This tweet made me think.
Okay, actually, it was the full thread, but this was one of the main points. It's an interesting comment, especially since the tweeter (?) is an avowed and happy progressive socialist (though how far left he leans I'm not fully sure). Anyway, his critiques of capitalism are always thought provoking, and it interested me. Echoes of Debord and Baudrillard came to the fore when he said that, particularly Debord's critique of the society of the spectacle. He wrote:
Which leads back to Coffin's tweet. The whole thrust is the idea that fandoms (specifically; people, generally) use capital to create identity--you can't be a "true" fan of, say, Doctor Who if you don't own a fez and a sonic screwdriver. Coffin rejects this notion, calling it "morally bankrupt" to participate in "cultivated identity" (his term, but one I feel is apt). That you can only become what you are through your wallet is, in some ways, the quintessence of post-capital* societies.
Money is a weird thing, and the adoration of it is accelerating. The current political clime (in late August of 2016) sees a man running for president based (at least, at first) on how much money he's earned. It's a naked kind of plutocracy, which is alarming for manifold reasons, not the least of which because it galvanizes a perverse proof of the prosperity gospel that has and will continue to damage all sorts of morals, standards, and intuitions. So the concept of money adoration as an avenue to circumvent existential crises and ontological quandaries is both natural within our ecosystem and terrifying at its casual consumption.
But that's the whole thing: It's casual. I don't know what kind of economy will emerge in the next 20 years as the inevitable tech bubble bursts--as it must, based upon all of the indications of the past--but it will likely be catastrophic. If one's identity is tied into what one can buy, and then one can no longer buy anything, what is there that's left? While this is likely beyond Coffin's point, I find it chilling to consider the vacuum that people are, essentially, building their lives on. We want to pursue and enjoy and, well, consume that which we enjoy. It's why we binge watch movies, why we buy books in series we don't have time to read, and why we purchase DVDs of films that we'll likely only watch one more time--effectively spending more on a single viewing experience at home than we did when we bought a ticket to see the film in the theater.
So what happens when a person (and I'm thinking of the amazing people that attend the Comic Cons throughout the country, where "cultivated identity" has become the norm) is caught up in the inevitable bursting of that bubble? Well, on one hand, they likely turn to the other fandoms--Twilight has (mercifully) faded, and even its more hardcore fan-fic, Fifty Shades of Grey is waning in attention. Where have the "Twihards" gone? Well, likely into other fandoms, moving from one identity-giving construct to another, their hard earned money flowing from one to the other.
There's nothing wrong with loving a fandom. And--again, I may be departing from Coffin's ideas--I don't think there's anything wrong with purchasing that which gives you pleasure, whether it be a book, a bobble-headed toy, or another piece to a cosplay costume. Where the danger lurks is the sense that you are what you buy, rather than you buy what you do because of who you are. As MC Lars points out, "Hot Topic is not punk rock." When I saw Lars perform (now 9 years ago), he quipped before launching into his song, "You can't buy your identity from a mall store."
Coffin seems to be saying that you can't buy it from any store, and it's toxic to think that you can. And I think he may be right.
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* I don't know what I mean by post-capital. We live in a capitalistic society, sure, but since the '08 crash, it's becoming more and more apparent that the system we have is too far from recognizable capitalism to call it that. Much like the line between modernity and postmodernity, it's a fuzzy transition. Coffin calls it "hypercapitalism", which is a little too editorial for me, though it may not be without merit.
The whole life of those societies in which modern conditions of production prevail presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. All that one was directly lived has become mere representation. (1)The emphasis is in the original, and it is fascinating within gamer theory as much as our post-capitalist capitalist society. Debord wrote this in the late '60s, along with a lot of other French philosophers and literary theorists, and I can't help but feel there's a prescience in what they were saying. Particularly as 21st century life becomes more visible (that is, the quiet life of the main is no longer quietly lived, but contractually, contactually, and--in some cases--vicariously lived through the sundry networks we've created), it seems like the existential crises have sought solace in capital consumption.
Which leads back to Coffin's tweet. The whole thrust is the idea that fandoms (specifically; people, generally) use capital to create identity--you can't be a "true" fan of, say, Doctor Who if you don't own a fez and a sonic screwdriver. Coffin rejects this notion, calling it "morally bankrupt" to participate in "cultivated identity" (his term, but one I feel is apt). That you can only become what you are through your wallet is, in some ways, the quintessence of post-capital* societies.
Money is a weird thing, and the adoration of it is accelerating. The current political clime (in late August of 2016) sees a man running for president based (at least, at first) on how much money he's earned. It's a naked kind of plutocracy, which is alarming for manifold reasons, not the least of which because it galvanizes a perverse proof of the prosperity gospel that has and will continue to damage all sorts of morals, standards, and intuitions. So the concept of money adoration as an avenue to circumvent existential crises and ontological quandaries is both natural within our ecosystem and terrifying at its casual consumption.
But that's the whole thing: It's casual. I don't know what kind of economy will emerge in the next 20 years as the inevitable tech bubble bursts--as it must, based upon all of the indications of the past--but it will likely be catastrophic. If one's identity is tied into what one can buy, and then one can no longer buy anything, what is there that's left? While this is likely beyond Coffin's point, I find it chilling to consider the vacuum that people are, essentially, building their lives on. We want to pursue and enjoy and, well, consume that which we enjoy. It's why we binge watch movies, why we buy books in series we don't have time to read, and why we purchase DVDs of films that we'll likely only watch one more time--effectively spending more on a single viewing experience at home than we did when we bought a ticket to see the film in the theater.
So what happens when a person (and I'm thinking of the amazing people that attend the Comic Cons throughout the country, where "cultivated identity" has become the norm) is caught up in the inevitable bursting of that bubble? Well, on one hand, they likely turn to the other fandoms--Twilight has (mercifully) faded, and even its more hardcore fan-fic, Fifty Shades of Grey is waning in attention. Where have the "Twihards" gone? Well, likely into other fandoms, moving from one identity-giving construct to another, their hard earned money flowing from one to the other.
There's nothing wrong with loving a fandom. And--again, I may be departing from Coffin's ideas--I don't think there's anything wrong with purchasing that which gives you pleasure, whether it be a book, a bobble-headed toy, or another piece to a cosplay costume. Where the danger lurks is the sense that you are what you buy, rather than you buy what you do because of who you are. As MC Lars points out, "Hot Topic is not punk rock." When I saw Lars perform (now 9 years ago), he quipped before launching into his song, "You can't buy your identity from a mall store."
Coffin seems to be saying that you can't buy it from any store, and it's toxic to think that you can. And I think he may be right.
---
* I don't know what I mean by post-capital. We live in a capitalistic society, sure, but since the '08 crash, it's becoming more and more apparent that the system we have is too far from recognizable capitalism to call it that. Much like the line between modernity and postmodernity, it's a fuzzy transition. Coffin calls it "hypercapitalism", which is a little too editorial for me, though it may not be without merit.
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