Originally Posted by
Elvis_Priestly
ajr asked me a question in another thread and I think its answer belongs in a different context to that thread on Elvis and MSG.
Thats a big question ajr!
Sometimes I don't feel sick, but I worry I get too much into the whole Elvis Universe - I suspect most of the time though that?s because of people's perceptions of Elvis fans [like the man himself - I do worry a lot of what people think about me!]
The two words you used "phenomena" and "mystique" are so appropriate. I can speak principally for myself, but also I guess from experience of other fans - people who don't just like the music but that whole phenomena.
There is undoubtedly a psychological element to it. For me there is the unsurpassable talent of the man himself, his charisma and, yes, the tragedy of his story. I think sometimes we are like opera buffs, but our opera beats Wagner's Ring Cycle hands down for duration as it lasted 42 years.
I read on another thread today someone disliking the use of the phrase "Elvis was human" and I understood what they meant, we are all human and each of us has their own universe in which to exist with its trials and tribulations. In Elvis there is someone who lived through many trials and triumphs and who not only lived through them, sang through them. I don?t think there is any other artist who so fully did so with the range of music he presented and left us with. Take Aloha, one tiny little portion of his body of work; in that there is a moment for the sad, a moment for the joyful, a moment for the lover a moment for the broken hearted and songs of triumph and tragedy. In this respect Elvis is that "everyman" or "common man" who in the world of drama stretches back as a symbol through Shakespeare right through to the ancient Greek dramas. Only Elvis isn't a fictional character, Elvis WAS.
For fans this I think is overwhelmingly attractive, no matter where we come from or the experiences we have we share that common humanity with its experiences of joy and brokenness. We, I think and feel, are the lucky ones because we have found someone to share that with.
My academic background is in Theology and Philosophy and Egyptology(!) I'm still working at a university as a researcher in Philosophy. There you constantly find in literature that search for the everyman. In Christian Theology there are of course two such figures: Christ and King David (if you ever feel inclined, anyone of any faith or none, might read the psalms and find the same range of emotions expressed there as I mentioned above in relation to Aloha). One is historically distant, the other is Perfection himself. Elvis is a historical figure more present to us, expressing his personal struggles in a way not masked to us by the formal language of ancient writings. And Elvis is a story of imperfection, the struggle of life which sometimes causes people to give in, and perhaps at times give up.
The individuality of humanity makes all people ?misfits?: Elvis fans have someone who, to a greater or lesser degree, they find they can ?fit with.?
Again I say, we are the lucky ones in the encounter with Elvis and, often, one another as fans. That abiding hunger of humanity to know ?I am not alone? is answered to some degree when we read the books and listen to the music.
Why knock us though? Never doubt that the world of academia is a small and enclosed highly focussed world prone to internal and external jealousies. A constant effort, especially in the current academic climate of funding and grants, a place where people?s very raison d?etre can often be to prove themselves the best and most intelligent. And along comes a simple southern lad who with his voice can touch people in a way their thesis can never manage, and in a way they themselves cannot perhaps engage with. I know I?d prefer to listen to ?And I Love You So? than read ?The Id in Anglo-Saxon Emotional Reticence?!
I don?t think we are sick. I?m sure Elvis attracts some people who are prone to such things, as will anything which engages the emotions (come to Church and see the few who sadly tremble to know that?s a fact!) but for the majority its an emotional attachment to someone who sang the song of his life and often ours too ? a song of joy and sadness. And of course, this answer to your question could be intolerably longer!
Reply With Quote
He had a presence and charisma, that nobody could ever match! If those non-fans just listened to him sing, with an open mind, they wouldn't ask anymore!
Maybe they have already