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Are fake wood station wagons camp??
At some point with my generation getting into “mid century modern” I think fake wood started to redeem itself a bit.
But damn was it everywhere in the 60’s/70’s. So you wake up and eat breakfast at your oak dinette set, has a formica “oak” pattern on the top. Fire up the Country squire with fake dionic paneling and head to the hardware store. Load up 4×8 sheets of dark oak fske paneling for that basement project. Pull up your brown couch with horses/barns on it(looks like a scene from bonanza) Of course the coffee table has a “wood” formica top, the zenith has more fake wood on the speaker grill. Then you get into a heated game of pong with your son, which of course the atari 2600 has even more FAKE WOOD on it.
I think we had a wood shortage back then. Had to sign a treaty with the beavers up in Alaska and Canada cause all the good NORAD radar sites were on their land. Part of the deal with the beavers was we could not cut down the forrest.
So nothing more ‘Murican than fake wood. If you dont like it, go back to Russia you commie bastard.
Country comfort’s in a truck that’s going back home. Elton John.
Matt’s summary at the end is excellent. Hot rods are 80% kitsch, 20% camp. The Bohemian Rhapsody is camp. Liberace was… 50/50? Engelbert Humperdinck was kitsch.
That’s a good handle, but to me, he should be “Inspector Dick Rodius, Scotland Yard”, a special guest on the Autopian cop show hinted at last week.
Hot rods are very camp. Like maybe the single campiest thing. Just look at Uncertain-T and its paragon status. There’s probably a corner of low-rider culture that’s very camp, but I think more broadly it’s an aesthetic characteristic of a particular community. I would hazard that modern Rolls Royces are also camp. AMG G-wagens, Ferrari Pursangs, Lamborghini Urus: these things are kitsch. There’s a cynical mercantilism to them that prevents them from being camp. There’s an element of camp that is honest, the pursuit of an aesthetic or dream far past the boundaries of taste into ludicrous excess. For David, it’s trying too hard because you refuse to admit that “too hard” is a thing. There is also the implication of a level of actual competence in its pursuit. Hot rod culture is like drag and Swan Lake rolled into one.
New York Dolls: camp.
David Bowie: camp or art?
Art. His music has depths that can still be appreciated and unpacked today. If anything, it was his transcendence of camp that made it art.
Agreed.
The New York Dolls are interesting though, as they were completely camp in their own time but then so influential on the creation of so much authentic stuff.
Cart.
Hot rod woody wagons are camp you can camp in.
Now I want to see a behind the scenes of John Waters directing (and torturing) Richard Rawlings in …. At that point the specifics cease to matter. I want it to exist though. The making of/behind the scenes would be titled Camp vs. Kitch.
Rat rods are camp
Everything made from billet, mostly not camp,
Ed Roth is mostly camp.
George Barris hmm… I think camp has some intentionality required.
Dean Jeffrey not camp.
Imitation Dean Jeffrey, kind of camp.
Lowriders and Porsche 917s high art.
Monster trucks, camp.
Toy monster trucks, kitsch.
Want to start an argument, that goes on for weeks? Ask if Star Wars is camp.
Spaceballs was camp (and I’m glad we’re finally getting a sequel).
The first Star Wars trilogy was pure matinee theater (Ewok Christmas Special not withstanding), with a ton of merchandising. So I guess that makes it kitch?
TOS Star Trek was camp.
I would like to posit that no car is camp. It’s who drives it and how. For that matter, no dress is chic. It’s who wears it and how.
However, the vid of “Tiny Dancer” is quite wonderful.
HOLY SHIT, the Renault commercial with the 10.9% financing as a selling point.
(And yes, I’m shutting the machines off early and watching the entire episode of Matt Houston commercials and all)
Oh also extra points for using a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend promo in the top shot. Great show if you are a musical nerd like me!
Rachel Bloom’s “Fuck me, Ray Bradbury” definitely camp.
I agree with what you’ve posited above, Matt: I think it’s a matter of self-awareness. Camp is self-aware. Kitsch is not. In other words, kitsch is camp minus self-awareness.
To Jack Swansey’s point (although, as a chemist, I have not studied such subjects in depth), in my opinion, NASCAR (the industry) is camp. NASCAR fans are largely kitsch.
The exact words rattling ’round my noggin before I got to your comment were “kitsch = camp – authenticity”. Fantastic!
Okay, everyone, we’ve solved it! 😀
The Simpsons episode with John Waters is a good primer on camp.
I was going to say, regardless of his character on that episode, he’s a perfect arbiter of this sort of thing anyway, so I say just await his ruling on the subject
“The tragically ludicrous? The ludicrously tragic?” – J. Waters
Lowriders: art.
Donks: gloriously camp.
Stanced: must be camp, because otherwise I lose faith in humanity.
Stanced definitely has the self-awareness part of the camp definition down, since a lot of them have bumper stickers or windshield decals saying things like “Ruined” or “Low N Slow”.
More or less an entire chapter of my undergrad thesis was dedicated to answering a similar question: Is NASCAR camp?
(yes)
So is most modern country-pop music camp or kitsch? And was this thesis for a Semiotics degree from Brown so you could work in reality TV? (note: I jest but it’s an interesting article.)
Kitsch, based on how their fans react with it
The word I’d use is “shit”.
Is it, though? There’s a lot of angry flag-waving chuds in NASCAR, and the Dale Earnhardt worship is lacking in self-awareness. In fact I don’t know that the average NASCAR superfan is capable of camp.
Wrestling and monster trucks, however? Camp.
Great post!
Camp is like porn: I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.
Porn is any media that stops being interesting immediately after orgasm.
Matt Houston looks like Ron Burgundy = camp.
I’m sure Will Ferrall knew this,
I think David Tracy should be assigned a selection of John Waters films in order to understand camp.
There is no possible way he has been exposed to those before.
That’s a divine idea.
He may be a Rocky Horror virgin as well… A ’70s cinema expo is in order.
At midnight! With props! Rice, toast, toilet paper, a lighter, etc.
Start with ‘Hairspray’ though. I think ‘Polyester’ would permanently damage him.
Oooh, Autopian John Waters Movie Watch-Along should totally happen!
But who’s on first? And is first camp?
I think I understand some of the technical deep dive articles on here more than this discussion, and I’m very much not a technical person. 🙂
Anywho, I think my best take on this is hot-rods can be camp if the car is both unique and fun and the owner isn’t some over-serious arse.
I’m probably wrong about that, but I know I’m right about one thing: THIS site is camp in the absolute best way.
Original Hot Rod – camp, 1000th derivative – kitsch.
Original hot rods = serious cars
Munsters hot rod = camp
2020’s hot rods = kitsch
Pretty much anything George Barris took credit for is camp.
Now then, fake patina: camp, cool, or crap?
Fake patina on home goods is kitsch, I don’t see how it would be different on cars unless it was used for a thematic purpose, like say a Holly Hobbie hot rod or something.