Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture

by John Seabrook

From John Seabrook, one of our most incisive and amusing cultural critics, comes Nobrow , a fascinatingly original look at the radical convergence of marketing and culture.

In the old days, highbrow was elite and unique and lowbrow was commercial and mass-produced. Those distinctions have been eradicated by a new cultural landscape where “good” means popular, where artists show their work at K-Mart, Titantic becomes a bestselling classical album, and Roseanne Barr guest edits The New Yorker : in short, a culture of Nobrow . Combining social commentary, memoir, and profiles of the potentates and purveyors of pop culture–entertainment mogul David Geffen, MTV President Judy McGrath, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nobrow high-priest George Lucas, and others–Seabrook offers an enthralling look at our breakneck society where culture is ruled by the unpredictable Buzz and where even aesthetic worth is measured by units shipped.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Art, Sociology, Cultural, History, Design

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2000

About the author

John Seabrook has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1993. The author of several books including Nobrow, he has taught narrative nonfiction writing at Princeton University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fascinating, utterly fascinating, if you're interested in: John Seabrook; John Seabrook's family; the sophistication of John Seabrook and his family; the old wealth (deserved, of course) of John Seabrook's family; did I, John Seabrook, mention that I went to Princeton; and, of course, John Seabrook.

If you're not interested in those things, this book, which is purportedly about the melding of high and low culture but which is actually about, yes, you guessed it, John Seabrook, is pretty much a waste of paper. I have no idea why he didn't just go ahead and name it I, JOHN SEABROOK -- maybe his editor wisely drew the line. Not that it helped.

[Diane Elmers · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf, так как вовремя (ну как вовремя, ближе к сотым страницам) увидела отзывы, вторящие моим уже зарождавшимся сомнениям в том, что стоит ЭТО продолжать
из рубрики разочаровавшего или ‘wtf was that’

ожидала нонфикшн эссе о культуре маркетинга и о том, как им проникнуты все сферы нашей жизни (=интересно), получила 200+ страниц нытья и язвичных комментариев журналиста о жизни и коллегах, без каких-либо инсайтов, аналитики, но зато с кучей странных отсылок и ехидных комментов о чужих карьерах?? (=неинтересно)
помимо прочего, наверное, ироничные ‘упоминания’ своего привилегированного ака элитарного ака якручевсех бекграунда через строчку в книге о сравнении и анализе элитарной vs массовой культуре?? ок, очень к месту

2/5, тк не дочитала и оставляю space for benefit of a doubt, так было бы 1/5

p.s. friendly reminder to check out the reviews before reading:^)

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It was a quick and engrossing read, mostly because it was enjoyable to read about what happens at the New Yorker and what David Geffen's house looks like. I basically skipped over the word "Nobrow" whenever I saw it because by the end I still didn't really get what he meant. Okay, high culture and low culture meet in the middle. So what? The actual cultural analysis seemed very naive and rudimentary. That said, seems like Seabrook got to talk to a lot of cool people during his career as a writer. But that doesn't make a book memorable.

[Мария Бахарева · Rating 1 out of 5]

Я думала, что это будет действительно интересная книга, которая полноценно описывает явление, типа «Бобо в раю», а это оказалась ПОЛНАЯ ХУЕТА. В послесловии автор, говоря о продвижении своей книги, как раз ноет, что «Бобо» продается гораздо лучше — чувак, проблема не в продвижении, а в том, что она и правда гораздо лучше.

[Cam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the book I was expecting. More of just a compilation of previous interviews and memories about them, and less of a sociological look at the role of high culture and class in America. I wanted something more serious and less of a reminiscence from a wealthy New Yorker reporting on other wealthy New Yorkers and their friends elsewhere. I can see why it got good blurbs; the author moved in these overly self-referential circles. That said, it is a fairly interesting look into the subjects of his magazine article for the New Yorker and elsewhere. David Geffen, George Lucas, Tina Brown, et al, are noteworthy and we all know something about them already. His concept that commercialism has overtaken all other values and created a middle-brow class and artistic culture suffers from his lack of expertice and historical perspective and perhaps his own upper-class upbringing. Not a horrible read, but not terribly enlightening.

