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Radical chic

Radical chic is the fashionable practice of upper-class people associating with politically radical people and causes. Coined in the 1970 article "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's" by journalist Tom Wolfe, the term has become widely used in languages such as American English, French, and Italian. Unlike dedicated activists, revolutionaries, or dissenters, those who engage in "radical chic" remain frivolous political agitators—ideologically invested in their cause of choice only so far as it advances their social standing.

Composer Leonard Bernstein (seated) and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, with Black Panthers Field Marshal Donald L. Cox (right), at a fundraiser for the Black Panthers in January 1970 at the Bernsteins' apartment on Park Avenue in New York City. The photo appeared in the New York magazine article that spawned the term "radical chic".

The concept has been described as "an exercise in double-tracking one's public image: on the one hand, defining oneself through committed allegiance to a radical cause, but on the other, vitally, demonstrating this allegiance because it is the fashionable, au courant way to be seen in moneyed, name-conscious Society."[1] "Terrorist chic" is a modern expression with similar connotations. This derivative, however, de-emphasizes the class satire of Wolfe's original term, instead accentuating concerns over the semiotics of radicalism (such as the aestheticization of violence).

Origin and meaning edit

The phrase "radical chic" originated in a 1970 New York article by Tom Wolfe, titled "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's",[2] which was later reprinted in his books Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers and The Purple Decades. In the essay, Wolfe used the term to satirize composer Leonard Bernstein and his friends for their absurdity in hosting a fundraising party for the Black Panthers—an organization whose members, activities, and goals were clearly incongruous with those of Bernstein's elite circle.[3] Wolfe's concept of radical chic was intended to lampoon individuals (particularly social elites like the jet set) who endorsed leftist radicalism merely to affect worldliness, assuage white guilt, or garner prestige, rather than to affirm genuine political convictions.

[Wolfe's] subject is how culture's patrician classes – the wealthy, fashionable intimates of high society – have sought to luxuriate in both a vicarious glamour and a monopoly on virtue through their public espousal of street politics: a politics, moreover, of minorities so removed from their sphere of experience and so absurdly, diametrically, opposed to the islands of privilege on which the cultural aristocracy maintain their isolation, that the whole basis of their relationship is wildly out of kilter from the start. ... In short, Radical Chic is described as a form of highly developed decadence; and its greatest fear is to be seen not as prejudiced or unaware, but as middle-class.

— Michael Bracewell, "Molotov Cocktails"[1]

Background edit

The concept of "fashionable" espousal of radical causes by members of wealthy society in this case had been argued against by Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montealegre, prior to the publication of "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's", a fact Wolfe details in it. The essay appeared in the June 8, 1970 issue of New York, 20 weeks after the actual fund raiser at the Bernstein residence was held on January 14. The first report of the event—which raised money in support of the Panther 21[4]—appeared the following day in a piece by The New York Times style reporter Charlotte Curtis, who was in attendance. Curtis wrote in part: "Leonard Bernstein and a Black Panther leader argued the merits of the Black Panther party's philosophy before nearly 90 guests last night in the Bernsteins' elegant Park Avenue duplex." According to Wolfe, the release of the story worldwide was followed by strong criticism of the event: "The English, particularly, milked the story for all it was worth and seemed to derive one of the great cackles of the year from it."[2]

The negative reaction prompted publication of an op-ed in the Times on January 16 entitled "False Note on Black Panthers" that was severely critical of the Black Panther Party and Bernstein:

Emergence of the Black Panthers as the romanticized darlings of the politico-cultural jet set is an affront to the majority of black Americans. ... the group therapy plus fund-raising soiree at the home of Leonard Bernstein, as reported in this newspaper yesterday, represents the sort of elegant slumming that degrades patrons and patronized alike. It might be dismissed as guilt-relieving fun spiked with social consciousness, except for its impact on those blacks and whites seriously working for complete equality and social justice.[5]

