Elvis, il re nascosto del rock. Messianesimo, illusione rivoluzionaria e nuovi feticismi pop = Elvis, the hidden king of rock and roll. Messianism, revolutionary delusion and birth of new pop fetishisms

Abstract

Elvis, the hidden king of rock and roll. Messianism, revolutionary delusion and birth of new pop fetishisms. Taking inspiration from Simmel’s insight regarding the presence of hidden kings in every distinguished cultural epoch, this paper explores the forms through which pop culture has got to generate new models of power, capable to set new standards by means of intrisic capabilities of overcoming social distortions the political power could not overtake. Elvis Presley, its myth, and the fetishisms derived from his stardom, condensed a number of Western stereotypes, subsuming counterposed social consciousnesses. In Presley’s figure, social antinomies are smoothed out through the delusion of a revolutionary pledge, that eventually comes out to be socially reassuring and equitable with an epiphany.