Kitsch

Andrea Mecacci

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3) : 65-75.

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Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3) : 65-75.
Western Literary Theory

Kitsch

  • Andrea Mecacci
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Abstract

Used improperly as a synonym for bad taste, the term kitsch refers to one of the most important aesthetic categories of the last century. This paper, after trying to provide a historical framework of kitsch, focuses on two themes: the kitsch object and the link between postmodernism and kitsch, which will be referred to as neo-kitsch. In the first field of investigation, through the morphology of the kitsch object, the opposition of the kitsch aesthetic to that of functionalism will be outlined. Neo-kitsch, on the other hand, will be interpreted as a process of aesthetic hybridisation, one of the most obvious results of postmodern aesthetics.

Key words

aesthetics / kitsch; functionalism / postmodernism / neo-kitsch; contemporary art

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Andrea Mecacci. Kitsch[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2021, 41(3): 65-75
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