POMP AND CEREMONY Part 1

I thought to talk along the lines of Adornment of the body, especially when it comes to occasions of Ceremony. Stepping back to take a look at the astounding lengths people go to, to decorate their bodies one is taken on an adventure from the sublime to the ridiculous or sublimely ridiculous. I am certainly a fan of the bazaar of the bizarre, however, ‘ridiculousness’ begins to feature when the game of fashion and ceremony looses its humor and takes itself far too seriously.

 

 As a social species we are subjected to all kinds of trauma and pressure to conform (or not conform) to social codes of behavior and dress. This is done very subtly or sometimes overtly by the particular culture, sub-culture or group we belong to and whose values we attempt to adhere to either consciously or unconsciously. Although this pressure seems to come from the society we live it is ultimately self-inflicted. The pressure gets turned up if you happen to be a celebrity or in the public eye for whatever reason although the same scenarios get carried out amongst the serfs and plebeians, the media vultures are just not that interested in the Jo Soaps of the world unless antics are performed to attract their attention.

 

I chose pictures that express a certain social behavioral psychology that is fascinating, and made some correlations that might not be entirely logical or factually correct but throw a surreal light on the dress up party at play. Of the images I chose, Lady Gaga in her meat and diamond getup, which she wore to the MTV Video Music Awards was the most demanding of my attention (probably because I am vegetarian). From a purely visual aspect the outfit is fascinating, even if in a kind of nightmarish way, I think it would have certainly met with Salvador Dali’s approval, visually. It is interesting to observe that her dress got as much attention as it did (in my opinion) because of the context within which she chose to express herself- The MTV Music Awards. If she had worn the meat dress in one of her music videos it would not have had the same impact I believe and at a carnival it would have attracted a few stares. The context of an “Award Ceremony” created the stage, literally and figuratively. Secular Ceremonies in society are treated with the same fervor and reverence as Catholic Mass. Certainly for an age that worships Materialism what better ‘church’ than the MTV Music Awards or the Film Oscars.

 

Apart from attracting attention Lady Gaga was apparently also making a statement, which is: Equality is the prime rib of America-, which implies that we shouldn’t be treated like meat. (I’d like to add… well maybe if we started by not treating animals like meat). Lets make it not so much about hierarchy in the food chain but adding the ingredient of humaneness back into humanity never mind adding a new dimension to ‘Blood Diamonds’.

The other image I found which I thought a fitting match for Lady Gaga and her meat dress was a photograph of a Papua New Guinea warrior in full ceremonial regalia but in place of a nose ring a CD disk with “INCREASE VOLUME” inscribed on it. Make of it what you will.