Clement Greenberg, the stereotypical snobby art critic, wrote an influential essay in 1939, Avant-Garde and Kitsch. This was at the tail end of the broader Avant-Garde movement, which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when artistic practices became particularly innovative, experimental, and often radical. Greenberg posits that the art of the past–rooted in religion, authority, and tradition had resolved itself into motionless Alexandrianism.1 But just when all hope for good taste was in peril, the Avant-Garde movement emerged to single-handedly shoulder the responsibility of keeping society from crumbling into decay. With the characteristic hubris and paternalism of the privileged, he frames everything through a lens of deterministic class hierarchy. Where the only ruling class, by virtue of their wealth, education, and refinement; have unlocked the pinnacle of human civilization, and it’s their responsibility to beat back the dirty poor masses from mucking everything up with their lowbrow sensibilities.2
This is where he employs Kitsch as the opposing force to Avant-Garde. Peasants settled into cities to become proletariat and petty bourgeois. They’re still poor and stupid, but now they’re also bored, and unfortunately they have a little disposable income. So, a market of kitsch appears, “insensible to the values of genuine culture” made to entertain and distract the simple-minded poor folk. His insecurity that the masses no longer accept the legitimacy of the ruling class infects his philosophy like a disease… But, I cannot deny he has an eye for patterns in art…
“Kitsch, using for raw material the debased and academicized simulacra of genuine culture, welcomes and cultivates this insensibility. It is the source of its profits. Kitsch is mechanical and operates by formulas. Kitsch is vicarious experience and faked sensations. Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times… It borrows its devices, tricks, stratagems, rules of thumb, themes, converts them into a system, and discards the rest. It draws its life blood, so to speak, from this reservoir of accumulated experience… Because it can be turned out mechanically, kitsch has become an integral part of our productive system in a way in which true culture could never be, except accidentally. It has been capitalized at a tremendous investment which must show commensurate returns; it is compelled to extend as well as to keep its markets. While it is essentially its own salesman, a great sales apparatus has nevertheless been created for it, which brings pressure to bear on every member of society. […] If kitsch is the official tendency of culture in [authoritarian regimes], it is not because their respective governments are controlled by philistines, but because kitsch is the culture of the masses in these countries, as it is everywhere else. The encouragement of kitsch is merely another of the inexpensive ways in which totalitarian regimes seek to ingratiate themselves with their subjects.” 3
Now, it brings me no pleasure to say it, but he’s kinda got a point with this one. Is he not describing the current status quo of art under late Capitalism? Since its publication in 1939 our aesthetic experience has been ever increasingly consumed by kitsch. On a daily basis we subject our consciousness to the regime of inscrutable algorithms that are predicated on incentivizing the production of endless kitsch, and our mindless consumption of it. Forgive me, I’m going to list a bunch of things that Greenberg’s schema of kitsch describes: The Lion King (2019), clickbait, the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial, Fortnite, Thomas Kinkade, Arby's Meat Mountain, Cocomelon, egregious fan service in anime, Logan Paul’s severe and continuous lapse in judgement, react content, WatchMojo, the internet accent, Trump shoes, the Bored Apes Club, the 24-hour news cycle, the anti-woke industrial complex, video game loot boxes, fashion micro-trends on TikTok, literally everything from Vought International, and the ever-increasing waves of advertisements thrust on our consciousness. I hate to give it to him, but Greenberg identified something real here.
I’m not alone here, in 2014 conservative writer Roger Scruton wrote A fine line between art and kitsch, in Forbes magazine.4 Simply put, he can’t figure out kitsch. Scruton, as I, see Greenberg’s hubris with the clarity of hindsight; yet, we both can’t help but notice Greenbergian kitsch all around us. He identifies that immediately recognizable ‘yuk’ feeling uniquely present in bad kitsch; but, he gets caught in a logic loop trying to define kitsch and its origins because he mistakenly assumes the common conception of kitsch,5 essentially equating it with bad taste. Ruth Holliday and Tracey Potts6 explain why hinging the whole definition of kitsch on that yuk feeling alone is a metaphysical nightmare:
Q: What is Kitsch?
A: Kitsch is the worst taste. Look! Here are some kitsch things.
