Kitsch

This is interesting – one of Serbian political parties suggests introduction of extra taxes for authors of those works of media that fall under the category of “kitsch”. Let’s disregard for a moment which party it was that suggested this. We’ll also disregard that the person who most likely proposed this is no other than Sladjana Milosevic, Serbian pop star from the eighties. Don’t you find this idea of punishing “bad culture” fascinating? I know I do. Imagine for a moment – no reality shows, no turbo folk, no lousy TV soap operas. Heaven. Or hell—if you happen to practice the Church of Satan. The problem is, of course – there is no certain way to determine what is kitsch and what isn’t.

Is Sladjana Milosevic kitsch or simply hot (in a German-seventies-porn kind of way?)

What’s also interesting is that during the Tito years, there already was such a government censorship body that tried to determine what work of art is good for nation’s minds and what was crap. It is to be expected that some mistakes had to be made, and that’s why for example Beatles and Rolling Stones were also proclaimed kitsch, when it was obvious that not all of their songs were so bad. And now, the irony – communist works of art are considered to be kitschy.

I leave you to ponder upon this moral dilemma—to fight kitsch or not—with this dialog of wisdom between Beavis and Butt-head:

Beavis: Hey Butt-Head, how come like, some stuff sucks, but then like, some stuff is pretty cool? Heh heh…
Butt-Head: Uh… huh huh… well, huh huh… If nothing sucked, and like, everything was cool all the time, then it’s like, how would you know it was cool? Huh huh…
Beavis: Heh heh, I would know. Heh heh… you just said, everything would be cool. Heh heh…
Butt-Head: I mean like, if I wasn’t here. Huh huh…
Beavis: Oh yeah, yeah. Heh heh… that would be cool. Heh heh..
Butt-Head: No, butt-munch. I mean like, let’s say someone came up and just hit you upside the head.
Beavis: Yeah. Heh heh…
Butt-Head: Well, huh huh… that would be cool. Huh huh…
Beavis: No it wouldn’t, that would suck!
Butt-Head: Yeah. Uh! (smack)
Beavis: Ahhh! cut it out, butt-hole.
Butt-Head: Uh! (smack)
Beavis: Ahh! Heh heh…
Butt-Head: Huh huh… now that was cool! Huh huh…
Beavis: No it wasn’t, that sucked! Heh heh…
Butt-Head: Huh huh.. Yeah, but like, huh huh… ya know after it’s over, huh huh… doesn’t it like, feel pretty cool? Huh huh…
Beavis: Heh heh… oh yeah, yeah, heh heh, yeah, heh heh…
Butt-Head: See, it’s like, you need stuff that sucks to have stuff that’s cool. Huh huh…