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To me, apart from her amazing music and philanthropy, what Dolly Parton represents is something that was (emphasis on past tense) at one time truly exceptional
by danans 1mo ago
To me, apart from her amazing music and philanthropy, what Dolly Parton represents is something that was (emphasis on past tense) at one time truly exceptional about the United States - that someone from a very humble background (poverty in East TN) could have a tremendous impact on the culture of the world - the other example in entertainment being Michael Jackson (from Gary IN).
Admittedly the US music industry was among the few where this phenomenon happened, although definitionally very few reach pop stardom.
In contrast, much of the world exports only its "elite culture", not the culture of common people.
- whimsicalism 1mo agoYour contention is what, that now this is no longer possible or less likely?
- danans 1mo agoLess likely, for many reasons - including the more crowded marketplace for talent, but also a culture that is more corporation generated over time.
- whimsicalism 1mo agoI disagree strongly, I think we are even better at identifying talent in the margins today and the leaps are potentially larger.
- mbonnet 1mo agothis is counterbalanced by somewhat talented products of nepotism getting in, like Stella Lefty
- whimsicalism 1mo agoi have no idea who that is but also i was talking about society writ large, not just music.
- oersted 1mo ago> more crowded marketplace for talent That is “the people” isn’t it? It is the consequence of democratization and openness. I am not sure if superstars were good representatives of what most people wanted. Often, I am sorry to say, it was the lowest common denominator. Now common people can actually enter the arena and represent their corner of the population. But, almost by definition, if you are part of “the people”, you don’t get to stand out much.
- dan-robertson 1mo agoDon’t you still see this with hip-hop to some extent? I also think a lot of the difference is that a much smaller percentage of the population grows up as poor as she did. A person from a similar wealth/income percentile today mightn’t seem to have had such a difficult start. Obviously lots of other things are different today – it’s easier than ever to access a wide variety of music but that’s not what people tend to do (iirc); there’s less money to be made selling music; there’s perhaps less interest in more ‘rural’ genres of music.
- danans 1mo ago> Don’t you still see this with hip-hop to some extent? To some extent yes, but I suspect that is declining also as the genre becomes corporatized.
- shermantanktop 1mo agobecomes? i think that happened like 15 years ago...
- danans 1mo agoSure, I was being charitable
- golemiprague 1mo ago[dead]
- VLM 1mo agoSee also Britney Spears, who's mom ran a small daycare. Taylor Swift's an in between story, middle class financial services parents, hard to say if they were paycheck to paycheck or not... Its not necessarily the best thing that big companies have a business model of taking advantage of poor, or relatively poorer, people, particularly attractive young women. See our global Epstein class and global Weinstein class.
- uncivilized 1mo agoCalling Swift middle class and that they were possibly paycheck to paycheck is laughable. Her father had a huge role to play in her success with his business deals and would largely be considered upper middle class if not higher. If anything, Taylor’s story reinforces the idea that families with wealth offer easier paths in life for their children.
- alexpotato 1mo agoIIRC he worked for a large financial services company (Merrill Lynch?) and was able to transfer to the Nashville office so that Taylor could be closer to the music scene.
- Upvoter33 1mo agoNo offense, but "the idea that families with wealth offer easier paths in life for their children" - like isn't this obviously the case? The amazing thing about America is that there are paths for those not as wealthy, but of course they are harder, as much as we might not want them to be... no?