Appropriating edgy subculture signifiers for mass consumption erases their meaning

Evidence

Yet, in hindsight, Gaga’s provocations feel shallow. Her 2010 MTV Video Music Awards meat dress provoked mild outrage from animal rights activists but left little cultural impact. As Simon Reynolds wrote, “Collapsing past into future, and edgy hipsterism into mainstream showbiz, Gaga voided the meaning of either.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 253

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Comfortable consumption closes off imagining any alternative society — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 166; Popular culture recycles stigmatized knowledge out of sealed subcultures — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 216