Felicia Montealegre wrote and personally delivered a response to this op-ed to the Times offices.[2] In her response she wrote:

As a civil libertarian, I asked a number of people to my house on Jan. 14 in order to hear the lawyer and others involved with the Panther 21 discuss the problem of civil liberties as applicable to the men now waiting trial, and to help raise funds for their legal expenses. ... It was for this deeply serious purpose that our meeting was called. The frivolous way in which it was reported as a "fashionable" event is unworthy of the Times, and offensive to all people who are committed to humanitarian principles of justice.[2][6]

Related terms edit

 
A 2002 political cartoon by Carlos Latuff depicting Che Guevara wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh

Terrorist chic (also known as "terror chic" or "militant chic") is a more recent and specific variation of the term. It refers to the appropriation of symbols, objects, and aesthetics related to radical militants, usually in the context of pop culture[7] or fashion.[8] When such imagery is deployed subversively, the process exemplifies aestheticization of propaganda. Regardless, because terrorist chic derives its iconography from groups and individuals often associated with violent conflict or terrorism, the term carries a greater pejorative tone than "radical chic."

Instances of terrorist chic have variously been interpreted as morally irresponsible, earnestly counter-cultural, ironically hip, or benignly apolitical. According to Henry K. Miller of the New Statesman, the most well-known example is the ubiquitous appearance of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in popular culture.[9] Other cases that have been labeled terrorist chic include: the Prada-Meinhof fashion line (a pun on Prada and the Baader-Meinhof Gang)[10][11] and the fashion of combining keffiyehs and military-style clothing such as camo prints and heavy boots, outside the Arab World.[12][13]

Shortly after the October 17, 1997 burial with military honors in Santa Clara, Cuba, of Guevara's disinterred and identified remains, found in the Bolivian jungle by forensic anthropologists,[14] New York Times columnist Richard Bernstein argued that the third-world revolution that Che embodied was no longer even a "drawing-room, radical-chic hope".[15] Concurrent with his re-burial, three major Guevara biographies were published in 1997. Noting the sustained interest in Che, Bernstein suggested that "the end of the cold war and the failure of the third-world revolution" allowed for the "scrutiny of Guevara, [as] a symbol of both the idealism and the moral blindness of the decade of protest" to take place in a context "free of ideological partisanship and rancor."[15] Ted Balaker, editor-in-chief of Reason TV, an American libertarian website, wrote and produced Killer Chic in 2008, a libertarian, anti-Communist documentary, in which he deconstructed the use of images of Che Guevara and Mao Zedong in popular culture. In his blog entry on 11 December 2008, Reason journalist Nick Gillespie used the term "killer chic"[16] in his review of Steven Soderbergh's film Che.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Bracewell, Michael (November–December 2004). . Frieze Magazine. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Wolfe, Tom (June 8, 1970). "Radical Chic: that Party at Lenny's" (PDF). New York. (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
    Wolfe, Tom (June 8, 1970). "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's". New York. from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
  3. ^ Foote, Timothy (December 21, 1970). . Time Magazine. Time Inc. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  4. ^ "BBC – When Leonard Bernstein partied with the Black Panthers". BBC. from the original on January 27, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  5. ^ "False Note on Black Panthers". The New York Times. January 16, 1970.
  6. ^ Bernstein, Felicia M. (January 21, 1970). "Letters to the Editor of The Times: Panthers' Legal Aid". The New York Times. from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  7. ^ Daly, Susan (November 8, 2008). "Is the war over for terrorist chic?". Independent.ie. Independent News & Media. from the original on January 18, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  8. ^ Herr, Cheryl (July 2004). "Terrorist Chic and Marching Season Style". The Vacuum. Factotum. from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  9. ^ Miller, Henry K (October 28, 2002). "Fatal attraction". New Statesman. from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  10. ^ Connolly, Kate (October 6, 2002). "Astrid Proll's journey to Terror Chic". The Observer. Guardian Media Group. from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  11. ^ Smiley, Shannon (February 20, 2005). "Germany Debates 'Terrorist Chic': Art and Fashion Stir Memories of Leftist Violence in '70s". The Washington Post. from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  12. ^ Hernandez, Daniel (April 9, 2006). "'Terrorist Chic' and Beyond". Los Angeles Times. from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  13. ^ Lando, Michal (January 19, 2007). "US chain pulls 'anti-war' keffiyehs". The Jerusalem Post. Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd. from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  14. ^ Cuba salutes 'Che' Guevara: Revolutionary Icon Finally Laid to Rest April 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine CNN, October 17, 1997
  15. ^ a b Bernstein, Richard (November 26, 1997). "Critic's Notebook; Looking Back With Cooled Passions at Che's Image". The New York Times. from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  16. ^ Gillespie, Nick (December 11, 2008). "Killer Chic: Hollywood's Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara". Reason. from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.

