At the Grammys last night Queen Latifah officiated a mass wedding ceremony—with some couples heterosexual, some gay—followed by a surprise song from Madonna.
Was it satire? I am a big fan of satirical mockery, even
satirical mockery of important things such as marriage. Such satire helps
expose self-importance and can even help check things such as corrupt or sloppy
thinking. But satire is only satire
when it comes from a position of weakness or involves self-mockery. Satire from strength is not funny and more
akin to propaganda.
Hollywood, of course, is neither weak in terms of cultural
influence nor particularly noted for self-mockery. In fact, all of the evidence (the genuine
earnestness of the couples, the tears, the presence of Madonna, the fact it
took place on stage at the Grammys) indicated that this was not satire. Instead,
it represented a brilliant fusion of two of the great cultural tendencies of
our day: the pressing of Hollywood celebrities into positions of cultural
authority which gives them powerful influence far beyond their ability to hold
a note or to learn a script; and the transformation of the serious and the
sacred into the idioms of showbusiness. Queen
Latifah appearing in the place of a priest or minister is neither an unexpected
nor an isolated phenomenon but of a piece with what has been happening since
the invention of the moving picture. And
entertainers now do it all: politics, ethics, confession, marriages, cure of
souls.
Where this will lead is not easy to say. Traditional political institutions seem
comparatively impotent in the face of an entertainment industry which grips the
imagination in a way that the gray suited denizens of Washington or Westminster
do not. It also capitalizes on the
endless public appetite for distraction and the desire for self-fulfillment
rather than social good (as if the last term even has any agreed meaning). The
construction of logical and even legal argument is now increasingly irrelevant to
the way the world is moving. It is the
priests of emotional aesthetics, the celebrities, who drive the values of our
culture.
Pop music used to be about superficial fun, a bit of
escapism in the midst of life. Then it
gained messianic aspirations. At the
time, it looked ridiculously self-important.
It is still superficial fun; but perhaps it does not look quite so
ridiculous any more.
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