But the Duke and Duchess's media campaign didn't begin with their Netflix series, or with the recent release of Spare. It began, for Prince Harry, the day that Buckingham Palace announced the then-Princess of Wales, Diana's, second pregnancy and hasn't let up since.
Sellnow notes that pop culture reinforces ideologies of what is "normal, desirable, and appropriate" (2013, p.8). As the second-born son in what was arguably a golden age for the royals, what was normal, desirable, and appropriate for Prince Harry was certainly not normal and appropriate for the average citizen. Was it desirable? For many, it may have seemed so. What little girl in the 80s didn't want to be Princess Diana? What little boy wouldn't want to be a prince? But with these roles come enormous scrutiny, and Harry has made it clear that he blames the paparazzi for his mother's death in a car crash at age 36. His every boneheaded shenanigan as a young man (whether directly influenced by her loss or not), including his infamous wearing of a Nazi uniform to a costume party, was fodder for the press. Though playing dress-up as a Nazi is inexcusable, few people would want their worst teenage moments enshrined in a tabloid. Pop culture, in many ways, has created and sustained the royal family. And in Harry's eyes, it (via the paparazzi) killed his mother. So who would blame Harry for weaponizing it now? Certainly, the story of the monarchy is ripe for rhetorical criticism from multiple angles: feminist criticism. Neo-Marxism versus the Monarchy. Dramatistic. Neo-Aristolean.
A hallmark of pop culture is that consumers don't always realize its impact on their worldview and personal identities. Documentaries and memoirs, however, seem definitionally intended to evoke a deeply personal response, and that certainly is the case with Harry and Meghan's current ubiquity. I haven't watched their Netflix series or read Harry's memoir, but I know a surprising amount about their contents, almost by pop culture osmosis--and yes, I have some very specific, very personal, and very possibly uninformed opinions about their situation. At least, as Klosterman (2013) notes, I know what I know (substantially more about Harry's sex life, fistfight with his brother, and the royal tailor than I ever wanted to know) and what I don't know (lots).
As Brumett notes (p. 42), "power is the ability to control events and meanings." Harry's relative powerlessness as the "spare," even couched as his role was in wealth and celebrity, appears in no small part to be driving the Sussexes' current pop culture blitz. Is he genuinely trying to set the record straight, or is he lashing out or seeking revenge? Is he cashing in on his celebrity because he's been cut off financially? Only Harry and Meghan know for sure. But each of these scenarios appear to be rooted in taking back their power and attempting to control the narrative.
So, who cares? Certainly plenty of people seem to, if we're going by the sheer number of Spare copies sold on its release date (an astonishing 1.4 million copies). And I do too, but not about Harry and Meghan's celebrity and not about the monarchy, which I view as colonial, misogynistic, anachronistic, and more than a little ridiculous. Those views are steeped in my own perspectives and identities: as a woman, as a liberal, as an American. But I care--as a human, and perhaps most important, as a mother--about what this type of tell-all says about the experience of being human and of being born, as all of us are, into situations over which we have no control, and the ways in which we construct our own meaning and perspectives.
Will the Sussexes' media campaign result in a redemption arc or, once the initial kerfuffle dies down, will they need to fight to remain relevant? What do you think, and how do your personal experiences and perspectives impact that view?
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ReplyDeleteHi Kirsten, I enjoyed reading your take on the latest pop culture phenomenon: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Whenever I hear about Harry and Megan my first instinct is to roll my eyes. So, your insights about how their over-sharing shows how we, as humans, get to choose how we react to the experiences we have no control over helped tame my initial irritation, but even so I believe they have been in the spotlight too long. As they have told the whole world, they had some terrible experiences, and instead of acknowledging it was bad and moving on, they are capitalizing and dwelling on a short part of their lives. As a woman who has experienced hardships and felt marginalized at times, it seems to be best to learn from the experience, pick yourself up, and press forward. I watched one episode of Harry and Megan on Netflix and spent the entire time feeling aghast. It felt as if they were trying so hard to show how awful their experience was, but amidst all the glitz and glamour, their plea for the world to see how awful their lives were, fell flat for me. I do not think all this media coverage will result in a redemptive arc and I do think they will have to fight (much to my exasperation) to remain relevant. You mentioned a hallmark of pop culture is that we often do not realize the impact and I believe another hallmark would be that it does not last overly long, for example, the Twilight series. I cannot help hoping, like Twilight, this latest pop culture phenomenon passes by quickly.
ReplyDeleteI loved your perspective. I almost covered this couple before I went with the Kardashians. I am super intrigued about why people do the things that they do and Meghan and Harry are no exception. I believe that sharing the story from their perspective humanizes them a bit more and as you quoted from Brumett, "power is the ability to control events and meanings." From what they have openly stated about having no control, this is the biggest swing in the pendulum of leaving the family and writing they own exposé on the royal family. I believe that as long as the monarchy is thriving so will the The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
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