The accelerating commodification of irishness
- Thread starter shiels
- Start date
shiels
_
So my main point is that the English audience now has adequate time and distance to enjoy their imperialism and fetishise irishness and the Irish are willingly selling too
You could say team mate Irish bars in every country in the world this is nothing new but it’s accelerating and I don’t like it
You could say team mate Irish bars in every country in the world this is nothing new but it’s accelerating and I don’t like it
william kent
Well-known member
Those Irish rowers who were in the news for being really Irish.
Murphy
cat malogen
Game of Thrones locations and the whole death cults quietening down peace process has garnished tourism and with tourism comes cliches. Staying with the north, look at taxi tours of Belfast murals, or even the change in Belfast hospitality developments in recent years. Imagine reading this in 1980? Your mind would just crawl out of your head in disbelief
And beyond. Google chose Dublin, look at $ expenditures across the entire island from tourism, again. Theme parkism, rampant too. Paradoxically, in among waves of new written works, a few genuine gems exist. @jenks reviewed Pogue Mahone by Patrick McCabe and it’s both literary blessing and riotous trip. You want an intense skewering of identity, give it a go. For the north, Country by Michael Hughes made For the Good Times by D Keenan look uneven by comparison, ta to Jenks again, maybe in certain key works a more nuanced set of questions are raised for the ages
As soon as cliche enters gimmickry, you have Dropkick Murphys bringing disgrace to family names. I’d curse them but what’s the point, Father Ted is nearly 30 years out the nonce box and I don’t know if institutional rape and abuse is ever capable of reaching genuine contrition. Why go looking for it? The sow that eats the farrow. Change has come, hence alluding to gift/tat shop contents profiles
And beyond. Google chose Dublin, look at $ expenditures across the entire island from tourism, again. Theme parkism, rampant too. Paradoxically, in among waves of new written works, a few genuine gems exist. @jenks reviewed Pogue Mahone by Patrick McCabe and it’s both literary blessing and riotous trip. You want an intense skewering of identity, give it a go. For the north, Country by Michael Hughes made For the Good Times by D Keenan look uneven by comparison, ta to Jenks again, maybe in certain key works a more nuanced set of questions are raised for the ages
As soon as cliche enters gimmickry, you have Dropkick Murphys bringing disgrace to family names. I’d curse them but what’s the point, Father Ted is nearly 30 years out the nonce box and I don’t know if institutional rape and abuse is ever capable of reaching genuine contrition. Why go looking for it? The sow that eats the farrow. Change has come, hence alluding to gift/tat shop contents profiles
Murphy
cat malogen
It’s ok wanting to bottle Tommy Tiernan too, I saw nothing
My mum, a prod Brit, retired to Belfast precisely due to new levels of integration and my Dad’s lot slowly passing away. Loves access to the coast, I can’t help feeling heartened by such changes
As much as the cliches and commercial influences are horrific, other levels of change are island wide and can only be applauded
My mum, a prod Brit, retired to Belfast precisely due to new levels of integration and my Dad’s lot slowly passing away. Loves access to the coast, I can’t help feeling heartened by such changes
As much as the cliches and commercial influences are horrific, other levels of change are island wide and can only be applauded
william kent
Well-known member
Conor McGregor. Martin McDonagh.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Maybe there is some phenomenon whereby a set of cultures (ethnic cultures or otherwise) take turns being the "it" culture, in the eyes of a larger, more globalized culture? EG like version hints at above, Banshees made Irish an "it" culture during Emmy consideration season, not sure if Squid Games had the same effect, seeing as it didn't seem to emphasize South Korean culture per se.
I'd imagine, in the case of the western/US globalized cultural complex, only certain cultures could receive this treatment without it feeling like we're exoticizing some radically different culture. Maybe you could say that about the effect Banshees had, but I think, at least in the US, that particular Aran Islands subculture (or wherever it was set) is close enough to US culture for us to feel comfortable propagating stereotypes, but far enough away for it to be interesting or novel enough to trend in the mainstream mindshare.
Almost like the concept of the "habitable zone" in astronomy, a certain orbital region around a star whereby the planetary body is close enough to have its h2o in liquid form, but not close enough for the temperature to be too hot to sustain what we'd consider life.
I'd imagine, in the case of the western/US globalized cultural complex, only certain cultures could receive this treatment without it feeling like we're exoticizing some radically different culture. Maybe you could say that about the effect Banshees had, but I think, at least in the US, that particular Aran Islands subculture (or wherever it was set) is close enough to US culture for us to feel comfortable propagating stereotypes, but far enough away for it to be interesting or novel enough to trend in the mainstream mindshare.
Almost like the concept of the "habitable zone" in astronomy, a certain orbital region around a star whereby the planetary body is close enough to have its h2o in liquid form, but not close enough for the temperature to be too hot to sustain what we'd consider life.
william kent
Well-known member
South Korea have K-pop, Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook and a bunch of other cultural exports too. And Japan's been something of an "it" culture in the US for a while.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
I'd say for a culture to become an "it" culture in the western cultural complex, it needs to be able to express itself in a highly memetic way (think how Banshees used " feckin' " in some of its marketing pushes, and that almost seemed to catch on here for a bit), and this memetic potential needs to catch in in ways hat don't feel like we're propagating harmful stereotypes, otherwise propagators will be duly ostracized.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Oh sure, I'd say that makes it more of a globalized cultural powerhouse than an "it" culture per se. At least, how I'm using the term (and it could just be me), an "it" culture is almost picked by a larger free market globalized culture, and celebrated one way or another. The "it" culture is more of an object, and is hot for a brief period of time, before something new comes along to attract everyone's attention.
william kent
Well-known member
South Korea seem like more of an "it" culture than Ireland atm, imo.
william kent
Well-known member
Mrs. Brown's Boys probably has a lot to answer for.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Yeah I think Irelands status there was pretty confined to Emmy consideration season and that core milieu, IE if someone’s not into movies, and indie movies at that, that trend may not have touched them. But it was a good example of some foreign culture memetically surfacing in the US. Probably squid games had a bigger effect, even though it wasn’t leaning into its Koreanness as much as Banshees leaned into its Irishness.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Brits know it from Father Ted as a way of saying 'fuck' pre-watershed, but I understood it usually means 'to steal'? It might not be used that way in all parts of Ireland, though.