The Dolly Moment
February 25, 2021 10:59 AM   Subscribe

Tressie McMillan Cottom (previously) goes deep on Dolly Parton and how her "unproblematic fave" status is tied up in notions of race, gender, and class: The woman has earned her nostalgic moment in the sun; the question is whether we have earned the rose-tinted glasses through which we see her.
posted by Cash4Lead (65 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
I know many people who have worked for Dolly Parton. As in, personally spent time with her day-to-day for many years. Based on what they have told me, the main thing wrong with Dolly Parton is that the woman holds truly progressive beliefs but is honestly too cowardly to be honest about them.
posted by all about eevee at 11:12 AM on February 25, 2021 [22 favorites]


Personally, I'm a Dolly Parton fan as she seems like a decent person, who hasn't had to or try to co-opt current social trends to garner acceptance. Mores shift, but she does her own thing, she's genuine, and instead of taking others down along the way or throwing them under the bus, she tries to bring people along with her, if they want to come along. I think that speaks to a lot of people in the queer community in a way that might not necessarily speak to the writer and her experiences, especially those who have had to navigate their own paths in life, in that way.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:43 AM on February 25, 2021 [25 favorites]


Part of the reason we love Dolly is that she lets us in on the joke. She performs the white hyperfemininity for fun with a wink and a nod while letting the deeper truth speak through her music and her actions.
She takes her work seriously without taking herself too seriously.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:51 AM on February 25, 2021 [22 favorites]


This is a deeply depressing essay. "Given how much content Dolly gives us, it is amazing that we haven’t indulged our impulse to find a reason to hate her. " Who is this "we" you speak of? Most of us don't go looking for reasons to hate anyone, whether famous or not. This piece says a lot about the author, and a whole lot less about Dolly Parton and our culture than the author wishes.
posted by PhineasGage at 12:15 PM on February 25, 2021 [62 favorites]


Shortly into the essay there is an important error, Parton did not write "Islands in the Stream," the Bee Gees did. The error wouldn't bother me, but it's used as an example of her amazing writing, which leads me to believe that the author doesn't know Parton's work very well...which is an important aspect of socio-political criticism of an artist and her work: at least know well that which you criticize.

Toward the end of the essay, Cottom quotes Parton, "Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!" But a few sentences later, she writes: "Especially so given that she does not say that she believes that Black lives matter or that she supports the movement in any concrete way." Huh?

I admit to skimming some, but it seems to actually be about Cottom's personally problematic relationship with Dolly Parton('s image/work), rather than Parton herself. She uses Parton as synecdoche to illustrate some really true stuff she shares ("That’s the other thing about the actual South, white men might kill you, but white women could make you wish you were dead."), but it's an awkward fit, like, she actually loves Dolly Parton but that's really dissonant with aspects of her image/work that are triggering to the author. It's just sort of out-of-focus in an essential way.
posted by LooseFilter at 12:16 PM on February 25, 2021 [16 favorites]


I don't listen to much music at all, but what a way to be introduced to the genre. Oh my god, so many good lines here. Just picking a few to call out:

The soul is always at war with the nation’s racist bones.
Yesyesyesyesyes

The plantations, the tea parties, the “bless your hearts,” the genteel traditions, the towheaded babies, and “Farmhouse” lifestyle chic are the unique province of Southern womanhood to the national consumer.
Oh, so THAT's where farmhouse chic comes from. (It can have it back.) Also, perhaps, the livelaughlove signage trend, those useless frilly aprons in feminine fabrics that cover nothing, and half of zulily's daily sales?

A bumbling racist who isn’t a threat to anyone sophisticated enough to see past the racism to a heart of gold is a workaday progressive fantasy.
This is a variation on the Large Adult Sons idea, yes?

The flavor of race and class in the South is invisible to mainstream popular culture because it only visits the South through brokers when driven by a crisis of faith in its cultural superiority.
well, I mean, yeah. Some kind of neighborhood broken stair household. You know, that one house/family in the neighborhood where nobody said anything about the situation, unless they were trying to caution you or feel better about themselves. None of that does anything to help the children trapped there.
posted by snerson at 12:18 PM on February 25, 2021 [3 favorites]


Why is it assumed we have to take down or cancel everyone who is revered or who makes it big? She is Dolly Fucking Parton. Let her be.
posted by AugustWest at 12:18 PM on February 25, 2021 [25 favorites]


Tressie, Tressie, Tressie, Tressie
Please don't take her down just because you can

posted by gwint at 12:21 PM on February 25, 2021 [11 favorites]


I find that the Internet does this thing where we decide something/someone is the coolest/funniest thing ever (see also: Die Hard is a Christmas Movie, Bill Murray Is Our Quirky Icon) and then it over-saturates into almost a cartoon of itself, where the person cannot live up to the panting attention of people wanting more ways to spin that Yes You Are The Thing-est Thing Ever. So I like this post, because I've honestly felt bad, in a way, that Dolly has been latched onto that way in the past year or two. She deserves a deeper lens than that.
posted by nakedmolerats at 12:23 PM on February 25, 2021 [25 favorites]


Why is it assumed we have to take down or cancel everyone who is revered or who makes it big?

