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poptimists2007-10-04 05:12 pm
freakytigger.livejournal.com) wrote in poptimists2007-10-04 05:12 pm
Context and Anticontext
Quite unformed thorts based on Frank K's latest column and discussion of same - see here: http://koganbot.livejournal.com/26897.html
Music has a social context, obv - who else is listening to stuff you encounter, both people you know and people you don't but you assume things (good or bad) about.
It also has an anticontext (erm this is just another part of the context rly but I wanted a snappy name for it) - people who AREN'T listening to it, because they don't like it or because they don't know about it.
But not everyone who doesn't listen to something matters in terms of the anticontext - my reaction to Keane, say, is affected by my imagining Mums listening to Keane, and NME readers mostly not listening to Keane, but isn't significantly affected by Amazon tribesmen not listening to Keane, or by my Great Aunt Betty not listening to Keane. The Amazon tribesmen and Great Aunt Betty are not part of the anticontext here: the NME readers are.
Context and especially anticontext are obviously hugely important in enclosed social spheres, like school or University, and then maybe the anticontext fades from importance a bit later in life.
Here's my theory - the anticontext has shrunk, steadily, since the 1960s. The sense that a random guy on the street, or someone of a different agegroup, or someone not dressing the same as you, is part of the anticontext, has diminished (with occasional seismic flare-ups). And also, MAYBE, the size of the potential context is directly related to the size of the anticontext (since just as not every non-listener is in the anticontext, not every listener is in the context).
Music has a social context, obv - who else is listening to stuff you encounter, both people you know and people you don't but you assume things (good or bad) about.
It also has an anticontext (erm this is just another part of the context rly but I wanted a snappy name for it) - people who AREN'T listening to it, because they don't like it or because they don't know about it.
But not everyone who doesn't listen to something matters in terms of the anticontext - my reaction to Keane, say, is affected by my imagining Mums listening to Keane, and NME readers mostly not listening to Keane, but isn't significantly affected by Amazon tribesmen not listening to Keane, or by my Great Aunt Betty not listening to Keane. The Amazon tribesmen and Great Aunt Betty are not part of the anticontext here: the NME readers are.
Context and especially anticontext are obviously hugely important in enclosed social spheres, like school or University, and then maybe the anticontext fades from importance a bit later in life.
Here's my theory - the anticontext has shrunk, steadily, since the 1960s. The sense that a random guy on the street, or someone of a different agegroup, or someone not dressing the same as you, is part of the anticontext, has diminished (with occasional seismic flare-ups). And also, MAYBE, the size of the potential context is directly related to the size of the anticontext (since just as not every non-listener is in the anticontext, not every listener is in the context).
Why People Don't Listen (revisited)
(1) I assume most of my classmates aren't listening to Ashlee Simpson. (However, I think they should; they tend to think I should not, or at least that it's odd that I do.)
(2) I do not listen to smooth jazz.
(3) In case (1), not listening tends to be a detriment. They take my logic for (2) (I listen to OTHER jazz and can hear the difference; I know that it's catered to "easy listening" listeners, meaning it's intended to recede into the background and I prefer to listen actively (this is why I don't particularly care if I hear it in an elevator but wouldn't listen to it in my stereo) and then apply my logic inappropriately to Ashlee. I know this because I've listened -- but the only context most people have for Ashlee is "easy listening," as "Pieces of Me" is for the most part a contemporary "soft rock" ballad (because what's interesting in it requires context and isn't just happening in the music itself).
Tha birth a da smoove
I listen to the smooth jazz station once a month, when my friend Phil's boyfriend Jim gives the two of us a ride to the writer's group we're part of. A couple of month's ago the smooth jazz station was playing "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone." Shelton, the husband of Sue, a woman in the writer's group, leads a blues-r&b band, and they play "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone," too, though they don't signify as "smooth."
I'd expect cat mysteries to be too too precious. (Btw, I've now posted my brother's analysis of Lillian Jackson Braun.)
Re: Tha birth a da smoove
Re: Tha birth a da smoove
Re: Tha birth a da smoove
This is a really good post and anticontext is def a v important point - usually it manifests itself as sneering at stereotypical fans - but I am too frazzled to contribute anything more! bah.
Re: Tha birth a da smoove
[*Incredible episodes three and four (S01E03 and S01E04) of the Ashlee Simpson Show, if you haven't seen them.]