Further reading edit

External links edit

Lists of examples edit

  • Darling, it's so radical chic
  • Radical sheep
  • The revolution will not be accessorised
  • 'Radical Chic' Loses Luster by Joshua Goodman, Sun Journal, November 26, 2007

Essays and editorials edit

  • Come the revolution, we'll all be in combats
  • Analysis: Radical Chic
  • M.I.A. - Terrorist Chic

radical, chic, fashionable, practice, upper, class, people, associating, with, politically, radical, people, causes, coined, 1970, article, radical, chic, that, party, lenny, journalist, wolfe, term, become, widely, used, languages, such, american, english, fr. Radical chic is the fashionable practice of upper class people associating with politically radical people and causes Coined in the 1970 article Radical Chic That Party at Lenny s by journalist Tom Wolfe the term has become widely used in languages such as American English French and Italian Unlike dedicated activists revolutionaries or dissenters those who engage in radical chic remain frivolous political agitators ideologically invested in their cause of choice only so far as it advances their social standing Composer Leonard Bernstein seated and his wife Felicia Montealegre with Black Panthers Field Marshal Donald L Cox right at a fundraiser for the Black Panthers in January 1970 at the Bernsteins apartment on Park Avenue in New York City The photo appeared in the New York magazine article that spawned the term radical chic The concept has been described as an exercise in double tracking one s public image on the one hand defining oneself through committed allegiance to a radical cause but on the other vitally demonstrating this allegiance because it is the fashionable au courant way to be seen in moneyed name conscious Society 1 Terrorist chic is a modern expression with similar connotations This derivative however de emphasizes the class satire of Wolfe s original term instead accentuating concerns over the semiotics of radicalism such as the aestheticization of violence Contents 1 Origin and meaning 2 Background 3 Related terms 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links 7 1 Lists of examples 7 2 Essays and editorialsOrigin and meaning editThe phrase radical chic originated in a 1970 New York article by Tom Wolfe titled Radical Chic That Party at Lenny s 2 which was later reprinted in his books Radical Chic amp Mau Mauing the Flak Catchers and The Purple Decades In the essay Wolfe used the term to satirize composer Leonard Bernstein and his friends for their absurdity in hosting a fundraising party for the Black Panthers an organization whose members activities and goals were clearly incongruous with those of Bernstein s elite circle 3 Wolfe s concept of radical chic was intended to lampoon individuals particularly social elites like the jet set who endorsed leftist radicalism merely to affect worldliness assuage white guilt or garner prestige rather than to affirm genuine political convictions Wolfe s subject is how culture s patrician classes the wealthy fashionable intimates of high society have sought to luxuriate in both a vicarious glamour and a monopoly on virtue through their public espousal of street politics a politics moreover of minorities so removed from their sphere of experience and so absurdly diametrically opposed to the islands of privilege on which the cultural aristocracy maintain their isolation that the whole basis of their relationship is wildly out of kilter from the start In short Radical Chic is described as a form of highly developed decadence and its greatest fear is to be seen not as prejudiced or unaware but as middle class Michael Bracewell Molotov Cocktails 1 Background editThe concept of fashionable espousal of radical causes by members of wealthy society in this case had been argued against by Bernstein s wife Felicia Montealegre prior to the publication of Radical Chic That Party at Lenny s a fact Wolfe details in it The essay appeared in the June 8 1970 issue of New York 20 weeks after the actual fund raiser at the Bernstein residence was held on January 