I haven't finished the essay yet, but from what I know, McMillan Cotton is not generally invested in exposing or taking anyone down. They are more of a cultural commentator in the sense that they think a lot about how culture thinks about itself/builds itself up/ tears itself down. So far at least, this essay much more "Why Dolly Parton?" then "what about Dolly Parton?" if that makes sense . . .
posted by Think_Long at 12:26 PM on February 25, 2021 [13 favorites]


I also am a 90s girl and stan Mariah forever, and Mariah has also had a huge career retrospective this past year (I've thought of doing an FPP many times!) but anyway, Mariah is also benefiting from a cultural re-visiting of women whose songwriting skills, etc were overlooked because of their image. So I also think part of it is revisiting (some) of the misogyny of the 70s-00s and the celebrities we can see more completely now.
posted by nakedmolerats at 12:29 PM on February 25, 2021 [11 favorites]


>the main thing wrong with Dolly Parton is that the woman holds truly progressive beliefs but is honestly too cowardly to be honest about them.

I feel the same way. However, while I wish she would speak out more, Dolly had to step very carefully to ensure her success and her ability to take care of her family. She's always been surrounded by very conservative, less talented men in a ruthless industry. There's no way she isn't keenly aware of how our culture loves idolizing women artists and then ripping them to shreds for the slightest misstep. Her image was carefully crafted to mask her genius (and I do think she is a genius) and to make herself more palatable and less threatening to men/society. Just listen to her talk; she's a master at "little ol' me?" self-deprecation and distraction.
posted by Stoof at 12:40 PM on February 25, 2021 [53 favorites]


Based on what they have told me, the main thing wrong with Dolly Parton is that the woman holds truly progressive beliefs but is honestly too cowardly to be honest about them.

I remember right after the 2016 US election, there was a meme going around that was a quote from her about how politics shouldn't divide us, that was a response to some reporter asking what she thought of Trump. She had totally dodged the question, but the meme was praising her for not being tricked by a gotcha question. A lot of my nice white Southern liberal friends uncritically posted the meme; I thought it was kind of gross. Now she's outspokenly supporting BLM, and given she's donating tons of money to COVID research she clearly doesn't think it's all a hoax. I think she's gotten a little steel in her spine over the past 4 years. As much as I'd love for her to be a firebrand activist for progressive causes, I'm pretty happy with her just not getting in the way, and using her money for good (which she does - tons of literacy and education programs get funding from her).
posted by joannemerriam at 12:41 PM on February 25, 2021 [16 favorites]


i was ready to be annoyed by this article but it's a great meditation on fame, success, ambition, and the kind of heroes that americans want. i'm definitely going to seek out more of mcmillan cotton's work.

also the imagination library thing is maybe not as praiseworthy as people think:

from imagination library 'how it works' page

"The Imagination Library partners with Local Champions who help bring the program to cities, towns and communities around the world. Local Champions can be businesses, school districts, small or large organizations, or simply individuals who share in the mission and purpose of the Imagination Library.

Local Champions are responsible for enrolling children who live within the geographical area they offered the program in. They promote their local programs online and at events. While the Imagination Library negotiates wholesale pricing for the books, Local Champions are responsible for securing funds to cover that cost. Books are 100% free to enrolled children because their Local Champion has secured funds to cover the cost of the books and the shipping fees."

this type of vaguely political hagiography of celebrities and the related celebritizing of politicians confuses me because it seems to combine the worst aspects of each category in a way where people are set up to fail on at least one axis. i do think it's healthy for us to be skeptical of reputation-laundering attempts by famous people, less in a "we need to take so-and-so down a peg" way and more "by engaging with this person on the terms they're presenting, what are we being motivated to overlook? what existing prejudices or other bullshit are we propping up?" kind of a thing. the way this article examines the dolly phenomena is, i think, a good example of the latter.
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 12:56 PM on February 25, 2021 [5 favorites]


This is a very good essay from someone who clearly loves Dolly very much but also can look critically at her role in our culture. (I don't think the essay claims she wrote "Islands in the Stream, there's just an awkward phrasing in that sentence.)