Q: What do they have in common?
A: They are tasteless.
As a kid I worshiped Star Wars. It truly breaks my heart that I do not care, even a little, about the newest releases. By the influence of kitsch, the thing that I once loved now continually leaves me disappointed. But even still, I don’t think that disqualifies it from being art, even though it sucks. And regardless, Star Wars has always been kitsch, especially when it was good. Scruton cannot figure out kitsch until he discards the assumption that there must be a line between art and kitsch.
What is kitsch if we strip away the classism? We wade into philosophy here, brace yourself as needed. As far as I can see it, kitsch is an inherent part of every shared art experience. Art broadly functions in the moments art is created, producing an object or performance that bears an aesthetic argument; and, in the moments when an audience engages with the aesthetic argument. All art is political–this acknowledges that art does not exist in a vacuum. In its production and in its consumption it is necessarily in constant dialogue with its surrounding culture. What I am trying to do here is articulate a political pattern I see in the landscape of art and aesthetics. It is my assertion that Kitsch is the parts of art that are influenced by the producer's desire to leverage social capital. Social capital usually means money these days, but it also includes more vague cultural capital/influence. Don’t get caught up labeling particular objects as kitsch; rather, note the particular parts of art that are kitsch without attaching a judgment value. Artists sometimes draw inspiration from their souls–creating something truly new, manifesting Avant-Garde. Sometimes they draw inspiration from honoring great art of the past–echoing eternal truths, manifesting Tradition. But when their aesthetic actions are utilitarian–we’re talking about kitsch baby.7 Since Greenberg, the intelligentsia has restricted art to the dialogue between Tradition and Avant-Garde; I do not reject that dialogue, but too often those two pillars forget that a part of the reason art is made is simply to make things that other people enjoy.
Let’s talk about pop music. The genre’s inherent strength and weakness is accessibility. The records are largely made to be sold, they do that by producing songs that the masses will buy. Because of this, following the history of popular music grants a unique qualitative understanding of an average person in their time. Sure, most pop songs cannot be the absolute pinnacle of beauty, and our age is rife with poignant examples of bland soulless earworms; but you have to have your head up your ass if you think that means ‘pop music cannot be art’. Only through embracing a little kitsch can we partake in the religious experience of being a part of a stadium size congregation, all screaming the lyrics of the same song. These songs are made by extremely skilled artists, with passion and vision that’s worth taking seriously. When pop songs are good it’s (usually) because they understand and embrace the kitsch inherent in the genre they chose, subverting expectations to create transcendently beautiful art–powerful enough to move millions of people. The supposed line between kitsch and art is just a remnant of old tired elitism, where good art belongs only to the rich and bad taste belongs to the poor. I’m sorry, but I can’t call this anything but the ruling class imperializing art and beauty, and I refuse to keep letting it happen unopposed. Art never belonged to the privileged–the small folk always sang and danced.
At its best, kitsch is the ephemeral joy in sloppy culture; and for better or for worse, it is all around us. Memes are kitsch, and being a part of the in-group of a meme feels euphoric. Parody and satire is an enduring flavor of kitsch, Weird Al is a giant in our culture and a paragon of kitsch. The Beach Boys were better off because of the influence of the Beatles, and the Beatles were better off because of the influence of Bob Dylan, etc. In Professional Wrestling there is a fascinating balance struck between the writers, improv from the performers, and the reaction of the audience. It is only real if the audience grants it legitimacy–if the audience can’t find it in themselves to buy into the narrative, their boos have real power. Because of this, the institution is eerily representative of American politics and culture in a way only possible through kitsch, and it’s awesome! Generic brands are just kitsch versions of name brands. Given the choice, I usually go for the generic brand; for that matter, I trust Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand more than damn near any name brand. Wikipedia is a truly remarkable bastion of knowledge, and it’s also just a massive collection of what other people have to say. Children's programming understands itself as kitsch, as it’s made by adults who want kids to like it. One and the same institution produces simultaneously two such different things as Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Beast. Astrology and personality tests are pseudoscientific kitsch, but when I tell you I would definitely be a fire bender, I think you’ve learned something interesting about me. My favorite part of visiting dense cities is the graffiti and street performers, and I dream of a day we collectively start to venerate buskers so they’d be a part of all appropriate public spaces. Sabrina Carpenter makes good music, and I have a massive crush on her. She successfully cultivated her image, and frankly I’m loving every minute of it. Also, she’s in Fortnite. As good as it is I don’t always want to read Dostoevsky, I usually prefer Lit-RPG fantasy. In-n-out burgers are delicious. HBO’s Game of Thrones was fantastic, right up until it wasn’t. The old Disney Channel Original Movies were honestly a mixed bag, but they certainly were kitsch.8 2017’s r/place was a wonderful spontaneous collaborative experiment entirely predicated on kitsch. 2022’s r/place was also wonderful but 5 years later you can see the evolving kitsch nature of internet culture, increasingly dominated by influencers wielding social capital rather than spontaneous organization around raw aesthetic.9 Again through kitsch, each are literal representations of the internet ecosystem at that time. I do understand why negative popularity bias exists, but sometimes things are popular because they’re just really good.
