July 11, 2005

  • Tell you what, a difficult word to define for someone not born here is "kitsch."

    Go ahead.  Have a crack at it.  Sans dictionary!  You'll find it's hard.

    Dmitry and I were talking while in the car about pink plastic yard
    flamingos, for which I have an inexplicable fondness, and he inquired
    as to why there aren't in in our yard.

    Because, I responded, your papa dislikes kitsch of all types.

    "Kitsch?  What's that?"

    Um.  Uh.  Well . . .

    It mostly tends to be defined by example:  the aforementioned
    flamingos;  garden gnomes;  those Felix-the-cat clocks with
    the eyes going back and forth; and the Kitsch Example Par Excellence . . . paintings on velvet (with extra points for the subject involving Elvis). 

    I wonder what Russian kitsch would be?  Perhaps matrushka dolls of the Beatles or something like that?

    Do other societies even have kitsch, or is it pretty much an American thing?

Comments (9)

  • Interesting that you should ask this question, as it is a subject Rich and I discussed at length while in Hawaii, and I even suggested that I ought to start collecting photos of kitschy things in order to write a book on it.   But he said it's been done, and anyway, he doesn't want to clutter our computer with photos of kitsch.

    It all began with a shopping trip to Hilo Hattie's to get a Hawaiian shirt for Ian.  The store was stuffed to the gills with Hawaiian kitsch. Motorised or bobblehead hula girls, plastic leis, small dashboard sized Hawaiian idols, you get the idea. It got me thinking of American kitsch, which is very regional. But international kittsch, we decided, has to have at least one of several certain elements:  1. Superstition and/or a connection to religion, 2. Ethnicity (or regionality), 3. Uselessness (although some would argue that a decorative and/or humorous capability is not useless, however tasteless)  Using these criteria, one gets closer to identifying kitsch when one sees it. 

    Bobbleheads are almost always kitschy; their humor and ugliness makes them so, but they serve absolutely no purpose otherwise. Flamingos might be argued to be decorative but not unless the viewer has a sense of humor.  They are also regional to the south, unless one resides in New Jersey. Yodelling is Austrian kitsch, which brings up the question as to whether actions and not objects could be kitschy, for which I wuld argue the affirmative. Lederhosen is German/Austrian kitsch. Garden trolls are Scandinavian kitsch (although many Scandinavians are dead serious about trolls), and leprechauns are Irish kitsch. I'm sure Russia abounds with ethnic Jewish kitsch, in fact I'm not sure that the Ashkenazim did not invent the very idea, with their delicious senses of humor.

    So those are my beginning thoughts.  Wanna write a book together?

  • Bobbleheads! How on earth did I omit those?

    "Uselessness" is a valid, defining element, ISTM. Take lava lamps, for instance....one would hardly use one as a light source for reading.

    The notion of wearable kitsch is interesting, as I'd only thought of decorative objects. Hawaiian shirts with parrots on them are kitschy though, aren't they? Y'all are right about that. And the ledehosen, too.

    As I said, it's awfully difficult to define without using examples, which makes it doubly difficult to explain to Dmitry.

  • Well, after reading this blog, I think you 2 must get together and write or at least start a blog celebrating Kitsch. I'm proud my daughter can spell it as I , who pride myself on being reasonably literate, can't!! But I love it! I gave my brother for a present at one of those parties where you need to bring something tacky, a glass in a holder suspended from a ?necklace ? around his neck so his drink would always be near, I think that qualifies as kitsch as does the dried alligator I gave to Charles  and the Tshirt listing road kill menu also the Tshirt looking like a tux. What's not to love?  What would we do without kitsch? It''s fun!!

  • Oh, I forgot the upright cover for a vacuum cleaner that looks like a cow. Or something else, I forget. I may still have that. Never could figure out who to give it to or when was an appropriate occasion. It will come so watch out!! Hee hee.

  • Omigoodness.

    Mom has a vacuum cleaner cover that looks like a cow?

    Ready to give?

    Um, Alex's birthday is in September.

  • Maybe it's the vacuum cleaner that looks like a cow.

    "the upright cover for a vacuum cleaner that looks like a cow"

    Now that would be odd.

  • All right, all right , so I said it wrong, its still mighty kitsch, and tacky looking. BTW I think I gave it away. I need to go look in the closet. Hope it's there for Alex's b'day.

  • If it's there, attach a sponge to the cow before giving it to Alex.

    Or is that Charles?

  • That's Charles, but hey....Christmas is coming.

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