Folks who are reading this as a "cancelling" essay ... may not have actually finished the essay.
posted by feckless at 12:56 PM on February 25, 2021 [21 favorites]


Tressie McMillan Cottom's love for country music and Dolly Parton isn't a put-on or a hedge to make her dissection of the Dolly mythos seem more even-handed. It's real, it's pronounced, it's not casual.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:58 PM on February 25, 2021 [10 favorites]


While different in its violence, Dolly’s ambition made her “mannish” similar to the ways that racist sexism does the same to me because I am Black. Those kinds of differences make poor white Southerners and most Black Southerners similar in ways that repel and attract us to one another. The flavor of race and class in the South is invisible to mainstream popular culture because it only visits the South through brokers when driven by a crisis of faith in its cultural superiority. Those of the South live its contradictions, of which Dolly Parton expertly taps, subverts, and rewrites at will.
This is the part that will stick with me from this piece, personally.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:05 PM on February 25, 2021 [14 favorites]


Mrs. Foosnark and I were visiting Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge (Dolly's hometown) when the fires came through in November 2016. It went from a bit hazy that morning to "Mars in a dust storm" skies before noon, and we cut our vacation short and GTFO.

Dolly wound up giving 921 families who lost their homes $1000/month in aid for six months.
posted by Foosnark at 1:27 PM on February 25, 2021 [12 favorites]


Why is it assumed we have to take down or cancel everyone who is revered or who makes it big?

Having just watched the recent Bee Gees doc, this is addressed head-on, that the backlash is automatic for anyone who achieves a certain level of fame. Once everyone likes a certain thing, then the only 'interesting' thing to say about them becomes "Oh, I don't like them". Nothing to do with merit or worth, just a product of human conversation.
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:28 PM on February 25, 2021 [10 favorites]


Always have had an appreciation for culture jammers. If a culture doesn't work for you, hack it Until it does. Until this article, never thought of Dolly as a culture jammer, but that's okay because she's so expert, it would take one to know one.
Despite being white and blonde, Dolly Parton mapped out a female ambition that I could understand. She identified the cultural traps which would limit her — men, marriage, and motherhood — and subverted each with charm and undeniable talent. She made ambition about achievement, rather than inheritance. All of this resonated with an ambitious little Black girl with nothing but talent to her credit. Dolly creates her hero myth from a place of stigma and difference — poverty and Appalachian culture — offering me a repertoire to triangulate the stigmatization of my blackness...She does all of this in a drag performance of the psychological horrors of my nightmares: blonde, striving white ladies.
posted by otherchaz at 1:28 PM on February 25, 2021 [20 favorites]


Dolly Parton has given away more than a hundred million books to children. If the old Popes could sell indulgences, I think our culture can acknowledge that she has earned a modern one for herself.
posted by PhineasGage at 1:32 PM on February 25, 2021 [3 favorites]


If you've ever wondered what it would sound like if Dolly were less shrewdly apolitical and periodically lost her temper, called bullshit, and swore up a storm, you might look in on her sister Stella's Twitter.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:33 PM on February 25, 2021 [15 favorites]


i was ready to be annoyed by this article but it's a great meditation on fame, success, ambition, and the kind of heroes that americans want. i'm definitely going to seek out more of mcmillan cotton's work.

Word.

Upon clicking on the photo of her 8 year old self and searching it via Google Lens I ay caramba'd in frightful awe. That woman has worn more outfits and sported more hairstyles than a middle sized city, not to mention an ecological foot print into which you could drop Jezero Crater without hitting the sides.
posted by y2karl at 1:34 PM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


Local donors across the country pay for the Imagination Library books.
posted by all about eevee at 1:35 PM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]


Oh, so THAT's where farmhouse chic comes from.

Huh. I've always associated farmhouse chic with either New England or Midwestern farmhouses, in a continuum with Shaker furniture and such. I guess the whole Magnolia/Joanna Gains phenomenon has gone a fair way towards popularizing farmhouse chic, but does that actually reflect historic local style, or is it more of an imported style? (Also, to what extent is Texas "The South" versus just being its own region/thing, like much of Florida?)
posted by eviemath at 2:14 PM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


I never got into Dolly Parton, but obviously she's so famous that it isn't that I was unaware of her my whole life, either. I remember even as a kid hearing that old horribly awful and stupid jogging joke (see Dolly's twitter for the gist), and although I probably couldn't articulate why at the time, knowing that people repeating it were gross.

I think part of the reason she's having a moment now is that 30+ years ago she started on a project of subverting so many ways that culture attempts to channel female performers into certain roles, that for a long time nobody has really known what to make of her who doesn't actively pay attention to her. In other words, she doesn't fit into so many pre-formed notions that she just kind of sails by your filters.

