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SUNDAY_CAMP
January 1-18, 2005
Beginning the new year, reading
"Notes On 'Camp'" (1964)
in honor of the death of Susan Sontag.
The early date of her writing
shows, she spends much time on (I like her approach,
elementary work, nailing down the a listing of points,
concept by examples (because as she rather than a
points out, the concept is hard to treatise... though
discuss -- a "sensibility"). I'm not sure that
numbering them was the
The examples occasionally best idea.)
seem peculiar: some of the
things she treats as Camp
I would take more
seriously (e.g. "Maltese
Falcon", Busby Berkeley). Most of what she calls "Camp"
I would call "Kitsch", but she
THE_FALCON seems to reserve that for it's
literal meaning of "bad stuff".
Maybe it's just that
her German is better
than mine.
Working through Sontag's "On Camp",
quoting some of Sontag's numbered
points (though not necessarily in
order)...
"18. One must distinguish between
naive and deliberate Camp. Pure
Camp is always naive. Camp which
knows itself to be Camp ('camping') Godzilla vs King Ghidora (1991):
is usually less satisfying." Camp: "Experimental Room"
Camping: "Super Science Play Room"
"20. Probably, intending to be It is true there's
campy is always harmful. [...] something enthralling
When self-parody lacks ebullience but about the first,
instead reveals (even sporadically) a but disappointing
contempt for one's themes and one's about the second.
materials [...] the results are
forced and heavy-handed, rarely Camp. And the 2nd retroactively
Successful Camp [...] even when changes the meaning of the
it reveals self-parody, reeks of 1st -- the innocent pose is
self-love. broken?
"21. So, again, Camp rests on SUNDAY_MORNING
innocence. That means Camp discloses
innocence, but also, when it can,
corrupts it. Objects, being objects, If innocence is a
don't change when they are singled necessary condition for
out by the Camp vision. Persons, good camp, then isn't
however, respond to their Sontag's notes on the
audiences. Persons begin 'camping': subject a dangerous
Mae West, Bea Lillie, La Lupe, work? Doesn't it
Tallulah Bankhead in Lifeboat, Bette threaten to undermine
Davis in All About Eve. [...]" the process of creation
of what she holds dear?
Would it be fair to
say that camping is Did it in fact
*worse* than true undermine it?
camp? So evaluations
are not abandoned. "The Attack
There is a standard of of the Killer
good and bad in play. Tomatoes"
(Help! I'm trapped
in Camp Sontag
"34. Camp taste turns its back on the and I can't get out!)
good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic
judgment. Camp doesn't reverse
things. It doesn't argue that the
good is bad, or the bad is
good. What it does is to offer for
art (and life) a different -- a But *what* standards?
supplementary -- set of standards." Supplementary?
Supplemental to what?
Esthetic good and bad?
Moral good and evil?
"55. Camp taste is, above all, Both?
a mode of enjoyment, of
appreciation - not judgment. Style in addition
Camp is generous. It wants to substance?
to enjoy. It only seems like
malice, cynicism. (Or, if it
is cynicism, it's not a
ruthless but a sweet "Is this a good or bad
cynicism.) Camp taste example of camp?" is
doesn't propose that it is the question that runs
in bad taste to be serious; throughout her notes.
it doesn't sneer at someone
who succeeds in being Take it literally?
seriously dramatic. What it List some examples,
does is to find the success and classify them?
in certain passionate
failures." Have to work by
introspection, no?
"56. Camp taste is a kind of love, Does it touch you
love for human nature. It relishes, just right...
rather than judges, the little
triumphs and awkward intensities of
'character.' ... Camp taste
identifies with what it is
enjoying. People who share this
sensibility are not laughing at the Points 55 and 56 are
thing they label as 'a camp,' nice tries... but don't
they're enjoying it. Camp is a they ring hollow, reek
tender feeling." of waffling?
To love something as kitsch/camp
is a very condescending love.
The love for a pet, which will
never be allowed it's own life.
"57. Camp taste nourishes itself on
the love that has gone into certain
objects and personal styles. The Someone has to
absence of this love is the reason care about something
why such kitsch items as Peyton to produce good Camp.
Place (the book) and the Tishman
Building aren't Camp." The fan of camp,
taking things as
"58. The ultimate Camp statement: camp... do they
it's good because it's awful ... care about anything?
Of course, one can't always say
that. Only under certain Sontag's true camp is
conditions, those which I've failed seriousness, it
tried to sketch in these notes." must be produced by an
un-selfconscious innocent.
This makes assumptions DUMAS
about the naivette of
the artist that may not
be supportable.
What if you learned that the team
that produced a favorite piece of
kitsch was aware that it wasn't
serious work, but merely knew the
value of presenting it with a
straight-face?
The maker's of "Ghidra the
Three-Headed Monster" are
not allowed self-awareness? People seem to want to believe
that the James Bond films must
have been produced by people
unaware of their silly
aspects... hence the many even
sillier "spoofs"...
Bad camp following good?
I suggest the opposite:
the best material is
done by people who are
aware of the risk of
becoming mere kitsch, The work should be taken
but do their best with as seriously as it can
the material in be taken, in spite of the
spite of that risk. obvious ridiculousness
and absurdity of many of
This is the reason that it's aspects.
people who are "camping"
seem worse than the truly THUNDER
camp: they lack serious
engagement with the
material.
Yes, failed seriousness
can be camp: Ed Wood.
But understanding your own absurdity
and daring to remain serious, that This is the
can also be camp: Doctor Who. high camp. An elevated
camp?
The breakdown
of the high/low A deep
distinction? pit in
a high
mountain?
A volcano
spewing
from the
depths...
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