medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Elvis Pressley was the beginning of cultural rot that has engulfed our
socient for the past 50 years. Graceland is a joke. Note the three
television sets in his t.v. room. Be sure to have a visit to his
library, too. yrs, tom (the lesser) ault
On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:14:20 +0300
rochelle altman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>culture
>
> Stella, you wrote:
>
>>Are pilgrims to Graceland part of a community with a shared history?
>>I'd say not, but perhaps I'm being influenced by my personal
>>beliefs...
>>
>>Stella
>
> Oddly enough, they are.
>
> The vast majority of Presley fans are in the same cohort, both in
>terms of age and similar cultural contexts. The trips to Graceland
>*are* pilgrimages. As Terrence pointed out, they do feel some kind of
>"magic" merely to touch something their idol held. (I did not make a
>copy of the student's paper, so I can't give you the bib she
>collected on this.) There are still reports of "Elvis sightings."
>Elvis that was, that is, not as he would be if he lived to over 100.
>I tend to think that by holding a ""piece" of something he used they
>feel they are keeping him alive. This known worship of a singer-idol
>is why Marjorie's students could connect with her example.
>
> There are people out there who still shed a tear over "The day the
>music died" -- that is, when Buddy Holly died in an airplane crash
>back in the 1950's. And that song is still played, though I'd think
>his fans are getting rather long in the tooth.
>
> (Can you imagine a worse film to show on a flight than The Buddy
>Holly Story? Well, that's exactly where I saw it as a prisoner of
>Zenda, er, in-flight entertainment -- no channel choices back then.
>And I was on a prop plane, too.)
>
> Then there were the Sinatra fans. As Sinatra aged, so did his
>swooning followers. (There were enough articles on that.) I don't
>think anyone actually worshipped Sinatra, but who knows? They
>certainly still "swooned" and called out "Oh, Frankie."
>
> So, yes, we do have to test personal beliefs rather frequently. But
>isn't that precisely what this thread is about?
>
> Back to my cyber cubby-hole,
>
> Rochelle
>
>>At 11:59 23/09/2009, you wrote:
>>>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>>>culture
>>>
>>>Rochelle Altman wrote:
>>>
>>>: In fact, one of my former students, a devout
>>>: Catholic and a life turn-around student with five
>>>: step-stair children and a husband who deserted
>>>: the family, did a lot of research on relics of
>>>: saints. When she wrote up her term paper, she
>>>: compared the Medieval desire to collect (and
>>>: fight over) saint's relics to Graceland and what
>>>: goes on there.
>>>
>>>Coincidentally, just yesterday I saw a television advertisment
>>>for one of those part-work thingies: this one is devoted to
>>>Presley, and comes with "replica artefacts" from Graceland.
>>>There may not be a literal belief in "wonder-working or salvific"
>>>properties (to use John Dillon's phrase), but there clearly is,
>>>for some, a kind of magic (for want of a better word) in
>>>possession: how else does one explain the ability to keep
>>>re-releasing recordings, for example, and have some of the same
>>>people buy them; or the enormous prices attached to items that
>>>have a direct link to performers (e. g., John Lennon's old guitar
>>>string, in one case I recall)?
>>>
>>>
>>>Terrence Lockyer
>>>Johannesburg, South Africa
>>`*****************************************
>>Dr Stella Rock
>>Senior Research Fellow
>>Department of History
>>University of Sussex
>>Brighton BN1 9QL
>>Email:[log in to unmask]
>>http://www.sussex.ac.uk/history/profile17617.html
>
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