The Naff

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

What is the relationship between coolness and naffness in pop history.

A version of it wd describe pop history as essentially a story of a thread of coolness constantly besieged by naffness. This seems deeply unsatisfactory to me.

Comments

stability surely unnecessary for meaning

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

cf more vs less

cool and naff may be intensifiers/distinctors of qualities that are purely contextual

haha LOOK!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

cool-A = "ahead of curve"
cool-B= "indifferent to curvitude"

change is built into defn A; non-change built into defn.B --- YET B becomes A when others join in!

Re: haha LOOK!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

What abt ppl who CREATE the curve?

Re: haha LOOK!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

well some of them are B-people -- but others are A-dedicated

Re: haha LOOK!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they are on a different graph entirely, the curve of CRITICISM???

Re: haha LOOK!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

but artists and non-critics are also critics in the sense that they have opinions of the activities of others -- the curve is not created by a specific class of agents or media, so much as the broad agreement on the stability of the curve in a particular era is signalled by statement of same, by class of agents and/or media (if consumers of meda and readers of critics all disagree, then stability is collapsing)