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course it's been years since I read it, but this is the book which describes an interview for a job at MTV:

Do you know what "fly" means?

Yes. It means "cool."

Do you know what "dope" means?

Yes. It means "cool."

etc etc

Also, reading Martin Amis reminded me of the slight amount of "dish" on Tina Brown in here.

[aglae · Rating 3 out of 5]

это книга как воплощение культурологии — обо всем сразу и ни о чем, попытка привести частный опыт к теоретической подоплеке, забывая об абсолютной субъективности этого опыта. читается приятно, но из этой книжки невозможно вынести что-то стоящее — и запомнить больше, чем на пару часов

[Nataliya Kirilovskaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Занудная книга 🤢

[Sona Arsenyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Замечательная книга. Живой разговор с человеком, который постарше, умнее, опытнее, но в то же время не так далек от моего поколения, как, например, мои родители, которые выросли в совершенно другом мире - Советских социалистических реалий. Для мамы рваные джинсы - глупость, для меня - феномен, который интересно изучать, ведь это часть моей жизни. Моей, не маминой. Точно так же для Сибрука "Звёздные войны" не пустой звук, а ноубрау - возможность отказаться от лживых разделение на категории высокое (искусство, вкус, статус и т.д) и низкое. Книга написана почти 20 лет назад, но - в пост-советском пространстве точно - актуальна и сегодня.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its main flaw is in succumbing to many of the very cultural trappings it seeks to bring to our attention. Meaning, if course, you must be perceptive enough to distill and universalize wisdom from page after page of very narrowly-constructed framework (read: self-aggrandizing "LOOK AT ME I CAME FROM OLD MONEY AND WORK FOR THE NEWWW YOUUUURKAHH" bloat. For someone looking to embrace a world without high-low culture, it sure reads a lot like a little orphan boy desperately trying to assert his place in the hegemony). That aside, it provides at least a handful of worthwhile insights about our ever-changing culture-at-large, even if the most powerful wisdom is delivered via the block quotes. It's a story that dated fast, with the exponential evolution of eCulture, but it's still a worthy conversation piece for those getting their feet wet in the Brave New Market.

[Julia Chupryna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Раніше (хоча й зараз так є) єдиним критерієм оцінки книги була кількість виписаних речень/абзаців/сторінок твору. Якось так завжди співпадало: якщо їх багато - то це однозначно мій фаворит, якщо взагалі нема - більше ми з цією роботою не перетинатимемось в інформаційній галактиці. Ця - тотальний виняток. Я не встигаю упорядковувати масив тексту, що взяла на озброєння, хоча книга викликала суперечливі думки. Загальня ідея - чудово донесена (культура і маркетинг - це одне ціле, точніше прототип загадки про те, що було перше - курка чи яйце), є дуже стильні вставки про тогочасну моду, вона просто відчувається на сторінках так, ніби ти в текстовому режимі переглядаєш світшоти у Bershka, але тебе просто сковує загальна ідея автора про те наскільки та сама культура прогнила, образи зіпсуті, а ти і досі в конвульсіях не хочеш повірити, що комерціалізм став самометою.

[aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful historical and personal jaunt through the marketing highbrow culture and how it slowly evolved into his term..."nobrow". A very telling and insightful book told loosely through the story of evolution of the New Yorker.

If you are interested in learning about how and when 200 dollar torn jeans became popular and how marketing has taken underground movements and popularized them then this is the book for you. It also examines the reverse, how high culture has been dummed down in some cases or made accessible to more people in other cases. A well-written and thoughtful book.

[Askorbinka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Culture is marketing, marketing is culture. I'm a big fan of The New Yorker, the magazine where you can read articles about Trent Reznor, Oliver Sucks and criticism of new G.O.P. initiatives in a single issue. John Seabrook's thoughts about the phenomenon of nobrow culture as a result of commercialization of taste are entertaining and informative. I would prefer more insights from The New Yorker editorial process though. P.S. Russian translation is awful.

[Dmitriy Podluzny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Легкое чтение побуждающее задуматься о современной культуре. Автор ни на что не претендует, он просто рассказывает свою историю. Немного об Америке, немного о семье, немного о работе.