The idea of her being "too cowardly to be honest" about her progressive beliefs doesn't sit well with me. I think it says more about society than about her, that the circumstances are such that more-or-less by definition you only get to where Dolly Parton is by choosing very carefully what you say and how you are portrayed. It couldn't be another way because society wouldn't allow it.
posted by axiom at 2:16 PM on February 25, 2021 [20 favorites]


I find it interesting that Dolly's "New Moment" coincided with a new manager. I think she is nice and all and fairly decent seeming celebrity but her recent rocket trip to the top of the celeb attention mountain? That's mostly very savvy PR.
posted by srboisvert at 2:26 PM on February 25, 2021 [8 favorites]


Depending on a person's mood, I wonder if Cottom's piece is just not going to land for a person today, where it will pack a punch for the next reader? I'm closer to the grave than I am to the moment I stepped into this world, and I have a feeling I will go to that grave feeling like Dolly Parton was a net plus for the world, and this essay was also a net plus for the world, and the longer you go the more you might see the way the arc curves that way? But also your eyesight is failing so that metaphor kinda splats on its face too.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:28 PM on February 25, 2021 [2 favorites]


I might add, for the distasteful aspects of these heavily curated images what else would we expect in a world where eyeballs remain on screens most of the time? At least in the world I live in.. you too, you're here with me.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:30 PM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


I have only read half the article so far because work got in the way today, ha! Look forward to finishing it tonight.
But I knew this essay was coming because I listen to Tressie and Roxane Gay on their Luminary podcast, Here to Slay. Highly recommended if you like Tressie's writing here and I am currently reading her book Thick and it is a great read as well.
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 3:12 PM on February 25, 2021 [4 favorites]


...(see also: Die Hard is a Christmas Movie, Bill Murray Is Our Quirky Icon)

Not as much as Gremlins is a Christmas Move: Spike Is Our Quirky Icon
posted by y2karl at 3:29 PM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


I am a little flummoxed to find anyone read that essay as a takedown of Dolly, or read that essay and thought McMillan Cottom didn't do her research. The woman is a goddamn McArthur genius fellow for her work as a sociologist and public scholar, and she is a serious country music fan and Dolly fan in general. I hate to be all "don't you know who she is," because obviously you can read an essay and not be familiar with the author. But this essay goes into great detail about the author's personal connection to country music and cites multiple other scholars on Dolly Parton's work and influence. Hell, it talks about Parton's role in her personal hero myth - saying she doesn't know Parton's work very well based on a misreading of one line that does not state Parton wrote "Islands in the Stream" ignores the bulk of the essay. (I assume the line in question is: "Whether you grew up dismissive of her trashy drag or ashamed of liking “Islands in the Stream,” it is now safe to appreciate what has always been true: The woman can write her ass off." She's not referencing "Islands in the Stream" as an example of Parton's song writing skill, but as a frequently derided performance from her career. If I missed a line attributing songwriting credit to Parton, then I apologize but stand by my general defense of McMillan Cotton's bona fides as a Dolly fan.)

I'm not going to try to summarize the arguments the essay puts forth, because I would do a worse job than McMillan Cottom. It's a really interesting and personal exploration of the myths about what it means to be Southern, white, blonde, American, Appalachian, etc. and the ways Parton has engaged with and subverted all of those identities. You can disagree with her reading of Parton and/or the cultural moment Parton is having, but it's hard to see how this essay could be considered anything but a love letter, albeit a clear eyed one. As McMillan Cottom writes "[k]nowing what we love does not diminish who we love, only how we choose to love them."

This essay gave me a lot to think about. I would hate for anyone to skip reading it on the basis that it's just a take down.
posted by the primroses were over at 3:30 PM on February 25, 2021 [45 favorites]


That was a really good essay.

It seems to me that Dolly’s persona is directly caused by her poor, Appalachian upbringing. She learned who had power and who didn’t. More importantly, she learned who could access power and who couldn’t.

In her quest for fame, I think she decided to step around those power structures of gender, race, and class instead of trying to step over them. For a poor white trash girl, these were probably astute decisions based on her place in America’s caste system of the mid/late 20th century.

Things are different now, of course. She has shaped society in ways unthinkable to that girl first starting out in Nashville almost 60 years ago. I suspect Dolly believes her success is more conditional than the average Mefite is inclined to believe. Right or wrong, I doubt she will change now. Unlike another beloved American cultural icon — Norman Rockwell — there won’t be a radical final act for her.

I wish there was but console myself by knowing we could do worse. And is it fair to ask her to take on the labor needed to undo what society is unwilling to change by itself?
posted by Big Al 8000 at 4:06 PM on February 25, 2021 [10 favorites]


Thanks for posting this, I thought it was a more interesting and deeper take on a similar theme to this recent article, which I found disappointingly surface-level. (I could have absolutely sworn I saw it here on MeFi but can't find the discussion so maybe I imagined it.)
posted by dusty potato at 4:41 PM on February 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


Primroses saved me typing several paragraphs.