14 The first report of the event which raised money in support of the Panther 21 4 appeared the following day in a piece by The New York Times style reporter Charlotte Curtis who was in attendance Curtis wrote in part Leonard Bernstein and a Black Panther leader argued the merits of the Black Panther party s philosophy before nearly 90 guests last night in the Bernsteins elegant Park Avenue duplex According to Wolfe the release of the story worldwide was followed by strong criticism of the event The English particularly milked the story for all it was worth and seemed to derive one of the great cackles of the year from it 2 The negative reaction prompted publication of an op ed in the Times on January 16 entitled False Note on Black Panthers that was severely critical of the Black Panther Party and Bernstein Emergence of the Black Panthers as the romanticized darlings of the politico cultural jet set is an affront to the majority of black Americans the group therapy plus fund raising soiree at the home of Leonard Bernstein as reported in this newspaper yesterday represents the sort of elegant slumming that degrades patrons and patronized alike It might be dismissed as guilt relieving fun spiked with social consciousness except for its impact on those blacks and whites seriously working for complete equality and social justice 5 Felicia Montealegre wrote and personally delivered a response to this op ed to the Times offices 2 In her response she wrote As a civil libertarian I asked a number of people to my house on Jan 14 in order to hear the lawyer and others involved with the Panther 21 discuss the problem of civil liberties as applicable to the men now waiting trial and to help raise funds for their legal expenses It was for this deeply serious purpose that our meeting was called The frivolous way in which it was reported as a fashionable event is unworthy of the Times and offensive to all people who are committed to humanitarian principles of justice 2 6 Related terms edit nbsp A 2002 political cartoon by Carlos Latuff depicting Che Guevara wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh Terrorist chic also known as terror chic or militant chic is a more recent and specific variation of the term It refers to the appropriation of symbols objects and aesthetics related to radical militants usually in the context of pop culture 7 or fashion 8 When such imagery is deployed subversively the process exemplifies aestheticization of propaganda Regardless because terrorist chic derives its iconography from groups and individuals often associated with violent conflict or terrorism the term carries a greater pejorative tone than radical chic Instances of terrorist chic have variously been interpreted as morally irresponsible earnestly counter cultural ironically hip or benignly apolitical According to Henry K Miller of the New Statesman the most well known example is the ubiquitous appearance of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in popular culture 9 Other cases that have been labeled terrorist chic include the Prada Meinhof fashion line a pun on Prada and the Baader Meinhof Gang 10 11 and the fashion of combining keffiyehs and military style clothing such as camo prints and heavy boots outside the Arab World 12 13 Shortly after the October 17 1997 burial with military honors in Santa Clara Cuba of Guevara s disinterred and identified remains found in the Bolivian jungle by forensic anthropologists 14 New York Times columnist Richard Bernstein argued that the third world revolution that Che embodied was no longer even a drawing room radical chic hope 15 Concurrent with his re burial three major Guevara biographies were published in 1997 Noting the sustained interest in Che Bernstein suggested that the end of the cold war and the failure of the third world revolution allowed for the scrutiny of Guevara as a symbol of both the idealism and the moral blindness of the decade of protest to take place in a context free of ideological partisanship and rancor 15 Ted Balaker editor in chief of Reason TV an American libertarian