History
305
Devine
Spring
2011
Elvis
Presley Study Questions
Michael Bertrand, “The King of Rock
as Hillbilly Cat”
- How does
taking a closer look at the origins an various performances of the song “Hound
Dog” challenge the simplistic tale of “cultural appropriation” recounted
Alice Walker’s novel based on the lives of Elvis Presley and “Big Mama”
Thornton?
- Why,
according to Bertrand, has Elvis Presley become “an easy target for those
who have politically charged yet often illogically based agendas”? Why have things that never happened
(such as Elvis spending “many hours” listening to Bo Diddley
in Harlem) been presented as “historical
facts”?
- What
evidence does Bertrand introduce to discredit the myth that Elvis had no
following among African Americans?
- What
evidence does Bertrand introduce to discredit the myth that Elvis “stole”
his act from African Americans? How
does he demonstrate that Elvis’s brand of music was an eclectic amalgam of
numerous influences?
- How does
the assumption that Elvis was out to “copy” black music in order to become
a commercial success ignore the historical realties of life in the South
during the 1950s? In 1954, was
“acting black” and “crossing the color line” a likely road to success for
a white artist?
- How did
Elvis “change the rules of the popular music game”? (211)
- How was
Presley’s experience growing up as a poor, white southerner similar to the
experiences of poor African American southerners?
- What
evidence does Bertrand introduce to discredit the myth that Elvis never
publicly credited the black roots of his music? Why is it unrealistic to expect Elvis,
in 1956, to have called on the music industry to reimburse minority
entertainers?
- How did
the experience of poverty and low social status shape Elvis’s attitude
about his own success? How did
growing up poor and marginalized shape his music?
- Why did
the fabricated quotation attributed to Elvis regarding black people buying
his records and shining his shoes become a “fact”? Why did Elvis’s reputation among blacks
decline over the years?
- Why do
you think the myth of Elvis as “racist” and “cultural thief” persists when
the facts don’t support it?
Robert
Pielke, “Elvis and the Negation of the Fifties”
- How, if
at all, did rock’n’roll challenge the values of
mainstream Americans during the Cold War?
- Why did
parents and self-appointed “cultural arbiters” denounce rock music? Were they overestimating its power or
were they right to see it as a threat?
What explains their obsession with Elvis Presley in particular? Why
did they “dread” him?
- Why is it
significant that rock music seems to have gotten its start in the
South? What were the contributions
of southern rockabilly and rhythm and blues to rock music?
- Why did
it matter than Elvis appealed to working-class and middle-class
kids?
- According
to Pielke, Elvis was a revolutionary. In fact, without him there would have
been no revolution – “A white man had to play the blues.” Why does he say this? Do you agree?
- On page
149, Pielke says, “The point is that he [Elvis]
knew very well what he was doing, and we knew that he knew, and he knew
that we knew that he knew. Ed
Sullivan didn’t know and our parents didn’t know, but we didn’t care, and
he didn’t care either, and we and he knew that too.” What does all of this mean?
- Pielke argues
that there was a “real” Elvis and a “symbolic” Elvis. What was the difference between the
two? Why does Pielke
find one more interesting than the other?
- Why did
parents prefer Pat Boone and teenagers prefer Elvis?
- What was
the difference between “Beats” and “Greasers?” Why did kids envy them and parents fear
them? What role did the media play
in popularizing these two “types?”
- How did
Elvis Presley “negate” accepted beliefs about race, sex, and the
Protestant work ethic?