If you don't know who McMillan Cottom is, just do yourself a favor and read Thick. Everybody should read Thick.
posted by praemunire at 6:44 PM on February 25, 2021 [7 favorites]


My partner is one of the scholars mentioned in the article, and Dr. indexy spent a delightful hour on a Zoom call with
Tressie McMillan Cottom a few weeks ago, and was contacted by TMC's fact-checker a couple of days later to verify information. Dr. indexy reports that TMC's love of Dolly is absolutely genuine.

eviemath: Also, to what extent is Texas "The South" versus just being its own region/thing, like much of Florida?
That kinda depends upon who you ask, and what you mean by "The South." As John Shelton Reed explains in his article "The South: What Is It? Where Is It?" you can approach that question in a surprising number of ways.
posted by indexy at 7:21 PM on February 25, 2021 [10 favorites]


I think a sort of interesting parallel to consider is Betty White, who also has this sort of cultural icon older woman status, who also has a persona which hides her own business acumen, and who I don't think anyone can think of anything bad to say about. I can see a lot of parallels but also differences between the two.
posted by hippybear at 7:40 PM on February 25, 2021 [7 favorites]


I don't read this as a takedown at all. Critical yes. Using Parton as a way to explore deep themes, yes. Pointing out where and how she is situated in her time and place, yes. Takedown? Nah. The author genuinely loves Dolly. But in a clear-eyed way.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:15 AM on February 26, 2021 [3 favorites]


To me this overthinking a plate of beans. And Dolly Parton.

She’s not brave enough to be outspoken? Compared to whom ... of her generation, background, stardom, or cultural universe? She’s not a politician. She’s an outspoken artist who never asked anyone to put her on a pedestal (literally, two weeks ago, she asked them not to).

I was a Dolly Stan before it was newly cool. As a professional country musician and scholar of the genre I hold her in the very highest esteem for what she really is at her core: a brilliant, innovative, incredibly charismatic musician.

Now do Willie Nelson.

Dolly can have as many flaws as she wants. She’s an elder who has given the world tremendous amounts of joy, and no one I know who knows her (a non-trivial number of people by the way, although she’s one of the few country greats I’ve never met, to my dismay) says she’s any different in private.
posted by spitbull at 5:19 AM on February 26, 2021 [6 favorites]


Also important to me, yes she’s white and her whiteness is essential to her stardom. And her performance of femininity can and will be debated until the end of time for the “is it ironic?” frisson. Which is exactly how she wants it.

But it’s really easy to forget that she grew up dirt poor. I know it’s well known and part of her mythology and story. But it isn’t centered enough in this kind of discussion. She’s natively rural working-class in ways that hardly ever show up on the country music charts in the modern era, despite lots of middle-class poseurs putting it on. She speaks for and to working-class people (and women especially) as her first order of business. As with other working-class Americans, you underestimate the impact of that experience at your peril for understanding her art, her politics, or her persona (which is, again, part of her art).

ETA one major exception is Shania Twain, who also grew up in real rural poverty, and who is similarly disciplined by the culture when she lets it show. If you grew up as poor as she did, you’d buy a castle on Switzerland when you made it too.
posted by spitbull at 5:25 AM on February 26, 2021 [10 favorites]


Who wants to write the essay on unproblematic fave Elvira?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:50 AM on February 26, 2021 [8 favorites]


If you don't know who McMillan Cottom is

For my part, I didn't read the essay as a 'cancel Dolly' bit, nor did my own comment indicate that. But several comments have said something like the quote above, which is an appeal to authority and is a fallacy no matter whom it's intended to support. Telling us that "The woman is a goddamn McArthur genius fellow for her work as a sociologist and public scholar" and that we should just shut up and love this essay is offensive, no matter whom the author is and no matter what the essay is. No one is above criticism, and if the criticism is shallow, point that out, but please don't harangue people because we don't know who Cottom is, or haven't read her terrific book yet.
posted by LooseFilter at 6:57 AM on February 26, 2021 [5 favorites]


That's true LooseFilter, which is why I immediately followed that statement by referring back to the content of the essay itself - But this essay goes into great detail about the author's personal connection to country music and cites multiple other scholars on Dolly Parton's work and influence.

I think people arguing that this in an unfair or mean spirited takedown of Dolly are missing that Dr. McMillan Cottom (because she is an authority worth appealing to, tbh, and because whose expertise gets dismissed is an issue at least on par with which celebrities get criticized) is critiquing Dolly as text and as cultural hero. She's critiquing the ways we respond to Dolly Parton, and, yes, that involves analyzing the way Parton portrays herself and her brand. But the argument in the essay is more about how our culture chooses her as a "safe" hero and why, than about the Great Woman herself. Who a person or culture chooses to idolize can tell you a lot, and it's worth considering how we make those choices.

Also, this essay does talk a lot about poverty, and ambition, and specifically how those affect women, like both Parton and McMillan Cottom, who grew up poor and ambitious. For example, the quotation cited by Dirty Old Town above comes from a section of the essay that addresses this.

