Elvis

Selling the Other: “Crossover” musical artists and the commodification of blackness


In “Eating the Other,” bell hooks writes: “Within commodity culture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture” (hooks 21). This statement represents a common and powerful ideology in this country, an ideology that is in many ways problematic and inhibits the improvement of race relations in the US. Historically, whites have been attracted to and fascinated by “the exotic” – any object or person representing racial and cultural differences from the white “norm.” In a capitalist society, this interest in cultural difference can often be exploited for the purpose of making a profit. The exotic becomes something that can be acquired: taken on by whites, and then sold by whites, to whites. Because even if mainstream white culture is seen as “dull”, as hooks points out, it is also seen as normal, which means that whites ...