Нужно было бы ее прочитать лет пятнадцать назад, но хорошо хоть можно прочитать сейчас.

[Carla Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very subtle dystopia. Seabrook has good points about our culture now, and they're so right on. Loved all the insider details on The New Yorker.

[1.1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the first 5 pages I was thinking this would be a treat, but I became disillusioned pretty quickly. Maybe sooner, even. For instance when Seabrook refers to 'the homeys' (poor variant spelling, dawg—it's 'homies'). Or when he refers to Timbs as 'Tims' I was clearly dealing with a cultural ragpicker who didn't even care enough to do his homework about what he was cadging. But that was the 90s for you (a remarkably shallow time), and I was only a child then, blissfully unaware of the late elitist struggle for cultural superiority and relevance. The writing is OK, truly passable, but you need only read the latinesques and feeble allusions to know where the author roosts.

It could only be a WASP who would write this book, of course. The insights are hardly new, and the way they are presented at first, in the chapters concerning MTV and The New Yorker have a very potent chilling effect. They are as affective as a decent horror story, and truly made me uncomfortable while I was reading. Jesus... the whole thing really is this bleak if you're a disinterested elite in the 90s. And somehow much more bleak if you're of the unwashed masses, but at least more 'real' as well—the cold luxury of a total analysis is denied when you need to pay the bills and survive. But as I said earlier, it becomes clear during the read that Seabrook is not quite as savvy as purported, and like all tenured critics whose entry was secured by privilege, he's kind of in his own world. Which is a shame, because this could have been the book I hoped it would be.

The chapter on Brand Star Wars, if not novel or sharply insightful, was still interesting. Ditto the one about David Geffen. By the end of the book I had revised my opinions somewhat: but it was still a thin gruel, weirdly flavoured, and lukewarm. Clearly Seabrook isn't a total raving idiot, but also, in a more important way, he's a big time dummy and you can safely ignore this book. Despite that, there's the ephemeral spirits of some interesting ideas running through this book, and if cultural criticism is your thing, this is a worthwhile read. It's just clearly a vehicle, a product of the very thing it critiques—and from that you may get a strong sense of mindless terror. I sure did.

Oh—there's a golden moment of literary criticism built right into this book, and that is what saves it. Just at the end, Seabrook recounts a reading he did in an Irish bar in New York, when one of the audience, a rough looking guy, clearly insulted by this commercial invasion of a public space, yells: "Say something real! Come on! Give us some poetry! Talk about something real!" That was the only character in this book I could identify with. That man is the essential hero, and Seabrook, the defeated villain, could only crack wise with a tight throat... it's glorious. Props to the author for including that.

I got the sense early, and have not lost it, that one of the spirits running amok in this book, never quite allowing itself to be seen, is that very villainous, evil, and pathetic charlatan: Patrick Bateman.

[Tatjana Volkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Мы живем во времена распада культурных иерархий, когда классовые различия перестали каким-либо образом выражаться в различии потребляемой человеком "высокой" и "низкой" культуры. Уже стало не позорно быть топ-менеджером и ходить на рейвы (а не в оперу, к примеру). И этот распад произошел сравнительно недавно и окончательно оформился в конце 90-х годов прошлого века.

Вот об этом и книга, она построена как серия зарисовок-размышлений от автора - бывшего сотрудника журнала New Yorker. Особенностью этого журнала как раз были лонгриды с большим количеством подробностей и отступлений. Лично я очень люблю лонгриды и горюю, что жанр ушел в прошлое, поэтому книга мне понравилась - в ней вы найдете историю канала MTV (там автор тоже работал), интервью с Джорджем Лукасом, репортаж с концерта 15-летнего рок-гения, наблюдения о моде и прочие заметки, объединенные общей темой.

Изложено местами язвительно, чувствуется грусть автора от того, что журнал оказался зажат в рыночных тиска и был вынужден терять свое лицо ради того, чтобы угодить рекламодателям. Через ту же трасформацию прошли музыканты, режиссеры, писатели - их основной целью стало угождать аудитории и создавать продукт. Даже те, кто изначально хотел быть творчески независим, как Лукас (он начинал с авторского кино).

