Coachella is a famous (or infamous) festival that takes
place annually in California. It has become a fascinating cultural icon, where
multiple subcultures congregate and intertwine for a three-day celebration of
music, art, and fashion. This year’s lineup included an incredible range of
genres— classic rock, contemporary rock, rap, R&B, EDM— with artists AC/DC,
Hoizer, Jack White, Drake, Ratatat, and Ghostface Killah.
What originated as a celebration of complex, intersecting
cultures has become a heap of capitalistic bullshit reminiscent of what Dick
Hebdige critiques in “Subculture: The Meaning of Style.” Hebdige states, “the
conversion of subcultural signs (dress, music, etc.) into mass-produced
objects” (Hebdige 2484). Urban Outfitters, Elle Magazine, Seventeen Magazine,
and just about every other women’s fashion retailer / magazine now mass-produces
/ mass-endorses “Coachella fashion.” This is problematized further when this
so-called Coachella fashion often appropriates cultural clothing: bindis,
Native American headdresses, and saris abound.
This
is not to say that all of Coachella is bullshit.
But what was once good has been tainted by the recuperation of the Coachella subculture.
It is probably inappropriate now to refer to Coachella as a collection of
subcultures because it has been popularized to the point of mainstream commodity
and mockery.
All hail the culturally unaware. It makes me wonder how long the subcultures actually existed on their own terms before they were converted into mass-produced objects. I wonder what the first Cochella looked like, or whatever existed in the beginning before it became what it is today.
ReplyDeleteIf we utilize a poststructuralist/New Historicist/Marxist reading of Coachella (which is essentially what cultural critics do), I'm pretty sure the result would be that the festival is and always has been bullshit (ever since it was named). While it may masquerade under the illusion of subcultural, musical celebration, one must remember that this taps into the music market. I mean, Pearl Jam may have started it by boycotting Ticketmaster, but it's still a ticketed event, meaning that it's bringing in revenue. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWhile I may disagree with you on the level of bullshit that is Coachella, I find your opening sentence incredibly interesting. Just by stating that the festival is both famous and infamous, I think you inadvertently (or maybe purposefully?) draw from Hebdige's point on the media's portrayal of subculture, that it is, "alternately celebrated (in the fashion page) and ridiculed or reviled (in those articles which define subcultures as social problems" (2483). We see this in almost every article we read about the celebration (kids are partying, but look at how cool their headdresses are!).
Hebdige's argument seems apt for Coachella, which you address in this post. While I maintain that there never were any subcultures flocking to Coachella (more like "branded" subcultures to sell tickets), I think your analysis of the festival's fashion is on point.
And, Coachella must make $ for it to "survive" as a "cultural" event, right? It has to be popular, it must "make" bands for it to be cutting edge, right? Maybe it was, at one time subcultural, but now isn't.
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