"The authenticity hoax"

[Bustercat]

double

 

[Puzzicato]

I wonder how much of this is an American phenomena? Part of us has always been into the past in a search for roots to match the old world.

My line of work (design) has me looking through alot of old advertising and commercial art for vernacular. What makes the cut is usually stuff that was new back then (like 50s modernism, victorian industrialism, etc.). But left on the 'reject' pile is lots of material that's derivative of an even earlier time (faux 50s or 70s medieval, for example). And there's alot of it. Some forms of retro were so central to the era that revived them that they are now seen as indicative (like 60s art nouveau in psychedelia), but so much doesn't stand the test of time.

I wonder how many of our double-knit grandparents also decorated their houses with decidedly unauthentic 'relics' of old eras that didn't exist? Wrought iron lamps, Goofy coats of arms, and beer mug sets, all of which tried to look Arthurian... odd 'spirit of '76' kitsch, and 'colonial style' ranch houses.. and 'roaring 20s' revival doodads which are a far cry from the originals. Just look around your favorite antique store for all the nostalgic stuff our forbears actually bought new decades ago.

All a quest for a little authenticity, in a world of newfangled modernity.

Until recently, I don't think this happened in other countries that had older traditions. There was simply the new, and the authentic old that had been there for centuries. Exceptions today are places like Germany with their 'Ostalgia'—nostalgia for the simpler times of the GDR (the film 'Goodbye Lenin' sums this up well.)

I think that some American eras are more strongly futurist by nature (such as parts of the 1980s and 1990s), others are more backwards looking (such as the late 1960s and 1970s, though they played fast and loose with the rules.)
I think we're going through a retro era now, with all the emphasis on organic, handmade things. That will change.
It's an ebb and flow.

An interesting idea - and being from a country with only 200 years of white history I can see what you mean. But I don't think it totally holds up. The Renaissence, the pre-Raphaelites, Victorian Gothic - all has these rose-coloured hankerings for an earlier time.

 

[LordBest]

In the 7th century B.C. (or thereaobouts) there was a revival in ancient Egypt of the style of the Old Kingdom of two milennia earlier. In Imperial Rome there were periodic revivals of Republican' styles. Throughout the middle ages there were successive revivals of Roman styles. In the nineteenth century there was the new classical revival under the First Napoleonic Empire. Then there was the Egyptian revival, the Greek revival, the Gothic revival etc and all these influenced everything from fashion to architecture.

Throughout all these periods of history humans did what humans always do, find different ways to compete for status and show off. The difference is thanks to the Industrial Revolution far more people now have the spare time and wealth to do so on a more obvious scale.

 

[Tiller]

In the 7th century B.C. (or thereaobouts) there was a revival in ancient Egypt of the style of the Old Kingdom of two milennia earlier. In Imperial Rome there were periodic revivals of Republican' styles. Throughout the middle ages there were successive revivals of Roman styles. In the nineteenth century there was the new classical revival under the First Napoleonic Empire. Then there was the Egyptian revival, the Greek revival, the Gothic revival etc and all these influenced everything from fashion to architecture.

Throughout all these periods of history humans did what humans always do, find different ways to compete for status and show off. The difference is thanks to the Industrial Revolution far more people now have the spare time and wealth to do so on a more obvious scale.

I think it's something even more basic then that. I think it's almost a part of human nature that when something doesn't feel right about the present we look to the past and try to revive what we considered to be the better aspects of it. Including the culture and styles of the past.

We always nitpick the past in order to preserve what we love about it today, and we ignore or simply argue against what we don't like. No one would argue for slavery today, but you can hear people talking about how well southern "gentleman" planters used to dress, or how gallant those old summer picnics seem to us. We in the vintage community don't dress as we do because we love the Great Depression, but because we simply enjoy the style that has almost completely disappeared from the culture. A sense of cultural lose is what seems to always drive revivals.

I think the original point though, really doesn't ring true to me. There is such a thing as authenticity, it does exist. Maybe not with certain aspects of the modern world, such as organic foods, but when it comes to vintage clothing their certainly is.

 

[Creeping Past]

I think we're going through a retro era now, with all the emphasis on organic, handmade things. That will change.
It's an ebb and flow.

You're right about the US. Just think of the 'old-time' music trend of the 1920s and 30s.

In England there's been a general ruralistic nostalgia in the air for over a hundred years.

Going further back a central theme of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale, as I remember it, is that things are generally nowhere near as good as they used to be. Nostalgia's always been with us.

I disagree with you on hand-made items, though. There's nothing more authentic than something you've made to a pattern only you've seen in your mind's eye. And there's a real sense of achievement, which is the feeling of authenticity, in making something yourself, whether you've followed a pre-existing design or made it from scratch.

And surely organic food is more authentic than, for example, one of these newfangled 'energy' drinks which are sugar solutions with caffeine in, or processed foods made from transfats, corn starch and sugar. There is such a thing as real food. Although labelled 'food' by regulation, processed foods made from transfats, corn starch and sugar aren't actually food in any sense that I understand the word 'food'.