How does Kitsch function? If someone wants to eat and do art (unless they are of the ruling class or get insanely lucky) they have to lean into kitsch at least a little. The simple act of commodifying your art, putting a price tag on it, is an aesthetic action of kitsch. I don’t think the audience should hold that against them, unless they do it in a way that sucks. But kitsch ought to be utilized for aesthetic ends: artists should probably take into account how their target audience will experience the art they make. To that end we should engage with, and gain inspiration from, the many faces that represent the collective consciousness of our shared experience; in that communion between artist and wider culture we find simple honest kitsch.10 In practice this looks like tropes, popular iconography, genres, and common convention. Further, I think kitsch is integral in the process of establishing community. Working collaboratively is a practice in kitsch, and culture is built when people engage in productive kitsch with their peers; this is how communities are built, and this is how communities build institutions. Looking back at American music, (for the most part) has been driven by black artistry; in their oppression and the communal struggle against it. As an outsider looking at institutions like Jazz, Rock, and Hip-Hop/Rap; I observe these institution's avant-garde foundations, but the surrounding culture is built by kitsch (granted, the whitewashing afterward was also kitsch). There are healthy and unhealthy ways to engage in kitsch. So do we even have a problem here?
In nearly all aspects of public life, predatory kitsch is being shoved down our throats by the regime of authoritarian corporations, and it’s melting our brains. If you think that claim is a little bit of a reach I don’t blame you, but frankly I double down. Focusing first on the digital world; I admit that comprehending the dynamics of the regime as a subject can be somewhat opaque.11 But please consider, “When the product is free, you are the product… You are not a small part of this. This is about you. Your conscious experience is the coveted commodity.”12 I think we all know that the algorithms that govern the internet are optimized exclusively for profit. They achieve this by reducing people to data, funneling us into profitable groups, and often they’ll pit the groups against each other. Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah, C. Thi Nguyen is worried that, “People out there are consciously designing systems to encourage us to simplify our value system”.13 He notes the system gamifies public discourse, where the clarity and pleasure of the number going up, “instrumentalizes our values,” at the cost of aesthetic and ethical nuance and truth. The algorithm’s goal, pretty obviously, is to keep us on our screens as long as possible; but they’re not just selling our information, they’re manufacturing consent into a system that is colonizing our souls.14 Consider further that captivating children’s attention is a massive part of the online economy. This is how the totalitarian regime has ingratiated themselves with us, their subjects.
