I Have Seen Elvis

by Erik Hoegh-Guldberg
(English major)

While driving down the expressway late last Saturday night I saw the strangest thing. There on the side of the road was an old broken-down blue Cadillac. As I passed, that's when I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye; it was him. There stood Elvis Presley, the King, kicking at the flattened tire of his rusted out Cadillac. I swear it was him. He had the side-burns, the wonderfully slicked back hair, and just as he went out of sight I swear he was doing that lip thing. As I think back on that night I wonder to myself if it was really him or if I just really wanted it to be. To me he is a symbol of both a lifestyle and a generation. Even though he supposedly died a month before I was born, his image and his likeness has so much meaning for me. Was it his greasy hair, the rebellious sexuality of his gyrating hips or just that sullen look in his eye? All these years I have never really known how my obsession with him came about. Now that I am in college I am beginning to question how this man of relatively little talent became such a hero to me and such a legend of American pop-culture?

I guess for me, I am just infatuated with his image. You could say I'm sold on it. Elvis was everything I have always wanted to be. He was a rebellious loner and also incredibly popular. Elvis was always carrying around a pretty guitar but it is rumored he could barely play three cords on it. Presley was so phenomenally talented that even after dead for more than twenty-two years, he is still making more money than the average hard working American. He was a poor southern boy who was manufactured and constructed into American royalty. It is for these reasons that I hold a special place in my heart for Elvis. It is also for these reasons that I will from now on respectfully refer to him as, The King.

The King is the result of the manipulation and the marketing of the American public through the use of the mass media. The first weapon used to target the wallets of the American people was the record. Rock 'n' Roll, a rebellious new sound that was immediately embraced by the young teen-agers of the fifties was a great turning point in our American society. The King's music was louder than those before him and its fast pace allowed him to really shake his hips. As the sound and image of Rock'n'Roll spread across America, The King and his associates quickly realized the depth of the teenage pockets. In response they quickly turned out album after album with the same fast paced beat and borrowed lyrics. The second assault came from a newer and more modern technology, the medium of television and film. The King was soon everywhere. He would turn up in people's homes and on movie marquis down on Main Street. He soon began appearing in movies in order to release his albums (it certainly wasn't because of his acting). This way he combined music and motion picture with the results of double profits. He appeared in movies that showcased all the new fashions. The King showed America what clothes to wear, what car to drive, and what attitude to have. Through the structured and calculated use of these new forms of mass media the image of one man was projected on to the entire culture of the American people.

It is easy to understand how the American public was so completely sold on the image of Elvis Presley almost fifty years ago. The revolutionary new forms of mass media were able to quickly saturate the American public with Elvis's music, style, and attitude. It is clear that then, as well as now, our society as a whole is willing to embrace new forms of mass media. We are willing to accept what is marketed towards us and rarely question what affect these new technologies will have on our culture. The question one must ask themselves as they read this essay on-line is: How will I be marketed and manipulated by this new form of mass media?