Comments on “Kitsch and naïveté”

The Forrest Gump quote is applicable here: “Shit happens.”

I was reading through the text with hipsters in mind. They seem to me to be a good example of idiotically optimistic. Would someone like Charles Bukowski function, for you, as and antidote to this idiocy or would his approach seem “so real” as to be read an intentional antidote? Or maybe his work is a forced antidote that is false somehow? Would you be able to provide me with an example of solid antidote that feels viable in art or literature?

False and exaggerated emotion is characteristic of eternalist kitsch.

This is a reaction to 19th-century literary sentimentality. However, the prototypical example of eternalist kitsch is medieval Christian art, which (both Byzantine and European) deliberately shows no emotion at all–as emotion was then considered to be of the flesh, and so inherently sinful.

I like some kitsch decor items, but I think they can also be classified as “retro”. I’m closer to being nihilistic than idiotically optimistic, however.