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Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, & Image
Author: Erika Doss
Published in hardback by University Press of Kansas
ISBN 0-7006-0948-2
The first thing that struck me about "Elvis Culture" was the remarkable similarity in dust-jacket design to "Elvis, Ses Derniers Jours", the French version of Thomson and Cole's examination of Elvis's final days; the jackets carry the same image, taken from the Elvis stamp, and use basically the same background colour. That's as far as any similarity goes, however. Indeed, it is probably fair to say that "Elvis Culture" is different from almost all other Elvis books in that it purports to be a serious academic study of certain aspects of the cultural impact of Elvis Presley. The closest any other book has come to matching the style and content of this title is probably the 1979 publication, "Elvis: Images and Fancies", a collection of academic essays by various writers.
"Elvis Culture", although written by a single author, also gives the impression of consisting of independent pieces, formed into the seven chapters of the book: Images of Elvis, Paying Homage to Elvis, Saint Elvis, Sexing Elvis, All-White Elvis, Who Owns Elvis?, and Elvis In America (a throw-away chapter, being more or less a a summation of the book). These chapters are supplemented by an extensive section of notes and an excellent index.
The style of writing is generally very academic (the old writing analysis programs, which based the standard of writing on the average number of syllables used, would have given it a very high score...), but why this has to be the case is a mystery to me as plain English would have done just as well -- which is usually the case, of course! Still, a glance at the chapter titles shows that this is not your run-of-the-mill Elvis biography; indeed, there is no attempt at biography at all. Instead, author Erika Doss, a professor of fine arts and director of the American Studies program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, examines the cultural impact of Elvis in a number of specific contexts and delivers a sometimes fatuous, sometimes worrying, sometimes intriguing, and always fascinating look at the results.
Fatuous I consider Doss's concentration on extreme forms of fandom, with almost no indication that the majority of Elvis people are really quite normal people. Furthermore, the book examines almost solely the American (USA) aspects of Elvis culture -- there are a few small exceptions, but the overall impression is of extreme fans living in the USA. Doss's look at the impact of Elvis in some aspects of art is less fatuous, but she again falls into the trap of looking almost exclusively at the more "far out" forms of Elvis art, instead of viewing his influence more generally.
Very worrying is the theory Doss proposes that Elvis is regarded to a large extent as an icon of white supremacy. She supports this theory with evidence from fan club newsletters, reactions to the marriage between Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson, and writings on Graceland wall. Fortunately, she dismisses claims that Elvis was racist, though seems to support the idea that he stole his singing style from black artists (I don't follow this way of thinking, but the arguments are too complex for the purposes of this review). Doss even intimates that Elvis Inc. might itself play a part in maintaining an "all white" Elvis image.
Doss's examination of the ownership of all things Elvis is intriguing. She looks closely at the exploits of Elvis Inc. and concludes that they are interested solely in promoting their own form of a sanitised Elvis for pure profit, rather than for the advancement of Elvis's own artistic standing or for the benefit of the fans. This is a dangerous course to take, ignoring as it does the multi-faceted nature of Elvis's career and personality and alienating many fans. In addition, Doss highlights the hypocrisy of Elvis Inc.'s licensing policy, its treatment of fan clubs, and its derogatory attitude towards the fans themselves. This section should certainly make the reader think twice about blindly supporting the machinations of Elvis Inc!
Given the enormous number of Elvis books that simply repeat the same old formula, differing only in the errors they make, "Elvis Culture" is like a breath of fresh air in the world of Elvis publishing. All in all, a fascinating read and a book that might well pave the way to still more serious attempts to understand the phenomenon that is Elvis Presley.
David Neale
Copyright August 2000