In Defense of Kitsch

After reading Clement Greenberg's Avant-Garde and Kitsch I have to say I was immediately offended. I suppose Mr. Greenberg had absolutely no faith in the taste of the general public and never bothered to get to know popular culture on a personal level. As I read this my mind automatically began to defend pop culture based on one of my favorite mediums: comic books. Being a huge comic book fan and a big believer in their literary and cultural value, I thought comics would be the easiest way to defend pop culture. Comics, as Mr. Greenberg would define them, are kitsch. They are typically easy to understand and appeal to a wide range of people. But I would argue that it is exactly those qualities that can make great comics be on the same level of the avant-garde.

Take Superman for example. To Greenberg a character like Superman was an easy to understand if not moronic symbol of morality and brute force. But to those who have read Superman comics and understand his role in popular culture, he is a character who poses serious questions about what is it to be alien and what the goals of humanity are. I implore you to read Grant Morrison's All Star Superman for a truly amazing Superman comic. For me, some of what makes comic book characters like Superman and Batman so great and what elevates them from pop culture trash to the avant-garde is precisely because they are pop culture icons that everyone is familar with as well as characters who can explore humanity's pressing questions. And they do so without the elitism that comes from avant-garde.

This is a topic that I know I could rant on about forever, but my point is there are movies, TV shows, and comics that might look shallow on the outside but when explored further can be as deep and engaging as James Joyce. Finally, after our class discussion on how part of what separates avant-garde and kitsch is the lack of education the general public has that hinders their ability to appreciate avant-garde, I realized that it is a two way street. If the masses lack the knowledge to appreciate Kandinsky isn't it possible that Greenberg and his fellow elites lack the knowledge and experiences the rest of us have that allow us to appreciate and connect with popular culture? Maybe Greenberg could never have connected with a character like Superman the way I can because he lacked the pop culture education and the experiences that I have had.