Elvis, "Coolness" and Masculinity in the 50s USA

Författare

• Sven-Erik Klinkmann

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37447/bk.130565

Nyckelord:

masculinity, metaphor, cool, rock 'n' roll

Abstract

This article discusses Elvis Presley in relation to the concepts of coolness and masculinity in the 1950's in the USA. One point of departure is that words can be used in a number of different ways; for example, as carrying either a more literal, or more metaphorical or figurative meaning. An example of the way in which words are given figurative meanings, without us even giving it further thought, is the song by the American country singer and songwriter Tom T. Hall. The song "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine" tells the story of the singer's encounter with, as the song goes, "an old gray black gentleman". The two adjectives signifying colours, that is, grey and black, here very clearly carry different meanings and are formed on different bases. The word "gray" metonymically, primarily based on hair colour, refers to the man's age, that is, how the man is categorised agewise as an elderly gentleman. Also the word "black" is used metaphorically, but in a different way: as signifying that the man in question is ethnically AfroAmerican, thus also referring to the problem of colour, which is still highly topical in present-day USA. The concepts of "cool" and "coolness" are also, in my opinion, directly connected with issues of colour in a metaphorical sense.