{"id":4754,"date":"2011-05-30T06:42:30","date_gmt":"2011-05-29T22:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/elvis-lives\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:06:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:06:42","slug":"elvis-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/elvis-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Elvis lives …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elvis Presley lives \u2013 at least in popular culture and a growing body of serious fiction \u2013 according to a Curtin University academic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the fascinating things about Elvis is that he was such an unknown commodity for someone who was so \u2018known\u2019,\u201d explains Associate Professor Paul Genoni (pictured) of the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had one of the most massively reproduced voices and was one of the most photographed men of the 20th<\/sup> century, and yet he never gave a single interview of any substance in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Genoni says that beyond the many superficial pop-culture representations of Presley there is a growing body of literary fiction about the rocker known worldwide as \u2018the King\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 2010, Associate Professor Genoni stepped beyond his passing interest in Presley\u2019s music to present an academic paper at a conference on Australian-US literary interaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019ve listened to his music and been a casual fan for as long as I can remember,\u201d Associate Professor Genoni says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gradually grew into an academic interest as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn particular I am intrigued by the way in which Elvis has persisted as a potent cultural presence after his death, and in this case I examined his unlikely appearance in some recent Australian fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elvis Down Under: Simulations of a US pop icon in Australian Fiction<\/em> garnered a good deal of interest, Associate Professor Genoni says, because of its quirky subject matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m certainly not the first Australian to be interested in this phenomenon,\u201d he says, noting that several other Australian scholars have been influential in documenting the post-mortem phase of Presley\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Genoni says the process of mega-celebrities gaining a new lease of \u2018life\u2019 after death is becoming increasingly common.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that you begin to see something similar with other dead celebrities such as Michael Jackson,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it will have the same longevity with Jackson as it has with Presley is debateable but there\u2019s that same kind of massive interest in these people that has been generated by an early death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one sense their death has fixed them to the life and career they lived, but at the same time the iconic images they created \u2013 such as Elvis in the white suit \u2013 begin to spin off in all sorts of interesting and unpredictable ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtin News<\/em> emerged empty-handed from an on-campus poster shop recently after attempting to borrow a poster of Elvis to use as a photo prop. The duty manager explained that most students were not as interested in Elvis as in other figures featured in his poster range, which included Lady Gaga, Pink and Rage Against the Machine.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Genoni says this is natural, given Presley died in 1977.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess that three decades after your death it\u2019s hard to attract a new generation of fans or followers in the same way as when you were alive,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPopular music is still driven by the youth market, and each generation needs icons of its own making.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are still a lot of younger people who are interested in Elvis, either because they have niche interests in music or they\u2019re people who just take a pleasure in seeking out these past, deceased figures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Genoni says a handful of books have been published that examine the near-deification of Elvis by certain of his followers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been argued that there is a beginning of a new religion here, that it\u2019s got everything it needs,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got a \u2018Christ\u2019 figure; it has priests in the form of Elvis impersonators; it\u2019s got the disciples in the fans, and there are a whole series of rituals derived from Elvis\u2019s performances that get repeated and embellished by the faithful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are even several quasi-religious organisations in the US that tap into this devotion to the King. \u201c<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Genoni says that although other dead celebrities have lived on as historical figures they cannot hold a candle to Presley as a cultural icon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all connected to the advent of postmodernism, driven by sound and film technologies that enable Elvis\u2019s image and voice to be endlessly reproduced, manipulated and distributed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In this sense, Associate Professor Genoni\u2019s paper dubs Elvis the \u2018pin-up boy for postmodernism\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn using that term I\u2019m trying to explain why he seems to still be interesting to fiction writers in the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they find interesting about Elvis is what I find interesting, and that is his extraordinary persistence as a pop-culture phenomenon three decades after his death.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the major celebrity figures of the 20th<\/sup> century he\u2019s probably the one who\u2019s retained the most punch in the 21st<\/sup> century in terms of their ability to mean something \u2013 or in Elvis\u2019s case anything.”<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Genoni says there is \u201can Elvis for every occasion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s the 1950s rock \u2018n roll rebel; the devoted soldier; the Hollywood star of endless 60s beach movies; the leather-clad comeback King; or the overweight 1970s white jump-suited crooner, there is something for everybody,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the variety of Elvises and the ease with which his voice and image can be copied and distributed, we can resurrect an Elvis that is suitable for any purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the fact that some of these different Elvises seems to contradict or be at odds with each other only serves to make him interesting to successive generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just about any conversation, you can drop in a reference to Elvis, and people \u2013 whatever their age or nationality – will almost certainly get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtin\u2019s School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts<\/a><\/strong> offers many courses that impart an understanding of modern cultural phenomena.<\/p>\n

Photography: Sam Proctor<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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