To be clear, I'm not telling anyone they're wrong to disagree with or dislike the essay. McMillan Cottom is talking about cultural texts, and there are always multiple ways to read a text. If you read the myth of Dolly differently, great! I'd love to hear your thoughts. But you can share them without implying the author of those essay didn't do her research. (As indexy personally attests to in this thread, she not only did her research, she employed a fact checker to follow up.)
posted by the primroses were over at 7:34 AM on February 26, 2021 [7 favorites]


Who wants to write the essay on unproblematic fave Elvira?

No idea, but I am here to read it.

(there is this... sorry for the derail)
posted by oflinkey at 8:04 AM on February 26, 2021 [3 favorites]


Sorry, but some of the early comments reflect careless and dismissive (if you want me to say so, shallow) readings of a person perceived as an Internet rando musing about her personal feelings, rather than as the work of a talented sociologist whose best public work is a brilliant interplay of sophisticated critical background and personal analysis. I understand why one doesn't invest (or even want to invest!) a ton of thought into every apparent Internet rando personal musing that crosses one's virtual path, but if one perhaps wants to understand why the article was linked in the first place and why it might repay more careful consideration, knowing that the author is in fact such a person and references to the author's other work could be helpful. That's not an appeal to authority, that's context.

That a Black woman writing about pop culture in a quasi-personal light met this treatment is...well...probably another phenomenon McMillan Cottom will write about some day.
posted by praemunire at 11:38 AM on February 26, 2021 [14 favorites]


I can understand the confusion - the exposition of the article is a bit long by Internet standards, and you have to really buckle down and stick with it for a while before you get to the point she’s actually making.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:53 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]


I can't speak for others but I read the whole essay. As I posted above, I was deeply disappointed by the initial set-up, which didn't serve the author's arguments well, regardless of what any reader may know about her credentials.
posted by PhineasGage at 12:18 PM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]


I'm still thinking about this essay and how Tressie McMillan Cottom seems to, incidentally, be able to poke me in my blind spots (I'm a white progressive man in Oregon, so I have plenty of those).

In this essay, the big blind spot was about the BLM quote. Dolly's quote was:

“Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”, she told Billboard magazine.


McMillan Cottom writes later in the paragraph:

... she does not say that she believes that Black lives matter or that she supports the movement in any concrete way.

I could not square the quote from Parton with that second idea. I kept re-reading the Parton quote, sure that I was missing something, but the "literal" meaning just kept returning in my liberal brain as pro BLM.

McMillan Cottom signposted at the beginning of the graph, describing Parton's comments as a charm offensive. And it still took me hours to get it, even when the core work of this piece is about how Parton works with race, gender, identity, and words, and what that says about the white public.

McMillan Cottom underlines it here: Ever the artist of misperception, Dolly leaves unsaid what her core conservative country audience needs to never hear her say.

What I think she is saying is that Parton's comments about BLM are another dodge. If a public figure says "Black lives matter, and so do white lives" it is not an acceptable sign of support, and in fact, I believe it's a cliche by reactionary conservatives who usually go on to attack BLM and racial justice movements (i.e., her core conservative country audience).

That same audience would not accept her saying "Black Lives Matter, period," which seems to be the public formula, more or less, for verbalizing initial support -- though "Black Lives Matter, which is why we need to do x/y/z" shows another level of commitment.

But, broken down, her much-quoted statement about BLM says that 1) black lives matter and 2) they matter in addition to white lives (implied by: white lives are not the only ones that matter). Her statement does not unequivocally support BLM. Her statement does not say directly that "all lives matter" in the formulation that liberals would react to, either.

Parton's perfectly-crafted "quip" uses grammar, rhetoric, and the razor-sharp precision of her racialized cultural toolset and the reactions of her audience to her persona. And she did it so well that few caught on, and I couldn't see it even when I was staring at it head-on.
posted by anotherbrick at 4:32 PM on February 26, 2021 [10 favorites]


If a public figure says "Black lives matter, and so do white lives" it is not an acceptable sign of support

I may regret even responding, but that framing is different from what Ms. Parton says, both in literal content and in apparent intent. From the original article:
Flexibility benefits Parton in other ways. In 2018 she renamed her Dixie Stampede dinner attraction Dolly Parton’s Stampede as she became more aware of how hurtful the term “Dixie” and its associations with the Confederacy could be — perhaps because of a 2017 Slate article that cast a critical eye on its rosy, family-friendly depictions of the Civil War. (At the time, the Dollywood Company said it was also eyeing an international expansion and noted that “Dixie” wouldn’t translate abroad.) “There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” she says now. “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

The change came two years before the police killings of unarmed Black Americans like George Floyd sparked a reckoning with systemic racism in the United States — one that led country acts such as the Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebellum to change their names to similarly avoid glorifying dark chapters of history. Parton hasn’t attended any recent marches, but she is unequivocal in her support of protestors and the Black Lives Matter movement. “I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she says. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”
There seems like an awful lot more there being said than is being narrowly quoted.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:57 PM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]


I may regret even responding, but that framing is different from what Ms. Parton says, both in literal content and in apparent intent.

