Another Reading Response

Honestly, I never really thought of Elvis as white trash. Gaudy, yes. Flamboyant, unquestionably so. But white trash? Maybe its because I never thought of white trashness as being a subculture; I thought it was more of a stereotype.

I also thought of Elvis, especially during his heyday, as extremely masculine, too, because of the images of thousands of girls fawning and fainting over him. Sweeney’s article argues that white trash masculinity, which must only be applicable to Elvis’ later years, is based in a ‘castrated aesthetic,’ where men attempt to compensate for their lacking social status by ‘collect[ing] junk and show[ing] it off.’ So, Elvis, ‘the king’ himself, is considered emasculated?

While Sweeney’s stereotypical definition of white trash is NOT, in my opinion, applicable to Elvis’ entire career or persona, her discussion of the relationship between black and white trash culture does seem relevant. Elvis did successfully exploit the black culture that he experienced while growing up in the slums, as is evident in his musical style. Elvis’ poor upbringing did marginalize him from society, thereby putting him on the same level as blacks, who constantly live on the outside of southern society. But does his seamless blending of black and white music make him white trash or revolutionary? Does living as a social outcast imply white-trashness?

Elvis’ overt sexuality is also apparently a characteristic of white trashness because of the close association of black culture (which is associated with sexuality because of their link to slavery and hard labor) to the white trash ‘subculture.’ Personally, I think Elvis’ overt sexuality is a reaction to the explosion of Freudian psychology following WWII and the sexual repression of the conformist 1950’s. Elvis capitalized on sexuality in order to sell a persona, which, in my opinion, is not a white trash characteristic, though people tend to associate ‘white trash’ individuals with ‘inbreeding, degeneracy, and criminality.’

So in conclusion, I think this article was founded on a flaw: ‘white trashness’ is a stereotype, not a subculture. Sweeney liberally reinforces prejudices with false notions cultural collateral, and unfairly tags Elvis as the idol of white trash. I am forced to admit, I suppose, that Elvis’ late eccentricity could be associated with this stereotype, but I think its unfair to undermine his revolutionary career with notions of emasculation and social alienation.