What follows is a visitor essay by Elizabeth Scarbrough.
The loudest voices on the web have had the identical response to Lizzo enjoying James Madison’s crystal flute and Kim Kardashian carrying Marilyn Monroe’s gown: unbridled outrage. How dare she (Lizzo/Kardashian) desecrate a bit of our nation’s cultural heritage! These are valuable, irreplaceable gadgets! How will we ever recuperate!
However ought to we actually deal with these two circumstances alike? In a single case, we’ve an merchandise intimately linked to a selected particular person throughout an iconic pop cultural second, and within the different, we’ve a singular musical instrument as soon as owned by a founding father. Although they appear the identical, Lizzo enjoying Madison’s crystal flute is successful story of the preservation of musical devices, whereas Kardashian carrying Monroe’s gown is a really regarding case for the preservation of historic objects.
In conversations concerning the preservation of any object, we have to ask what we’re preserving. Normally, this can come all the way down to a query of what the preservers worth. In preserving a historic theater, for instance, can we care about preserving the unique supplies of the theater (the outdated 35mm projectors and the 100-year-old velvet seats) or can we care extra about preserving its use-value (the function or perform the theater served locally)? If we care concerning the use-value of the theater, we might swap out the outdated velvet seats for brand new comfier ones and add a digital projector to raised serve the persevering with perform of the theater as an area for the neighborhood to look at films. If we care about preserving unique supplies, we might hold the outdated seats and 35mm projector. This, maybe, would make the house much less practical as a theater however would protect it as an traditionally vital artifact. Each types of preservation are respectable however serve completely different functions.
Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s gown to the MET Gala for only some minutes. Ripley’s Consider It or Not (a subsidiary of Ripley Leisure) loaned Kardashian the gown for the occasion, which she (allegedly) broken. The theme for the 2022 gala was “America: An Anthology of Trend.” Maybe Kardashian thought that nothing can be extra American than Marilyn Monroe singing “Completely satisfied Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy. The “Completely satisfied Birthday” gown was particularly made for Monroe, sewn onto her earlier than she took the stage at Madison Sq. Backyard on Could 19, 1962. Monroe died later that 12 months.
Museum professionals have universally condemned Kardashian carrying the gown. ICOM, the Worldwide Council of Museums, acknowledged, “Historic clothes shouldn’t be worn by anyone, public or personal figures.” This isn’t shocking, provided that ICOM is a department of UNESCO, the United Nations Academic, Scientific, Cultural Group, whose different branches regarding cultural heritage preservation typically fall on the aspect of persevering unique materials (typically to the detriment of what’s known as ‘intangible’ or ‘living’ heritage). In desirous to protect unique supplies in any respect prices, the gown was not for use as a garment.
It’s additionally not a shock that the artworld condemned Ripley since Ripley is an leisure venue, not a museum. Whereas tour operators would possibly name it the “Ripley’s ‘Consider It or Not!’ Museum,” Ripley is cautious to consult with itself as a “franchising firm” that makes a speciality of leisure alternatives. As a division of the Jim Pattison Group (named after and financed by the billionaire Jim Pattison), Ripley’s is the second largest privately held firm in Canada. The Jim Pattison Group bought Monroe’s gown for $4.8 million, making it the most costly gown at public sale on the time of its buy in 2018.
Even then, people worried about an entertainment venue owning an important historical dress, and it now seems that they had been proper to be involved. As an leisure venue, the corporate has not one of the ordinary obligations and norms round preservation upheld by different organizations. Ripley’s aim is to entertain and earn cash, somewhat than present a repository for culturally vital materials. Lending the gown out made strategic sense: if it had not been broken, the transfer would have raised Ripley’s profile, driving up earnings.
Museums, alternatively, adhere (although typically loosely) to a code of ethics set forth by the AAM (American Alliance of Museums). The code of ethics is grounded on public belief and public service. They’re custodians of their artifacts and should hold data to doc gadgets’ journey and preservation. Based on the AAM, their assortment actions should “[p]romote the general public good somewhat than particular person monetary achieve.”
Ripley has no such mission assertion. On its website, the closest factor I might discover is an announcement about their wealth: “With over… $10.1 billion in gross sales, The Jim Pattison Group offers sound monetary backing for the expansion of Ripley Leisure and our household of points of interest.” I’ll be the primary one to confess that museums are ethically fraught; we’d like solely to take a look at all of the immorally acquired artifacts with sketchy provenance to query their ethical commitments. However museums however play an vital function in preserving and defending cultural heritage; their function in society is meant to be completely different from an leisure venue.
Kardashian herself additionally deserves our criticism for damaging the gown. Her aim was to make a splash on the pink carpet, and so she selected to put on the gown regardless of the plain risk of irreparable injury. Whereas she denies her function within the injury, we do know that the gown was handmade for Monroe’s physique – a form completely different from Kardashian’s personal. We additionally know Monroe was (beforehand) the one particular person to put on the enduring robe. To my untrained eyes, the injury to the gown appears apparent. Crystals are lacking; there’s a torn strap, and there’s noticeable stretching of supplies across the zipper. A video Kardashian launched on Ripley’s Believe It or Not! YouTube channel reveals her struggling to placed on the gown.