Книга продается в разделе "Культурология", но рекомендовать ее можно абсолютно всем, это не научные исследования, а ценная фактура событий и явлений 90-х годов от внимательного человека, который много где работал и много с кем общался. И что удивительно, актуальности своей книга совсем не потеряла.

[Sasha Ustyuzhanina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Книга переведена так, что возникает ощущение, что жуешь песок. Страницы усыпаны перлами. Дадим представление:

"Геффен выкрикнул "Ох!" с выражением боли на лице, как будто маленькая радость от своего рассказа оказалась для него слишком большим счастьем, истощив его силы".
"В клипе автор поет эту песню в прикольном стиле слегка истеричным голосом, а камера скользит по ее телу под водой в тропическом океане, и ее тело совершает под музыку движения с намеком на эротику"

Справедливости ради надо сказать, что оригинал написан в противненьком журнальном стиле начала нулевых, когда автор в любом материале пытался описать в первую очередь себя любимого.

Основная идея: в Америке культурная иерархия заменяла классовую, но в 90х highbrow и lowbrow смешались в nobrow. Проводник высокой культуры журнал "Нью-Йоркер" остался в замешательстве.

[Dmitry Hryakov · Rating 4 out of 5]

+
Сплетение личной истории автора и теории Шума
Неплохой перевод
Драматургия и структура книги
-
Не хватило ссылок на другие исследования (то есть, они были, но мне показалась, что автор стесняется этого (?) и не "докручивает")
"Теоретическая рамка" как-будто есть, но будто её и нет; есть упоминание Бурдье по делу, но слишком расплывчато и мне опять показалось, что Сибрук боится показаться слишком умным
Части книги не равны, и если про журнализм и музыку написано много, то про книжный рынок какие-то жалкие странички

Если резюмировать, то о прочтении не жалею, но рекомендовать безоговорочно, наверное, не смогу. С другой стороны, все, кто хотел, эту книгу давно прочитали, это я такой отсталый))

[Eve Schaub · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Seabrook is an excellent, thoughtful writer and I enjoyed his behind-the-scenes descriptions of what life at the New Yorker was like during a tumultuous period of transition at the magazine. As an author he tends to jump around a bit and I sometimes have trouble following his transitions- perhaps my biggest complaint about this book is that at times it can read like a bunch of different New Yorker articles stapled together. But his larger point- about the contemporary merging of culture and marketing, and what the ramifications of that may be- is a very worthwhile discussion, so I have to forgive any choppiness in the service of a great, thought-provoking read.

[Ilya Inozemtsev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Насколько мне понравилась «Машина песен», настолько и возмутила «Ноубрау».

От каждого слова и кейса Сибрука разит патокой, фейком и неуместным гонором, характерного, видимо, для нью-йоркского глянца. Чувствуется желание уловить момент, когда культура превратилась в ноубрау, но что-то я не уверовал.

[Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Довольно интересно о том, как и когда устарело аристократическое разделение культуры на высокую и низкую, какой эффект произвели «Звёздные войны» и MTV, как поменялись журналы. Много личных историй и много сумбура, к концу перестаёшь уже следить за темой.

[Lisa K · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The Song Machine” is one of my favorite books but God this one is BORING! The most exciting takeaway is the fun fact that Nada Surf and Rage Against the Machine have the same manager. Read “The Song Machine” instead!!!

[szymborskalyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, Seabrook's take on the logic/structure of culture is far, far more compelling and interesting than the 1,074th iteration of Bourdieusian practice theory you encounter in sociology journals today.

[kalyx · Rating 1 out of 5]

—and i don't say this lightly—lose your allusion

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отличный сборник эссе

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, well-written in a smooth style that demonstrates why Seabrook is a staff writer for The New Yorker. This was actually a memoir pinned to a framework of musings on culture, and was significantly less structured and systemic that I was expecting given the subtitle. Perhaps it's appropriate that the marketing for this book in particular mistook well-developed style for substance.

