The regime of style

Cover versions, reality TV, and the aesthetic principles of populism in Israel and beyond

Bibliographic Data

ID7975852
AuthorsOded Erez (0000-0002-7137-4304, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume41
Issue3
Pages293-312
Publication date2022-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143022000411
OpenAlexW4312620514
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited23

This article explores the relationship between the meaning of style in Idol-format TV shows, and the political style which many scholars consider central for understanding populism today. Inspired by Jacques Rancière's notion of aesthetic regimes, I theorise what I call ‘the regime of style’ as a set of aesthetic principles shared across these fields. I explore the case study of Miri Regev's term as Israel's Minister of Culture and Sports, showing how she implemented a long-term strategy combining deliberate scandals that pitted her against ‘the cultural elite’, and the endorsement of pop music styles associated with publics that traditionally support her party (Likud). What ties these complementary strategies together is that they perform a ‘flaunting of the low’ (Ostiguy 2017). In refocusing the conversation on contested hierarchies of taste, Regev's own appeal partakes in the aesthetic economy of Idol-format shows, where style is fetishised as a transparent performance of identity

Aesthetics · Appeal · Art · Conversation · Elite · Epistemology · Identity (music · Literature · Meaning (existential · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Populism · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Taste · Communication · Critical Theory and Political Philosophy · Diverse Musicological Studies · Law · Music History and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access