When Art and Celebrity Collide - Telling the Dixie Chicks to 'Shut up and Sing'

Words uttered at a concert by singer Natalie Maines resulted in the DixieChicks' being banned from radio stations having masses of ex-fans demolishtheir CD's and even threats to their lives. What was said to cause such aheated reaction? Just so you know we're ashamed that President Bush isfrom Texas. Due to this expression the Chicks-stars of country music-were called traitors to their Country and their country music roots. The authoruses this case to uncover the role that popular culture icons play in our selfempowerment.That is how do messages delivered through popular cultureconstrain or enable our perceived ability to resist dominant ideals? Dr. Kristi L.Scholten uses a narrative approach to examine: a) citizen-generatedcommentary b) popular news reports c) the Chicks' own responses and d)fan's expectations for their celebrated artists. This allowed her to get a sensefor how the dominant public narrative puts the pieces of the story togetherin order to create a vision of the world and how people should behave in it.The result is: a) the championing of an aggressive very male patriot b) theconnection between a rough redneck character and Middle-American valuesand c) a 'shut up and sing' attitude which diminishes the agency of celebrityartists.This book is directed towards Rhetorical Narrative Popular Culture and ArtScholars as well as Political and Media Analysts.