This assignment allows you to share thoughts about the
Sontag essay and the response paper with each other. I also wanted to make sure
that I explained things with a few more examples.
REMEMBER: when writing about your example for Camp, you must
use some of the language or examples that Sontag uses to understand what camp
is to explain why you think your example is camp. Make sure to cite which page
number you are quoting from as well.
SUMMARY
This Discussion is in two parts, so make sure you answer
both as fully as possible.
Part 1-
Describe a guilty pleasure you have. Talk about something you might think of as
“so bad that it’s good.” Use quotes from “Notes on Camp” to
show your understanding of Sontag’s ideas.
Part 2-
Provide me your own example of something you think is “campy”. Do not
give me an example from the Sontag essay- discuss an example of your own.
You can also respond to a student if you would like, though
it is not a requirement.
Part 1:
Guilty Pleasure
Dictionary.com defines a “guilty pleasure”
as
“A guilty pleasure is an activity or piece of
media that someone enjoys but would be embarrassed by if other people found out
about it. These might be books, movies, TV shows, foods, etc. Generally
the guilty pleasure is something that might be viewed as shameful by
some people, like trashy novels or overdone rom coms.”
It’s difficult figuring out what you should feel guilty
about. Certain things might be seen as slightly weird but not that different
than anyone else- perhaps you might just do it more often. A guilty pleasure
should be something more unique to your circle of friends or society, that you
know in some way has a fun, lighter, element of shame. Being a serial killer is
not a guilty pleasure- that is being a sociopath. However, if you are a superman
of the TV show “Dexter” and attend conventions (Dex-cons…is this
even a real thing?) Then you might have something worth writing about.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to go into too much detail, if it really
embarrasses you. But I would like a paragraph or two explaining two things:
what it is, and why you like it.
It has to be something that you think might be a little
embarrassing to admit that you think is cool – maybe something that your
friends would gently make fun of you for liking as much as you do. This is
usually something indulgent- it’s really nothing to feel too guilty about, but
we would be slightly embarrassed if our friends found out about it.
Choosing something a lot of people like but your friends
might not would not work for this- for example, ice cream. I scream, you
scream, we all scream for ice cream- don’t pick something like that. Also,
Marvel movies- sure, they’re not the best in cinema, but each one makes close
to $1 billion, so that can’t be a guilty pleasure. No one was embarrassed to
see “Avengers: Endgame.”
Part 2:
Something Campy
NOTE: You cannot use these examples on this page or
others I have provided on other pages in the Module (for example, any of the
other films that I posted clips or trailers).
Please give me an example of something in society that you
think is an example of how Sontag describes camp. It can be an object, a work
of art, virtually anything that you appreciate that could be seen in some way
as enjoyable in an artistic sense. Something that you think is so bad that it’s
good, or something that revels in its excess…
I thought I would post a few clips that might clear up this
quality of “so bad it’s good” that is a part of camp.
Example 1 – F&F: Tokyo Drift. This dumpster fire of a movie
has many scenes like this one and is a good example. From the acting, the
parade of women for no reason, the dialogue, everything about this film is
trashy and a good reason why everyone who made this gets my vote for a
“Campy of the Year” award (my invention).
Example 2 – R H P S. This is the trailer for the film I
usually use for a face to face class. This film is a definitely a bad film /
good time.
ATTENTION:
Do not
give me an example that Sontag gives as something campy- please tell me
something you believe is campy for yourself and let me know how her essay helps
you understand why you feel that way.
You can
quote from the essay using a few words from it as a blended quote (as opposed
to block quoting) and then cite where it is in the essay as (Sontag, pg #)
Checklist:
Make sure you use some of the language or examples that
Sontag uses to understand what camp is to explain why you think your example is
camp.
Make sure that you are not using any examples from the class
Modules as part of your discussion.
Make sure you do not to use any examples from Sontag in her
own essay for your examples of something “campy”?
—————————————————–
Examples
of Campy Films
Xanadu
Batman: The
Movie (1966)
Valley of
the Dolls
“Best”
moments from the film The Room (2003)
The Rocky
Horror Picture Show
Time Magazine- What is Camp?
Here is a link to an article from Time Magazine discussing
Sontag’s ideas on “camp” and the 2019 Met Gala celebration of their
exhibit “Camp: Notes on Fashion”
https://time.com/5584111/met-gala-2019-camp-history/
I also attached the PDF file to this order.
Notes on
Camp- Sontag
Here is the 1964 essay by Susan Sontag, “Notes on
Camp”. I believe it is important to understand her ideas as they
apply to our discussion of Glam Rock.
A Time Magazine article from 1964 describes the essay as
follows:
“In matters sexual, according to Miss Sontag, Camp goes
against the
grain, cherishing either the androgynous, swoony girl-boys and boy-girls
of pre-Raphaelite painting or the plangent super sexiness of Jayne
Mansfield or Victor Mature. In art, Camp’s exaggeration must proceed
from passion and naiveté. “When something is just bad (rather than Camp),”
she writes “it’s often because the artist hasn’t attempted to do anything
really outlandish. ‘It’s too much,’ ‘It’s fantastic,’ ‘It’s not to be
believed,’
are standard phrases of Camp enthusiasm.”
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