'Chav': The emergence of a new Identity by James K. Walker
Continued...
hybrid variations of this type. 'The Gospel accordin'
to Chav' illustrates the flexibility and diversity of this process.
Then these three geezers turn up, looking proper
bling, wiv crowns on their heads. They're like 'Respect, bay-bee
Jesus', an' say they're wise men from the East End. Joe goes: 'If
you're so wise, wotchoo doin' with this Frankenstein an' myrrh?
Why dincha just bring gold, Adidas, an' Burberry?' (www.crouchingbadger.com)
What this version illustrates is the complex and
contested nature of culture which must always be understood in relation
to some form of power, usually who is represented and how, who is
speaking and who is silent, and what does and doesn't count as culture.
It is only by weighing up these factors that we can begin to understand
why the chav has emerged at this particular historical moment and
for whose benefit. If we take the 'Chav gospel' the juxtaposition
of disparate cultural elements Chav (ordinary/common) and Jesus
(special/unique) may be understood as an attempt to expose the folly
of grand meta-narratives such as religion or it may through its
arbitrariness reinforce existing cultural hierarchies. Indeed the
language is so unashamedly ostentatious that it could be seen in
mock celebration of 'self' rather than difference. Stuart Hall better
explains the problematic of identification through popular culture:
Popular culture…is not at all, as we sometimes
think of it, the arena where we find who we really are, the truth
of our experience. It is an area that is profoundly mythic…It
is there that we discover and play with the identifications of ourselves,
where we are imagined, where we are represented. Not only to the
audiences out there who do not get the message, but to ourselves
for the first time (1992: 22)
Understanding identity is ultimately a question of epistemology
and ontology, depending what filters are placed upon the lens of
examination will determine what we will find. I see the chav as
the product of popular culture, which I define in Hebdiges simple
terms: 'a set of generally available artefacts; films, music, clothes,
TV programmes, modes of transport, etc' (1988: 47) Given the breadth
of this definition I will limit my examination to how television
and musical influences have emerged 'through' and 'at' the chav.
The filter which I am choosing to understand the chav though is
consumption practices. This is not necessarily the only way, but
the one which I feel is most appropriate for understanding identity
at this particular historical moment.
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