Fringe and Fortune: The Role of Critics in High and Popular ArtWhy does the distinction between high and popular art persist in spite of postmodernist predictions that it should vanish? Departing from the conventional view that such distinctions are class-related, Wesley Shrum concentrates instead on the way individuals form opinions about culture through the mediation of critics. He shows that it is the extent to which critics shape the reception of an art form that determines its place in the cultural hierarchy. Those who patronize "lowbrow" art--stand-up comedy, cabaret, movies, and popular music--do not heed critical opinions nearly as much as do those who patronize "highbrow" art--theater, opera, and classical music. Thus the role of critics is crucial to understanding the nature of cultural hierarchy and its persistence. Shrum supports his argument through an inquiry into the performing arts, focusing on the Edinburgh Fringe, the world's largest and most diverse art festival. |
From inside the book
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... standards . As I watched and listened , analyzed and wrote , it became clear that conventional class distinctions were not the answer to questions about why performance genres such as theater and comedy were treated so differently by ...
... wardrobe at all . He has lost touch with common standards of decency and taste . He is beyond normal feelings of shame , misled by sycophants , perhaps expressing his own fantasy that he alone sets the 4 INTRODUCTION.
... standards . Whether or not there were nudists in the crowd , sincere in their enthusiasm , we are not told . But the custodian of A Grand Scam , honest and plain spoken , is not merely a “ boy , ” a childlike representative of some ...
... standards and aperspectival criticism , celebrating the diversity of form as expression without the assignment of evaluative labels . As a philosophical argument , it suggests there are no convincing reasons external to specific ...
... standards , embodied in a variety of discursive forms , emerges as crucial to the ideology of criticism and the notion of highbrow mediation because reference to standards legitimates the transfer of judgment . The status of experts is ...
Contents
10 | |
CHAPTER | 25 |
CHAPTER | 42 |
CHAPTER THREE | 63 |
TABLES | 69 |
CHAPTER FOUR | 83 |
Assembly Rooms | 85 |
CHAPTER FIVE | 109 |
CHAPTER SEVEN | 144 |
CHAPTER EIGHT | 165 |
CHAPTER NINE | 181 |
CHAPTER | 193 |
EPILOGUE | 213 |
NOTES | 229 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 265 |
CHAPTER | 125 |