The American flag as art and controversy : a case study of the 1989 Chicago "flag-on-the-floor" controversy /
This study examines a controversy over the display of a flag-on-the-floor exhibit at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989. It asks three questions. First, why did the controversy happen when it did? Second, what made the flag exhibit controversial? Third, why were parties to the contro...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2001.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=725906091&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | This study examines a controversy over the display of a flag-on-the-floor exhibit at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989. It asks three questions. First, why did the controversy happen when it did? Second, what made the flag exhibit controversial? Third, why were parties to the controversy drawn either to desecration arguments attacking the exhibit or to free speech arguments defending the exhibit? I apply three theoretical perspectives to understand the incident: moral panic, culture war, and class-based identity construction hypothesis. I argue that the controversial flag work cannot by itself explain the timing of the controversy. The timing had more to do with the politicization of the flag at the national level, racial politics at the local level, veterans' concerns for their own benefits, and the politics of the place where the exhibit was shown. I also argue, however, that the controversy was not merely a result of conflict over vested interests. The flag exhibit became the center of debate (a) because it offended nationalist sentiments that were extremely fragile at the time, (b) because it resonated strongly with the culture war raging on in the country, and (c) because it reflected a deep gap between the art world and the lay community in their respective aesthetic judgments. Finally, I suggest that in pluralistic societies, the persuasiveness of a cultural interpretation may vary depending on the institutional domains within which it operates. Members of and contributors to the Art Institute embraced the free speech argument due to their own class-based libertarian orientations. The Park District Finance Committee rescinded its earlier decision to cut the Institute's funding mainly because of its own institutional rules, and the Cook County Circuit Court Judge found the free speech argument more persuasive primarily in light of the legal precedents set in flag desecration cases. Similarly, it was also the logic of public opinion and political elections that led to the desecration argument triumph over the free speech argument. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Sociology". |
| Physical Description: | vii, 174 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-170). |