G.O.O.D-bye Walt Whitman: A framework for understanding participatory culture, consumer culture, and
- Apr 24, 2016
- 4 min read
In fall 2010, Kanye West introduced fans to G.O.O.D Fridays, a promise made via twitter to release new music every Friday on his official website. The collection was not limited to what would end up on Kanye’s fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; tracks in which Kanye contributed as a featured artist or producer also made their way into the series. The collection as a whole delivered artists who were in hot demand, including Justin Bieber, Common, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, and so on. In essence, the collection both served as a way to promote Kanye’s upcoming album and give the people what they wanted.
In his article “Beautiful Dark Twised Pedagogy: Kanye West and the Lessons of Participatory Culture,” Garcia connects G.O.O.D Fridays to participatory culture, a term used to describe art as a product of or response to the voices of a wider community. Garcia states “West released music in ways that utilized the connective culture of social media to invigorate enthusiasm and to build camaraderie with a continually building fan base” (32). We can apply this concept to Whitman by looking at the historical context of his story “The Reformed” and noting contemporary newspapers’ role as issues-based forums for their communities. By 1842, the temperance movement had reached its peak, gathering anti-alcohol sympathizers at a rate that called for the media’s attention. When “The Reformed” was published in the New York Sun prior to the release of Franklin Evans, the Sun’s editor claimed the work was “devoted to a most worthy cause- the cause of temperance.” Thus, Whitman’s story was framed within the context of temperance activism, invigorating enthusiasm by placing itself on a newspaper next to other community voices. Despite its apparent disconnect from Franklin Evans’ whole narrative, the story was promotional enough for 20,000 copies to be sold.
Considering the long term success Whitman achieved through Franklin Evans, it’s reasonable to believe Whitman would go on to produce an air of responsiveness with each Leaves of Grass edition. We find this feature in the early editions, which aim to answer America’s call for democratic poetry (1855-1856) and address the various personalities and complexities surrounding the Civil War (1860-1867). However, Whitman’s engagement with participatory culture fades into the end of his life, as his 1882 edition was compiled in an attempt to dramatize his works as pieces to a play (Renner). Then in his 1892 deathbed edition, the prose piece “A Backward Glance O’er Traveled Roads” explicates his disinterest in communicating a specific message and calls readers to “pursue your own flight” though his poetry. Ironically, this transition hinders Whitman’s quest to connect with his readers as a democratic poet, as his recession into artistic production removes Whitman from a participatory role, transitioning his readers from participants to consumers.
Inversely, the span of Kanye’s career has demonstrated an upward trend in his engagement with participatory culture. Thematically, Kanye has moved from a voice that touches broad-scope societal issue like religiosity and racial injustice to a voice that boasts and mourns the personal life of Kanye. Along the way, Kanye has played to the availability of social media in order to conjoin art with artist and bring us closer to his life and artistic process. For example, Kanye first revealed the track “Wolves” during his Yeezy Season 1 fashion show. The song featured artists Vic Mensa and Sia, and it set the tone for speculation surrounding what would be The Life of Pablo. When the song reappeared during the Yeezy Season 3 fashion show, Mensa’s and Sia’s parts were replaced by a Kanye verse that mourned the difficulties of being a father and husband to a highly publicized family. The change drew mostly negative criticism from fans, prompting Kanye to tweet “Ima fix wolves” just days after Yeezy Season 3. Kanye was sure to keep us updated on his promise, tweeting “Fixing Wolves 2day” on March 15. When the album was finally released beyond streaming site TIDAL, Kanye kept his verse, but included Sia and Mensa’s parts, and asked fans on April 4 “hey guys, you do you like the fixed version of Wolves better?”
The inverse relationship between Whitman’s and Kanye’s relationships to participatory culture offers a timeline to our current understanding of these artists. As Whitman faded more into consumer culture, the speaker of his poems came to replace his own voice. Take, for instance, the only recording we have of Whitman’s voice in which he reads from his poem “American.” He sports a now-dead Manhattan accent through a crackling static, speaking only the words of the poem.
Although Whitman succeeds in having his own voice preserved, it only caters to our idea of him as a poetic apparition, a creative entity who is more engraved in the American literary canon than in history. As Kanye continues to, well, be Kanye, we find it more difficult to separate the artist from his artwork and view Kanye with the same mystique we now view Whitman. Consequently, Kanye’s iconization is continually generated by his transparency and willingness to participate, redefining the American iconic artist as a figure who draws no distinction between artist and artwork.
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