 

[Creeping Past]

it's almost a part of human nature that when something doesn't feel right about the present we look to the past and try to revive what we considered to be the better aspects of it. Including the culture and styles of the past.

That's what history's about. If history is regarded as merely nostalgia, we're missing the point.

 

[Tango Yankee]

I've never quite understood this whole "authentic" thing. I mean, it's my life, I'm living it... what could be more authentic then that? [huh]

Does "authentic" actually mean "organically grown," "made locally by hand," "no preservatives," and "old?" Or perhaps it means "living in a manner in which we approve?" Maybe "living a life that does not appear to be pretentious to others?" (Though even a life that is being lived to appear authentic would seem to fit that mold.)

I figure that if someone is in to putting on displays for other people, putting up a false front, saying one thing while doing another. etc, that's authentic, too--it's what that person is like.

I just don't get it. Probably never will.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Bustercat]

Good point on retro being something fundamental to the human condition. Rome is a good example, a society based in large part on nostalgia for Greece.
I still think there's something different about the way it happens here in the states — certainly the turnover, and maybe the substance. Not that it's a bad thing at all, though it can muddle our understanding of history.

I disagree with you on hand-made items, though. There's nothing more authentic than something you've made to a pattern only you've seen in your mind's eye. And there's a real sense of achievement, which is the feeling of authenticity, in making something yourself, whether you've followed a pre-existing design or made it from scratch.

I guess I mean more mass-produced things designed to look handmade. The way the look of genuinely handmade, often one-of-a-kind stuff sold here has been coopted by big companies to move merchandise, (example: urban outfitters a year or two ago, or anthropologie today).
It's similar to buzzwords like 'green/sustainability,' or 'organic,' or 'botanically infused.'
At their heart, they're great things, but when they're reduced to marketing strategy, I can see the argument for saying they aren't 'authentic.'
It's not even just merchandise, but the entire 'vibe' of the advertising, and design. Again, not that its a bad thing at all—it keeps things interesting and new—but I get the "fake" argument.

Someone mentioned distressed jeans a few pages back. It seems like those have gone out, and now fashion dictates the look resembles something you found in a thrift store, or something you made yourself.

 

[Creeping Past]

I guess I mean more mass-produced things designed to look handmade.

I get your drift.

 

[Paisley]

I've never quite understood this whole "authentic" thing. I mean, it's my life, I'm living it... what could be more authentic then that? [huh]

Does "authentic" actually mean "organically grown," "made locally by hand," "no preservatives," and "old?" Or perhaps it means "living in a manner in which we approve?" Maybe "living a life that does not appear to be pretentious to others?" (Though even a life that is being lived to appear authentic would seem to fit that mold.)

I figure that if someone is in to putting on displays for other people, putting up a false front, saying one thing while doing another. etc, that's authentic, too--it's what that person is like.

I just don't get it. Probably never will.

Cheers,
Tom

A prime example of an inauthentic life, from my perspective, is that of one of my cousins. She was married to a man for many years, despite knowing from her teens that she was a lesbian. Why did she get married and have kids? Because, she said, it was expected of her. They eventually divorced.

Of course, we sometimes have to put on a game face just to get along with each other. Sometimes we actually become what we pretend to be, if it isn't too far from our nature. But people aren't infinitely malleable.

To me, "authentic" means an examined life.

 

[59Lark]

would not want to put under microscope.

Do any of us, live authentic lives, I believe if i got into some trouble and a social worker was too put my life under a scope, he or she would say, his fashionation with the past is too due with his fathers suicide. His longing for old things and music and cars is wanting to relive the past etc etc. I went into lammy diner in henry ford a couple of years ago. The place is a period diner and the music piped in was forties pure, i sat down at a booth and cried. Was being born in a house that had been built by great great grandfather, land that my family owned for 180 years. The smell in our house was the smell you smell in old houses museums, the living and dying and suffering that house saw. Is it anywonder that i wear fedoras, drive a studebaker and play records , but i do live in this world. I struggle with making a living, raising a family on one income, deal with the big stores eating up the mom and pops, people not caring as long as its cheap and the throw away society. If i am saddened and longing for past times, its no wonder. I called a dinosaur, grief spawns authenticity and too that author he would call us nuts and fools. if only my wife liked to dance swing that would be the thing. 59LARK if you dont have swing you aint got a thing. fftopic:

 

[Richard Warren]

While I think that by definition all progress actually is good, that doesn't mean that all change is progress (good). There have been certainly times in which segments of humanity appear to move backwards, morally, economically, and culturally. This appears to be the case at the present time in the US. Ironically, those leading the charge towards neo-barbarism seem to regard themselves as an intellectually elite avant garde of "progress" and enlightenment, who frequently do espouse the rhetoric and ethos of "authenticity" while ignoring the limitations placed on their vision by the realities of the production of goods and services, which they generally know nothing about.