The Crime of Separating Aesthetics and Culture

One of the many things that social media has led to a visible prevalence of is the centring of aesthetics. Whilst it would be wrong to claim that the importance of aesthetics leans entirely on the ubiquity of social media, there is no denying that the culture of image curation it has created has spilt from the screens we scroll by and into the very real world.

This, of course, has exacerbated the need for people to look appealing to whatever their privacy-invasive algorithms have decided is appealing. However, in pursuit of this, many have sought to grab, pull, and appropriate whatever aesthetics are deemed universally cool (think Gen Z adopting African American vernacular). In doing so, however, we have become guilty of separating the aesthetics we find pleasing from the culture that creates it.

Aesthetics and Cultural Appropriation

The late 80s and early 90s saw Hip-Hop and Rap music enter the mainstream internationally. With it came a different perspective through which global audiences could view African American culture. However, this came with appropriators. One of the biggest musical acts of the time, Vanilla Ice, has been cited as a prominent example of appropriation. The Dallas-born rapper achieved massive success in the early 90s; however, his background and upbringing differed greatly from those of other West and East Coast acts prominent in the genre. His record label, as such, tried to push a fabricated image of a tough upbringing meant to mirror his peers’.

However, this crafted aesthetic lacked the lived experience of his black peers, and, as such, Vanilla Ice’s image in that period was a misunderstood caricature of blackness.

Vanilla Ice was by no means the architect or the only (or for that matter, the last) person to appropriate someone else’s culture for personal gain. This has since continued with the prominence of black figures and culture in sport, music, fashion and film being appropriated by non-black audiences. It goes without saying that cultural appropriation is not exclusive to African American culture; additionally, the subject is very complex and nuanced to be simply discussed in a section of this article.

However, cultural appropriation illustrates an instance where the aesthetics of a culture are divorced from the culture that created it, consequently reducing the culture to being the caricature perceived by the masses based on their biases (Hip Hop music being interpreted as a glorification of violence rather than a dissection of how poverty is the number one contributor to crime). However, sometimes this separation is not carried out by outsiders but by those within the culture.

The Gentrification of the Self

Recently, many people across the world (at least in the online space) have lamented the dying of third spaces. Spaces where people in proximity can come together and form a community. These lamentations are most prevalent in urban spaces, and in part due to a strong misunderstanding of what forms a third space. Historically, third spaces did not arise solely from the need to build community, although it can be argued that this became their most important function. Think of the old family-owned cafes that sprawl onto the street, hosting the same regular patrons. Whilst businesses are like any other, intended to make a profit, they provide space for relationships to form.

As such, for the third space to exist, there needs to be a culture that hosts it, whether it be Iranian-style cafes in Maharashtra or seven-a-side football matches in Kerala. If the culture that hosts such spaces does not exist, the space may exist only as a shell, devoid of all that makes it alive, though it might look good on an Instagram story.

Conclusion

The Jordan Ones are not iconic because black, white and red is a great colour scheme; they are iconic because Michael Jordan wore them en route to winning six championships. Aesthetics exist because of the culture that created them; this is not to say that one should not buy Jordans if they do not watch basketball, or that people of other races should not engage with or consume other cultures if they find themselves drawn to those cultures’ aesthetics. However, we should understand and acknowledge that it is a package deal.