YouTube creators deeply understand this oppression, their livelihood is based on how well they appease the algorithm–just listen to them talk about their boss: in a video from 2020, vocalist and video essayist Big Joel explores Propaganda from YouTube corporate; in my words, how the regime mandates kitsch. He talks about The YouTube Creator Academy, which is a channel run by the platform that gives advice on how to succeed (get big number). He says, “YouTube… does work to control its workers and their output in various ways, and the YouTube Creator Academy exists as an expression of that control. It is not recommending, it is not advising; no, it is doing two things. Number one, it expresses to creators what YouTube wants or requires them to do. Number two (and probably the more important one), it provides the illusion that YouTube is not doing number one.”15 The God Of YouTube, by Leo Vader explores the subtle, overt, and abusive ways the algorithm pushes artists to manufacture kitsch. He builds a compelling metaphor on the nature of these algorithms… “We'll never see or understand the Algorithm, but it sits in judgment of everything we do. And to satisfy it, we need to follow its rules to the best of our interpretation and just hope we're appeasing it so that it'll bless us with success. That's more than a boss, that's a God.”16
But it extends further than the internet. Jeff Bezos won the game of Capitalism on the kitsch idea of worshiping the customer. Amazon is undeniably excellent at giving customers what we want, but they also operate by leveraging the power of their surveillance state to dominate the market; and this is now the status quo for tech companies. Rainbow Capitalism represents a true debased and academicized simulacra of genuine culture. Due to the regime, we are buying way more clothes than ever before, but don’t forget our clothes are now made more cheaply than ever before. It seems all of our things are designed to be broken and useless right after the warranty wears off, this planned obsolescence is authoritarian kitsch. Infrastructure is kitsch, and looking around, it breaks my heart to see the system favoring corporate interests over local institutions. Sports entertainment has been utterly consumed by gambling, when five or ten years ago it was nowhere in sight, this shift is printing cash as it ruins lives. Nearly as bad, the new live action Disney remakes are an obvious soulless cash grab, and they make me want to barf. The regime gives credence to the popular complaint that all Hollywood movies look the same now. It seems everything is becoming a subscription service, social media, or gambling. Since the start of social media we’ve made jokes about the FBI guy watching us through our screen, but knowing you’re in the system is not enough to shield you from its harm, as if these omniscient algorithms don’t affect you because I'm smart enough to be above it all. This is the lie that keeps the house of cards standing. Our tacit consent in our bread and circuses keeps us pacified so that we can’t see that we are all in the meat grinder.
Ok to wrap things up, I am going to say the quiet part out loud and identify the kitsch in this paper. First, thank you, dear reader. I earnestly hope you enjoyed reading what I had to say. I hope you start to notice the small, humble kitsch around you. I hope that the language proposed here gives people a basis to engage with art more deeply, and to make better art. I also hope this provides a foundation for future papers I plan to write. The jokes and references I make, and my constant acknowledgement of you, the reader, was meant as a demonstration kitsch. Ben Major from Springville High School instructed me in a rather rigorous class on Popular Music in America. It was the genesis for my fixation on patterns in music and art, thank you Mr. Major. This paper would not be possible without CJ the X, their videos and essays speak to me in a way few other things do. Perhaps the most devastating loss I attribute to the regime of kitsch is the systematic destruction of our local communities and third spaces in favor of a slot machine in our pockets. I see progressive social movements get hamstrung as their attempts at valuable kitsch continually gets funneled into controlled opposition, it’s simply how the world works.17 The regime ensures that subtlety, empathy, and nuance will always be drowned out by ‘MAGA/FEMINIST gets OWNED compilation #82’. When it comes down to it, if we want to leave the devil’s casino we find ourselves in, we’re going to have to figure out a way to build community elsewhere.
“An academicism in which the really important issues are left untouched because they involve controversy, and in which creative activity dwindles to virtuosity in the small details of form., all larger questions being decided by the precedent of the old masters.” Greenberg, Avant-Garde and Kitsch, 4. Essentially, Greenberg thinks it's boring, therefore it has no worth.
Lowbrow is a racist term, being used here in a classist way.
Ruth Holliday and Tracey Potts, Kitsch! Cultural Politics and Taste (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012), 33.
Big Joel, I Watched Every Disney Channel Original Movie. YouTube video, 6:04:23, posted December 23, 2024, link.
However, this presents a trap as audiences don’t want what they say they want, because they really want their expectations to be subverted. Anyone can make a living on the internet simply saying things people agree with loudly, but should people be doing that?
Bo Burnham, “Welcome to the Internet,” Inside (The Songs), Imperial Records, 2021, streaming audio. Bo Burnham does get to the heart of this though, “Apathy’s a tragedy and boredom is a crime! Could I interest you in everything, all of the time?”. If I’m being real, Inside is better at explaining this essay than this essay. (link)
C. Thi Nguyen, “The Gamification of Public Discourse” (Lecture, Royal Institute of Philosophy, December 5, 2019, link).