High Entertainment or The art of appearing

Although much is written about the reality of the media system, it's always great to hear some contemporary sounds about what's going on. One particularly interesting author/artist in this area is David Robbins, who bases his aesthetic world view exactly on this mass culture trash and mass media digestion. But along these lines he makes some great observations about the system which stabilises his own work. Have a look at his manifesto, an online book with the promising title of: www.high-entertainment.com

Here is some taste of the art of media self-presentation:

"Some of us have been interested in Paris Hilton for the very reason that she appears to have no other content than the mechanisms of celebrity. Standing before us minus the distractions of apparent talent or ability, she, like Angelyne, is a concept, of her or someone like her. Other than occasionally mewing "That's hot!" (her own variant on bland Warholian endorsement), the woman has nothing to say, and yet for some time now she has succeeded in moving from media space to media space to media space, web to print to broadcast. Her "content" is her presence in that space, her access to it, her movement from one medium to another. Movement across the surface of the system that presents her is the only "meaning" Paris Hilton offers. Approve of it or don't, but hers is a very pure position. That she's from the upper class is crucial to her contentlessness. An heiress needn't engage the conventional middle-class success narrative. Neither does she seek change nor progress of any sort, as a middle-class person might feel compelled to do. Thus, not only "morally neutral" but refreshingly devoid of the needs associated with most who aspire to a place in media culture, the urge to comment muted, she is able to stand – more accurately, pose – in the foreground as a purer representative of the background. As a result, Hilton functions as a prism through which we observe the disturbing realities of our media system at work." (David Robbins, Chap. Self-Presentation)