Page 184 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

168 Bodies and Things

harm, as when the German government interred radical opponents of
capitalism in rooms in which the light was intense and never turned off.
The effect was to disorient them and to drive them to suicide. Absence of
light, on the other hand, need not always signal danger. It can also be
conducive to a sense of safety, comfort, and hominess. In Jordan, in the
Bedouin community, tents are dark, but that darkness is associated with
safety. Guests are invited into the dark in order to protect them from
dangers that might lie outside.
Another interesting “ thing ” in our cultural lives is kitsch. If you don ’ t
know what kitsch is, think “ knock - offs ” and cheap imitations, such as
furniture with gilt that seems expensive but is in fact cheap. Kitsch consists
of things that embody an aspiration to have the goods of the wealthy
without having the wealth. So kitschy products such as gilt - edged furniture
made cheaply allow those with champagne tastes and Budweiser budgets
to have what they cannot really have. A sign of kitsch in furniture would

be detailed molding work that lacks the kind of fine detail that genuine
handcrafted work possesses. Instead, this furniture is usually turned by
machines that are incapable of that level of refi nement of detail. It looked
cheap and clumsy to anyone familiar with “ the real thing, ” but not to those
who merely wanted the appearance of the real thing.
How should we interpret something like kitsch? Sociologists associate it
with social groups that have less income and less education. Cultural schol-
ars see kitsch as a way for such people to deal with modern life, which
uproots old systems of belief and replaces them with commercialism.
In traditional culture, religious messages and cultural wisdom are passed
on through routine daily communication and rituals, but in modern com-
mercial culture, such cultural processes and institutions are less central;
more central are commerce and the advertising messages that turn every-
one into potential consumers. Kitsch responds to this situation by using it
to gain a traditional sense of the world; we buy cheap things that have
exalted value and that provide us with a sense of routine security. They
have cohesive meaning and lend us a sense of trust and reassurance. Kitsch
provides “ cosmic coherence in an unstable world. ” Kitsch is repetitive
rather than creative and unique. It provides a sense of familiarity because
it is so routine.
I grew up in a family in Ireland that was poor and that possessed kitsch
objects, mostly religious paraphernalia such as statues of the mother of
Jesus. My mother listened routinely to Mrs. Dale ’ s Diary on the BBC radio
channel, a kitschy show that was all about daily routine events and that