever
been recorded, printed and filmed on Elvis. . . .
In The Illustrated Elvis, written by W.A. Harbinson,
some wonderful descriptions of Elvis are written.
When speaking of the way Elvis affected his Teen Audience,
he says, "[he is] a Lazarus arisen from the ashes of their boredom:
a cool, dangerous and very sexy animal
who transports them briefly to heaven."
He also says of Elvis' singing style,
"he takes pure country songs and then rapes them with the blues;
he takes the Blues and refines them into Pop songs.
This in itself is quite an achievement."
Elvis was very intelligent.
He had a unique grasp of the psychology of an audience. . . .
He was tall, dark and magically handsome.
He had beautiful, smoldering, velvety blue eyes,
the most sensual smile. . . .
He was perfectly proportioned.
No one looks as good as Elvis in Karate Suit. . . .
A leader of trendsetters in music, fashion, hair styles, and personalities.
He was the most contradictory person that I've ever seen in my life,
but I really feel that I understand him and his way of thinking.
--Cara Striff, fan
(1993, 27)
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