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Damien's Project 2

Page history last edited by dw5149@wayne.edu 12 years, 5 months ago

     A Low Culture Manifesto Dissection      

 

      Chuck Klosterman is the poster child of a 40 year old virgin who, when not hiding away in his parent’s basement playing World of Warcraft, is at a Kiss expo and is completely detached from the everyday grind.  This impression couldn’t be more wrong.  His witty and refreshingly brilliant discourse is put to work on everything from Pamela Anderson to serial killers to born-again Christians.  His book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs* is a gathering of eighteen separate essay, all with their own mini-thesis, that come together in a kind of spastic, scatter-brained brilliance that really grounds the arguments with the reader in a way that today’s attention deficient society can really appreciate.  He begins with an essay entitled This is Emo that delves into the idea of “fake love” that we are conditioned to look for in relationships.  Further on, his essay George Will vs. Nick Hornby shows how soccer is for the “outcast culture” in America.  He uses a myriad of tools in discourse like ethos, pathos and logos to explain throughout the book that “in and of itself, nothing matters.”  His ethos is the obviously known background in pop culture as a writer for many different publications.  He cleverly uses pathos in his witty humor and sarcastic retorts that keep the reader laughing out loud or “LOL’ing” as Klosterman might say.  He utilizes logos by breaking down, piece-by-piece, seemingly empty topics into deep, philosophically relevant ideas on today’s society.  Klosterman, while strange and extremely tangential, expertly crafts a pinpoint picture of what our society truly is.

            Klosterman has a very interesting way of presenting his ethos in this book.  While he is known to have written books like Fargo Rock City, Killing Yourself to Live and Eating the Dinosaur as well as writing for publications such as GQ, Spin, and ESPN, he starts off by saying that this book is an evening book.  A book that isn’t based on much merit and research as much as just his observations and random, semi-meaningless thoughts as he falls asleep.  He continuously uses the transition of “But ANYWAY…I eventually created a Chuck” (14) or “ANYWAY, here was the content of my email” (42) emphasizing in all caps the word anyway.  He seems to sidetrack himself in his own thoughts and is always on a tangent.  This seems like it could really hurt his overall credibility of his argument but it actually does the opposite.  His sporadic, scatter-brained writing actually enhances his criticism of today’s society.  He creates a strong bond between writer and reader with the very likely fact that the reader could indeed have a sort of attention deficit disorder.  With this particular argument, this strategy is a very brilliant way of connecting and captivating the reader.  It gives the reader the impression that Klosterman is just like every other typical American.  The short stories in between chapters (the “interludes” if you will) also fall in step with his unique writing structure.  They are nice, fun and at times silly little arguments or tid-bits that keep the reader refreshed in between arguments.  Klosterman really does a nice job of making the reader feel as if they are just lounging around having a conversation with him.

            Perhaps Klosterman’s most expertly used technique would be his use of pathos.  He picks in particular to touch on the reader’s sense of humor.  His witty remarks and quirky wit combined with his pessimistic outlook leads to many moments where you have to stop reading just to have a chuckle.  He pushed on these strings immediately when he says, “No women will ever satisfy me...this is actually okay, because I will never satisfy a woman either.” (1)  This sarcasm is one of the strongest rhetorical tools Klosterman utilizes.  He uses it expertly to point out the irony in society and how ridiculous it is.  It plays to his advantage as well because he is using such off the wall topics to make critical analyses of different aspects on society.  Comparing the Lakers-Celtics rivalry to racism and politics in America almost requires this sarcasm to nail the point home.  It also eases the reader into serious topics, which makes the reader much more comfortable with his claims. 

            Finally he uses logos to make bold, seemingly outlandish claims, and follows through with in-depth thought-provoking insight.  Sometimes these claims can be harmless such as how the computer game the Sims is really a creativity restricting void that pushes consumerism as the way to happiness.  Others are originally and probably intentionally taken with resistance.  One such argument could be the statement that Pamela Anderson is today’s version of Marilyn Monroe.  This is a great strategy, which infuriates and frustrates readers initially; making them want to see what Klosterman could possibly say to make them believe his words.  He follows with just that.  His words are hard to argue with and by the end of the essay he has the reader thinking that Pamela Anderson is actually very much like Marilyn Monroe.  He finds a really nice way to taking very difficult issues and topics and breaks them down into discussions that the everyday man or woman can understand and really get what he’s trying to say.  He does just that in the essay The Awe-Inspiring Beauty of Tom Cruise’s Shattered, Troll-like Face.  He takes the question “what is reality?” and brings it to a cinema-level, citing movies such as Vanilla Sky, Momento and The Matrix.  By using these pop-culture instruments, Klosterman can make points like, “The strength of your memory dictates the size of your reality.” (169) and the reader will be able to not feel overwhelmed.  It’s the way one might discuss these deep topics if he or she were hanging out in a basement throwing back a few beers with their friends.  This is precisely what Klosterman was going for and he executed it perfectly. 

            Contrary to the accolades presented for Klosterman in the former of this discussion, the book has also taken some criticism on the way he approaches his audience.  The fact that many of the essays touch on topics that are, for lack of a better word, uninteresting and don’t seem to go very far as to justify his claims.  The essay This is the Zodiac Speaking, while in theory seemed interesting, was uneventful and really didn’t add any “oomph” to the overall argument.  His lackadaisical “ANYWAYS” can be distracting and give the impression that even he isn’t that interested in his discussions.  With that said, these points can be taken as both good and bad depending on how you look at them.  His unorganized jumping from topic to topic is transitioned with even more out of the blue topics.  But the “interludes” as they are coined are actually quite refreshing and are even looked forward too while nearing the end of longer essays.   He discusses such trivial things as why apples are in fact quite similar to oranges and how marijuana makes you smarter.  They are light, easy reads that captivates you as well as gets you ready for the next argument to be made.

            With finesse and childish insight, Klosterman successfully argues his point through a series of mini-arguments.  He enlists the help of ethos, pathos and logos to attack today’s pop-culture in a sarcastic yet witty analysis.  At times he is cleverly bringing together topics as different as Star Wars and society’s view on morality.  During other moments he is snapping himself back into focus due to an extremely tangential thought process.  All of this culminates together to prove that, “in and of itself, nothing matters.”  While monotonous at times, he seems to find a way to make the audience understand that, in fact, Cocoa Puffs® is the cereal for cool people.

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