I might regret responding, too. But I'm mostly trying to make sense of this thread and the essay.

"Apparent intent" is the knot at the middle of the essay. I'm literally not sure what you mean by that.

My comment above was an attempt to clear up how Parton's quote does not equal support for BLM. The author of that Billboard piece puts together a narrative about how it shows "unequivocal" support for BLM, but the first paragraph quoted above is from a 2018 naming snafu.

The only other quote from 2020 is "I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen," which also plays to both sides. On the conservative side, I can see my "all lives matter" family nodding their heads to that part, in a brief concession, as they get ready to add their complaints.

Finally, I'm not writing any of this as a takedown or callout. To me, the interpretation of the "little white asses" quote is like a racial version of Wittgenstein's rabbit. And I think that is exactly where TMC was heading, given the final sentence of the piece.
posted by anotherbrick at 5:53 PM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]


And all of this is incredibly precise parsing of off-the-cuff public statements and looking for imperfect responses and looking for a reason to take offense. Thank you for highlighting why I find this essay so problematic: its very basis is the assumption that we can't accept imperfect allies but instead need to deeply examine every single well-intentioned celebrity and well-intentioned effort, and must look to find and highlight how they aren't quite perfect.
posted by PhineasGage at 6:41 PM on February 26, 2021 [4 favorites]


I'm literally not sure what you mean by that.

It means you're saying that Dolly Parton doesn't support BLM. And that's the exact, 180-degree opposite of what she's saying. That's literally what I mean about what you're saying.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 7:25 PM on February 26, 2021 [4 favorites]


I believe that Dolly Parton supports BLM, and would not, myself on my own, have thought to interpret her comment any other way. But I also see anotherbrick's point that some of Parton's white audience could (and likely have) also parse the quoted comments (yes, even the full version) as not contradicting or perhaps even supporting their opposition to BLM.
posted by eviemath at 7:57 PM on February 26, 2021 [4 favorites]


I'm not a huge fan of tearing good people down over a deliberate misreading of their words and actions. It is not making the world a much better place. And we're not in a good place, to begin with. Hope this works out for whomever needs to do this stuff, I guess.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:45 PM on February 26, 2021 [4 favorites]


I skipped the last half of this article. Honestly, to me it seems like someone searching for something to complain about. With so many truly evil, mean, troublesome things that need to be disected, challenged and overcome in this world, it seems a shame to waste time skewering a person like Dolly. Im certainly not going to waste time with this.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 7:07 AM on February 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


I read both the original Billboard article, around the time of its publication, and the McMillan Cottom piece. The latter really does not strike me as an article complaining about or trying to tear down Dolly Parton. With regards to the Black Lives Matter comment, I think this sentence does a lot of work for McMillan Cottom:

Ever the artist of misperception, Dolly leaves unsaid what her core conservative country audience needs to never hear her say.

The Billboard piece's context, quoted at length above, notes that there are other circumstances surrounding Parton deciding to rename Dixie Stampede; it wouldn't play well with international audiences unfamiliar with the term Dixie. And as others in this thread have noted, "Black lives matter just as much as white lives" is a subtly different comment than "Black lives matter," in the same way that "all lives matter" is a subtly different comment that nevertheless people understand to be a watered-down call for support that misses the point, even if you grant the speaker the benefit of the doubt.

I think Dolly Parton does, in fact, believe that Black lives matter unequivocally. Her words aren't intended as a PR hedge because she doesn't feel that way herself, I don't think, and that's what I think McMillan Cottom believes as well. The issue is that she thinks her ultraconservative audience needs to hear the second part of her statement (white lives matter too) loud and clear. If the Billboard profile made anything clear, it is that Dolly Parton is a shrewd businesswoman with an impeccable sense of her many audiences' needs and wants.

She is obviously more than a business; very few businesses get casually nominated for sainthood like Parton does. But I think she's aggressive in shying away from moves or statements that would harm the business, and that her comments on Black Lives Matter should be taken more as a sign that Dolly Parton feels the zeitgeist of American culture is willing to at least entertain her private thoughts on this matter, rather than taking the easy approach of "we don't talk about politics here."

I don't know enough about Dolly Parton to know if this has always been true, or if this is a fundamental misreading of her character; if something like "9 to 5" was a more brazen middle finger to the powers that be, or a similarly political argument that came soon enough that it wasn't already a decided matter, but late enough that the critical mass of social support was already there. So if I got this take wrong, I'm happy to own that failure. But that's how all of this read to me.
posted by chrominance at 9:13 AM on February 27, 2021 [10 favorites]


"Analysis of how Parton has navigated complicated cultural dilemmas is an attack on Parton" shows how robust her solutions have been.

