Pompeii at the kiosk

[imomus]

Well, here I am on the subway wearing my Chinese ear protectors and reading European Cultural Policies 2015, a collaboration between Iaspis, EIPCP and åbäke. I'm not exactly invested in my American environment, am I? I've got my flight back to Berlin on May 26th, and after that I'm participating in a group show at London's Blow de la Barra gallery, then spending the rest of the year writing some weird fake music encyclopaedia for a French publisher (and of course releasing my "friendly album" Ocky Milk in August).



I haven't watched any American TV in my time here (I've been chilling with Chibi Maruko Chan and Shimura Ken tapes at Hiroko's Place, my favourite Japanese Cafe in SoHo, instead), but I do get glimpses of the American soul. Down here on the subway, for instance, there are kiosks selling American magazines. Not the ones I read (Metropolis, Cabinet, The Onion) but the ones, you know, normal Americans read. People who aren't Eurotrash visiting for biennials.

So today I thought I'd just scan the headlines on some magazine covers I photographed in a kiosk window yesterday, and see what kind of glimpse they provide into the American soul. These are just partial titles and headlines, stacked fragments, shards of a culture. I have no idea who the celebrities are. I try to think of this stuff as Pompeii-style disjecta, and piece together what the culture producing it must be like... and what it'll be like in 2015.

1. Gaming mag: The Outfit: ze Germans vill not easily be defeated.

2. Music mag: The Roots: love them now. Mobb Deep: the sound of revenge.

3. Mothering mag: With two new babies, two movies and a wedding, Mo'Nique has the last laugh. Why weight doesn't weigh her down. Gabrielle: why her marriage failed. Ne-Yo: he's nobody's puppet.

4. Maxim: Looking for trouble? Jamie Lynn Sigler, a soprano to die for. No pain, no gain, The Coach Who Loved to Torture.

5. XXL: Shots fired. Friend killed.

6. Slam: The next big thing: Greg Oden is about to own the game.

7. Men's fashion mag: 400 stylish items guys need for spring. "I'm happy being sexy" meet Alpha Dogs Olivia Wilde. Eminem and Obie Trice talk rehab and getting shot.

8: The Sound: Off the chain! DMX on Jay-Z, Irv Gotti and his own drama. Does the dog still have bite? PLUS: Ice Cube laughs last.

9: Sm? magazine: Winky Wright puts out a hit on the boxing game.

10. The Illest K? mag: Rochelle Aytes rides 'em rough!

11. Vibe Vixen: 141 ways to let your natural beauty shine. Fake dates, how to avoid them.

12. Vibe: Busta: the untold story. Rihanna lathers up.

13. Glamor: The illustrated guide to a great sex life (don't open this on the bus!). The summer cancer warning every woman should read. Your body's most flattering dress, find it, buy it, believe it.

14. All-new Buffie the Body: Love, sex and lingerie issue. Special collector's issue! Win a phone call from Buffie.

15. DO? Witness or snitch. Failure is not an option. The diva's.

16. Ebony: Single, sexy and searching: Top Bachelors of the year. The Hollywood Shuffle: what's behind so many celebrity breakups?

17. Black: Our must-have complete sex guide.

18. Men's Health: 10 ways to grow muscle fast! Look your best ever! 100 instant upgrades. 15 foods that fight fat.

19. FHM: From the lips of Jenny McCarthy: "Devour me like a big bad wolf!" Special report: Ice cold beer, chill warm brews in 32 seconds.

20. Elle: A cut above: how to choose a great plastic surgeon. 35 best organic beauty products.

21. FHM bonus: 100 sexiest women in the world 2006.

22. Vogue: Knightley News: Keira on costars, clubbing & conquering red carpet jitters. Summer's new lengths: bare knees and ankle boots, short sleeves and long lashes. Exclusive: from prisoner to president: Chile's first female leader

23. Cosmopolitan: How to heat up sex: naughty (but easy) tricks to try tonight. Bond with your man in the car, on a date, before work, after a fight. Sexy summer beauty tips. The touches he'll beg for again and again.

24. Vanity Fair: A heartbreaking memoir, Anderson Cooper, the shock of his brother's suicide.

Can we see any themes running through that? How about revenge, disintegrating social bonds, shooting, weight gain, rough sex, muscle, celebrity, surgery, cancer and death, just to get the ball rolling?

Comments

[notkoan.livejournal.com]

As a recovering Japanese magazine addict, I have to admit that Momus has a point about the mainstream magazines in Japan having a different general quality than American mainstream magazines. I suspect that once he has the time to get around to replying in detail, he would point out that mainstream Japanese magazines have a softer, gentler quality. At the risk of generalizing, I would venture that most Japanese people don’t have quite the same taste for aggressive sexuality that Americans do. Even the most titillating mainstream magazines in Japan tend to feature women of a very cute variety. I think mainstream Japanese magazines tend to speak more to contentment than anxiety, but that’s something you see in certain mainstream American magazines, too, especially more domestic ones about interior decorating and such.

And I’m always surprised at how niche-driven popular Japanese magazines are. Whereas most American women’s fashion magazines are aimed at adult women in general, Japanese magazines will break their audience down by age groups (20s, 30s, 40+) and style (EGL, ganguros, Harajuku-types), with little to no overlap in between. As for men’s magazines, one thing I like about Japanese magazines is that men’s fashion magazines are actually about fashion, and are not thinly veiled wanking material. There’s something refreshingly honest about that. In Japan if you want some maturbatory material, you just buy porn, not the latest issue of FHM and claim you want to “read the articles”.

But these types of magazines are not without problems. While there’s something charming about having magazines that cater to a variety of niches, and these magazines present an appearance of variety while reinforcing an extreme level of conformity within the niches. I mean, look at any random issue of those “rich college girl” fashion magazines like CanCam, and you’ll see quite the soul-sucking parade of identical girls sporting identical recent season Chanel bags. And the overt embrace with commerce in these magazines is, while somewhat honest, very depressing.

So while I can agree that there are certain general tendencies that differ between Japanese and American mainstream magazines, I wouldn’t make the implied point that Japanese mainstream culture embodies better values. I think the stacks of diet ads that pad out the rear of every issue of Non-no is just about as depressing an indictment of the society they came from as the greasy covers of every issue of Maxim.

[niemandsrose.livejournal.com]

thank you...

[larameau.livejournal.com]

are you a paul celan fan, catherine?

[notkoan.livejournal.com]

To clarify what I have to say a bit more, I think you can really see the difference between mainstream Japanese magazines and American magazines by, paradoxically, examining the differences amongst Japanese magazines themselves. I roughly break down mainstream Japanese fashion magazines into three main categories: Japanese-style, American/Western-style, and documentary-style. American/Western-style magazines like Ginza tend to fetishize inacessibility. They only showcase only the most extreme haute couture fashion, sported by predominantly white models with that aggressive, alienating high-fashion look. Whereas when you look at more Japanese-style magazines (Egg, ViVi, Cutie...etc), they tend to have a roster of models who look more or less like their audience (cuter, thinner versions of them of course) and value praticality and accessibility above all. The former type would be showing off the latest Alexander McQueen creation, while the latter would be outlining the 12 different ways you can wear that Gap khaki jacket you bought last week. And the third type of fashion magazine, the documentary type like Fruits or even the Gap Press books of runway photos, just doesn't even have an equivalent in the States.

I'm curious what Momus would have thought if he had came across a copy of Lucky at that newstand. I think that magazine, with its practical layout and fashion tips, "regular folks" models, and undisguised shilling of products, is the most Japanese-style of American mainstream mags.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I've never seen Lucky, will look out for it.