We join ourselves to the living world
by the artifacts of art and science –
by made things.
We are always going to be
at least somewhat at fault,
because we are ignorant,
fallible and small.
The living world is larger
and more complex
than our works.

 — Wendell Berry

I am an advocate of popular culture.  Admittedly that can be traced to my blue collar roots, raised by working class parents, who never forgot the hard scrabble life they lived.  We are conditioned by the social, physical, intellectual milieu of our place and time.  How could it be otherwise?  I’ve never considered a subscription to a season of the Chicago Symphony orchestra.

The art forms of popular culture have been my lifeline, a tether to sanity, a glimpse into a better future where I could experience the magic of being in love, or the quickening of standing up for what is right, against the exploitation of my “betters” in society, etc.  A range of human peak experiences that I’d never personally experienced are presented persuasively in pop culture, particularly in the music.

As to the desideratum of “falling in love” what could one add to Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers?  While there is much more that could be said, as love songs are innumerable, could Unchained Melody be improved?  And as to standing up to “the man,” I cannot think of a lyric and tune that expresses it better than What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield.

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware…

You’ve heard the song haven’t you?

So I am a fan of pop culture/art in general.  I think that Theodor Adorno’s critique of pop culture is not entirely wrong, as the United States, is a society created by wresting the land from it’s settled inhabitants.  Furthermore we fought a devastating war shortly after our founding over the insistence of some to enslave others for reasons of economy.  Yes, culture is easily corrupted, bastardized in order to aggrandize the wealth and influence of corporations and those who own them.  “Opportunity” is inscribed in American DNA and that is not a morally pure term.  Granted, popular songs, cinema, sports, collectable art inclusive of painting, sculpture, craft-works are all subject to the fault line between good and evil that runs through each one of us.  Moral judgments that are applied to the production and the role of all art, come down to a matter of degree.

Adorno seems to be right that there is a link between aesthetics and the moral standards of how we ought to treat one another.  Do you think the Fast and Furious movie is of equivalent aesthetic excellence to the cinema version of Boris Pasternak’s tale, Dr. Zhivago?  The two movies are not comparable.  I’ve seen the Fast and Furious movie once, and will not see it again.  Dr. Zhivago has been seen a number of times and I’d happily view it again.  Adorno maintains that formulaic, shoddy story telling, emotionally jolting CGI scenes stitched together in series — such movies degrade our moral sensibilities, and diminish our lives.

To conclude on a ascending note I offer the youtube of The Righteous Brothers performing their magisterial tune Unchained Melody:

PS To experience love is to “come home” is it not?