Accepting that no person living in the world is actually a saint, the questions become: why is this person treated as one? What is it in her? And what is it in us, thinking about her? These are very interesting questions, which by no means necessarily lead to some crude takedown.
posted by praemunire at 1:06 PM on February 27, 2021 [7 favorites]


I was in a rush to finish my above comment so if you'll allow me, I'd like to elaborate a little.

I for one, don't think of D.P. as a saint. No one is ever going to be perfect. If anyone wants to disect D.P's life, business decisions, body of work, public statements etc, well she is a public figure, and it's certainly fine for people to do that.

Just speaking for myself, I have enough respect for D.Ps actions, body of work, public comments, charitable contributions etc over the past 50 plus years, that I feel quite confident giving her the benefit of the doubt regarding her motivation/intentions. Spending time on an article that might be summed up by saying, "Dolly Parton, she's just too nice not to be secretly nasty/coniving/racist/greedy/deceptive," would be sort of pointless. I only have so much energy to spend on people who are harming other people, and right now there are plenty of other public figures who better fit that bill.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 1:53 PM on February 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Spending time on an article that might be summed up by saying, "Dolly Parton, she's just too nice not to be secretly nasty/coniving/racist/greedy/deceptive," would be sort of pointless.

That's not what it is, but finding a discussion of how she figured out how to subvert or escape various traps designed to rob her of agency and freedom to be a discussion of her secret nastiness or conniving nature...I believe that's a great example of how powerful the forces she had to contend with not only were, but are. McMillan Cottom is explicitly describing the way she finds analogies between Parton's dilemmas and solutions and her own personal ones, and if you think that's nasty and conniving behavior, every single woman you know is nasty and conniving (and women of color, trebly so). We are all out there trying to figure out how to use the unjust constraints of an imposed femininity to our advantage, since we can't escape them as long as we are still read as women (and even sometimes after).

Reducing her to "just too nice" is a neutering move, and Parton's ability to recognize and nonetheless leverage that impulse is high-level jijitsu.
posted by praemunire at 2:11 PM on February 27, 2021 [19 favorites]


People who think that Dolly Parton's historical reticence in voicing her political beliefs amounts to "cowardice" might want to consider that when she made her precisely considered remarks in support of BLM, there were dudes making a living in show business based on their own Southern identity who were fully prepared to throw her to the wolves for it. The fact that it didn't work, and that the dude got his ass fired for shooting his mouth off, is merely a sign that times have changed. The fact that he was confident enough to make the attack and expect support for doing it is evidence that Parton learned to be careful for very, very good reasons.
posted by Ipsifendus at 5:12 AM on February 28, 2021 [7 favorites]


Dolly Parton is one of the most successful singer songwriters of all time. Her campy iconic status often overshadows her raw ability and hard working discipline as a brilliant writer. She's a solid guitar player to boot.
posted by hilberseimer at 12:20 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]


The story about turning down the Presidential Medal of Freedom (which I mentioned briefly in the previous Dolly thread) is a great example of how good she is at this:
The country icon says the Trump administration offered her the honor, not once but twice — and she turned it down both times. "I couldn't accept it because my husband was ill, and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn't travel because of the COVID." …

Only two weeks into his term, President Biden has not yet announced any new Medal of Freedom recipients. But Parton says she'd be hesitant to accept a possible third offer. "Now I feel like if I take it, I'll be doing politics, so I'm not sure."
This is a marvelously deft solution. If she had accepted the medal from Trump, her Trump-hating fans would be mad about it. If she turned down Trump’s offer but later accepted one from Biden, she would alienate Republican fans. Instead, she rejects Trump’s offer without explicitly rejecting it, and subtly averts an offer from Biden before it even happens, giving just about everyone something to feel good about.
posted by mbrubeck at 2:53 PM on February 28, 2021 [3 favorites]


Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vacciiiiine

Also... "I just want to say to all of you cowards out there – don’t be such a chicken squat. Get out there and get your shot."

Dolly Parton continues to do a decent job of being a decent person.
posted by clawsoon at 1:57 PM on March 3, 2021 [2 favorites]


Even in a genre where the tragic nature of Irish folk music makes for dark, violent imagery, pop songs with so many dead children and babies is notable.
Sounds like Parton killed as many babies in her songs as Walt Disney killed mothers in his movies...
posted by clawsoon at 4:45 PM on March 3, 2021


McMillan Cottom wrote a follow-up piece considering who the "Daughters of Dolly" are - asking who the obvious heirs of her trailblazing are.

I like the answer she gives so much I don't want to spoil it right off the bat.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:52 AM on March 23, 2021 [3 favorites]


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