Still, I'm not sorry to have spent time reading this. Seabrook's theses regarding the dissolution of the high culture/low culture dichotomy into a muddle that swirls around the advertising money are worth exploring. But it's interesting that he's focuses exclusively on the film/music/media producers whole dole money out to artists, and, to a lesser degree, on the artist themselves. Little to no thought is given to the public, the consumers, the (formerly?) lowbrow masses; in Seabrook's Nobrow world, they're a faceless flock, still desperate to buy status even if the symbols themselves have changed. (Granted, Seabrook's lived his entire adult life in lower Manhattan, so I can see where his perceptions might be skewed.)

Given Seabrook's previous book on (mid-90's) internet culture, it's strange he'd completely neglect to mention its effect on blurring high and low culture. While it's true that this book was written in 1999/2000, it still should've been readily apparent that increased connectivity was drastically affecting the way we masses identify, consume, and interact with media.

For all his assertions that he's part of the new Nobrow, Seabrook is strangely compelled to reference highbrow culture at every opportunity, name-dropping liberally from the dead-white-European literary canon and from high fashion; it's as if he needs to prove his cred as heir to the town house by mentioning his Princeton and Oxford almae matres in every chapter before he's sufficiently confident to proceed with his deconstruction.

So: a valuable topic, nicely written, but somehow lacking heft and depth.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly, too rambling, like a witty journal entry when I wanted Seabrook to make his points, lay down his bottom lines. The best part was his tracking of the evolution of The New Yorker magazine editors, and pages 169 and 170 in the chapter "Sunday in Soho," in which he puts into words something we're all familiar with, an aspect of Lasch's "culture of narcissism."

At a gallery showing new media work, he tries to judge it from high and low brow categories, which doesn't work. He discovers that "the audience is at least as interesting to look at as the art is, and it seems to be aware of that. A few people carry into the Guggenheim the air of town-house seriousness that I still instinctively carry into a museum - that earnestness with which one goes to "get" high culture at the Met. But most people are here just to chill out and watch one another, secure in the knowledge that they the culture.

...

"When you say about a painting, a music video, or a pair of jeans, "I like this," you make some sort of judgment, but it's not a judgment of quality. In Nobrow judgments about which brand of jeans to wear are more like judgments of identity than quality....this kind of taste is more like appetite than disinterested judgment. Taste is the act of making the thing part of your identity. Stripped of the legitimacy that the old cultural hierarchy gave to them, acts of taste acts of appetite, whether applied to art, furniture, or food.

...


No value endures; everything shifts in the marketplace of opinion."

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first assigned to read excerpts from this for a class, a few lectures focusing on the distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow culture in America. I enjoyed those, so decided to read the full book.

I think it goes without saying that Seabrook's writing style is relatively easy to enjoy. His anecdotes are witty and informative, colored with just enough personal experience to make these case studies points on an autobiographical trek through cultural consumption.

But they are, fundamentally, anecdotes. He draws sweeping claims based on these examples, claiming that the distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow culture are no longer meaningful. He's right, to an extent: listening to symphony music or rap music no longer pegs us in the higher or lower classes. But he goes too far in making that argument.

Were he to perform an empirical study, I think he would find that a mythology of a browed culture still exists. We can easily categorize some elements of culture, as always, yet some elements of culture remain in a grey area (example: a notoriously awful Ludakris song samples both Mozart and Dvorak). Overall, it's a thought-provoking read, but, like most stories of its kind, it tells an interesting story without real empirical support.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly an interesting premise, but at the end of the day John Seabrook simply never delivers in NoBrow. The book is a self-indulgent ramble of his thoughts on the convergence of high and low culture, but his attitude and bias are clearly from someone raised and educated with money and high-class mentality. Maybe Seabrook wants to justify his own interest in "low-class" entertainment like hip-hop, boy bands, and Star Wars, but he is so smug any intriguing point is left on the drawing board. These are interesting chapters no doubt, but they remain Seabrook's own New Yorker pieces re-edited into chapter-length entries for this book. Enjoy your $200 t-shirt's John and don't ask readers to sympathize with your highbrow views of culture and marketing convergences.

If you want to know more about Nobrow and the integration of High and Low Culture read the more recent and informative From Lowbrow to Nobrow by Peter Swirski. It at least has the "proper" (smug-ness intended) academic definition and meaning within its pages.