Kardashian wore the gown for mere minutes and wore a reproduction of the gown for the remainder of the occasion. But when there was a reproduction all alongside, why not put on that for the entire occasion? Right here we’d blame the aura – not of the artist (or designer, Bob Mackie) – however of the unique wearer. Kardashian needed to put on the exact same gown Marilyn Monroe wore. She needed to put on the unique supplies, even on the threat of these exact same supplies, and that is what she ought to be blamed for.
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Now take Lizzo as an alternative. Lizzo was invited to play a flute that when belonged to James Madison. The invitation got here from Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, by way of Twitter. The Librarian of Congress is a place nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Hayden is the primary Black girl to carry this place. She reached out to Lizzo and organized a personal tour for the singer (and flautist) and arranged the transportation of the flute to the live performance corridor. On stage, Lizzo exclaimed, “Bitch, I simply twerked and performed James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s… We simply made historical past tonight!”
Based on White Home Historian Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, James Madison was a “garden-variety slaveholder” who bequeathed over 100 enslaved folks to his son. To have a Black girl, one who’s a classically skilled flute participant and popular culture icon, twerk and carry out on a flute as soon as owned by this man does really feel historic. Nonetheless, Lizzo has since confronted outrage from two very completely different teams. Some have asserted that she disrespected Madison by enjoying his flute, whereas others have mentioned that, as a Black girl, she gave undue respect to Madison as a slaveholder.
Let’s return to philosophy and preservation. Musical devices are a member of a category of objects which can be normally preserved for his or her use worth. Different such objects embody airplanes, vintage automobiles, and timepieces (e.g., clocks and watches). Put on and tear on small components are sometimes changed to protect perform. For instance, the Smithsonian’s Corridor of Musical Devices contains a number of 18th-century Stradivari stringed devices that are usually lent out to the Smithsonian Chamber Gamers for live shows. The mission of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society is to “take the devices out of their circumstances and make them sing.”
The Library of Congress has 1,800 flutes in its assortment. These devices are supposed to be performed and never merely (visually) admired, and there are procedures in place for lending out these devices. In a press release, the Library mentioned, “When Lizzo requested if she might play the flute at her Tuesday live performance in entrance of 1000’s of followers, the library’s assortment, preservation, and safety groups had been as much as the problem. On the Library, curators be sure that the merchandise could be transported in a personalized protecting container and a Library curator and safety officer are at all times guarding the merchandise till it’s secured as soon as extra.”
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The disanalogies between Kardashian and Lizzo are quite a few. A very powerful is the truth that the flute is preserved for use, and the gown just isn’t. And on this case, the flute – which might fairly have undergone alterations in line with its goal of being playable – truly didn’t want any alterations, the place the gown – for which alterations are themselves a form of injury – did want them.
Lastly, and I feel most significantly, the flute, whereas owned by James Madison, was not carefully related along with his id. Whereas the common American related the gown with Marilyn Monroe, only a few folks (earlier than Lizzo) would have been capable of establish the flute as owned by Madison. This anonymity makes Madison’s flute a way more clear-cut case of preservation for use-value. Monroe’s gown, in contrast, is an identity-associated usable artifact that we might need to protect for its aura of affiliation along with her determine and, as such, we must always protect the unique materials.
Tougher and fascinating are circumstances of musical devices intimately related to a selected musician – Prince’s guitars or Glenn Gould’s pianos. Right here there’s a stress between desirous to protect the use-value of the instrument and the aura of the artist. Greater than most different classical pianists, Gould’s pianos confirmed the damage and tear on the instrument. And when it comes to classical musicians, his quirky persona led him to have a rock-star like standing. Gould’s piano (CD 318) shook up the preservation world when folks went to struggle about whether or not to deal with it like an ‘artifact’ (preserving the unique materials Gould touched) versus preserving it as a musical instrument. Among the shabby flaws and imperfections of the piano had been maintained, preserving the aura of the musician. Likewise, Prince’s “Cloud” guitar was intimately linked to his on-stage persona. The National Museum of American History now owns Prince’s first “Cloud” guitar – seemingly the one performed within the movie Purple Rain. It’s at present not on view, nor are there any plans to lend it out to be performed.
I think that the actual motive individuals are upset with Lizzo enjoying James Madison’s flute has a lot much less to do with their preservation ideas and extra to do with racist dog whistles. However I’m glad the problem of the preservation of historic objects has surfaced within the public creativeness. The underside line is that this. When preserving a historic object, we should ask ourselves what we worth. Can we worth having the ability to use the item, or can we worth the aura of the particular person related to that object? Answering this query will information our preservation practices in addition to assist us decide the appropriateness of present-day interactions with a preserved historic object.
Elizabeth Scarbrough (she/they) is an Affiliate Instructing Professor at Florida Worldwide College. Extra about them could be discovered at elizabethscarbrough.com or comply with them on letterboxd.com (lizscar).