website wrote and produced Killer Chic in 2008 a libertarian anti Communist documentary in which he deconstructed the use of images of Che Guevara and Mao Zedong in popular culture In his blog entry on 11 December 2008 Reason journalist Nick Gillespie used the term killer chic 16 in his review of Steven Soderbergh s film Che See also edit nbsp Libertarianism portal Baizuo Champagne socialist Che Guevara in fashion Jihad Cool Lifestyle anarchism Limousine liberal Lesbian chic List of chics Nostalgie de la boue Porno chic Redwashing Social justice warrior Virtue signalling WokeReferences edit a b Bracewell Michael November December 2004 Molotov Cocktails Frieze Magazine Archived from the original on December 1 2008 Retrieved April 5 2009 a b c d Wolfe Tom June 8 1970 Radical Chic that Party at Lenny s PDF New York Archived PDF from the original on March 31 2018 Retrieved March 1 2010 Wolfe Tom June 8 1970 Radical Chic That Party at Lenny s New York Archived from the original on September 12 2022 Retrieved December 11 2010 Foote Timothy December 21 1970 Fish in the Brandy Snifter Time Magazine Time Inc Archived from the original on December 23 2007 Retrieved April 5 2009 BBC When Leonard Bernstein partied with the Black Panthers BBC Archived from the original on January 27 2019 Retrieved January 27 2019 False Note on Black Panthers The New York Times January 16 1970 Bernstein Felicia M January 21 1970 Letters to the Editor of The Times Panthers Legal Aid The New York Times Archived from the original on September 12 2022 Retrieved June 4 2018 Daly Susan November 8 2008 Is the war over for terrorist chic Independent ie Independent News amp Media Archived from the original on January 18 2009 Retrieved April 5 2009 Herr Cheryl July 2004 Terrorist Chic and Marching Season Style The Vacuum Factotum Archived from the original on November 20 2008 Retrieved April 5 2009 Miller Henry K October 28 2002 Fatal attraction New Statesman Archived from the original on June 6 2011 Retrieved April 5 2009 Connolly Kate October 6 2002 Astrid Proll s journey to Terror Chic The Observer Guardian Media Group Archived from the original on July 24 2008 Retrieved April 5 2009 Smiley Shannon February 20 2005 Germany Debates Terrorist Chic Art and Fashion Stir Memories of Leftist Violence in 70s The Washington Post Archived from the original on July 9 2017 Retrieved April 5 2009 Hernandez Daniel April 9 2006 Terrorist Chic and Beyond Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on October 11 2008 Retrieved April 5 2009 Lando Michal January 19 2007 US chain pulls anti war keffiyehs The Jerusalem Post Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd Archived from the original on September 12 2022 Retrieved April 5 2009 Cuba salutes Che Guevara Revolutionary Icon Finally Laid to Rest Archived April 20 2006 at the Wayback Machine CNN October 17 1997 a b Bernstein Richard November 26 1997 Critic s Notebook Looking Back With Cooled Passions at Che s Image The New York Times Archived from the original on July 1 2017 Retrieved June 7 2013 Gillespie Nick December 11 2008 Killer Chic Hollywood s Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara Reason Archived from the original on May 13 2013 Retrieved June 7 2013 Further reading editHerr Cheryl 1994 Terrorist Chic Style and Domination in Contemporary Ireland In Benstock Shari Ferriss Suzanne eds On Fashion New Brunswick N J Rutgers University Press pp 235 66 ISBN 0 8135 2033 9 Selzer Michael 1979 Terrorist Chic An Exploration of Violence in the Seventies New York Hawthorn Books ISBN 0 8015 7534 6 External links editLists of examples edit Darling it s so radical chic Radical sheep The revolution will not be accessorised Radical Chic Loses Luster by Joshua Goodman Sun Journal November 26 2007 TERROr chic the artist Essays and editorials edit Come the revolution we ll all be in combats Analysis Radical Chic M I A Terrorist Chic Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Radical chic amp oldid 1189764907, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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