Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, and Image

If Elvis is dead, why does his image still permeate American culture, from postage stamps to Vegas stage shows? In her intelligent cultural analysis of one of this century's most revered, reviled and reviewed fan phenomena, Doss (Director of the University of Colorado at Boulder American Studies program) examines Elvis's enduring posthumous presence, among his unprecedented legions of fans as well as in the larger society that often looks askance at their fervent devotion. Exploring Elvis's multifaceted appeal, Doss argues convincingly that he crossed more than just musical boundaries, embodying the heady dangers of sexual ambiguity, racial transgression and even tackiness. Today, Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. owns and guards Elvis's ""official"" image, policing illicit and improper usage: the group outlawed black velvet paintings in 1995 and obtained a cease-and-desist order to prevent artist and devotee Joni Mabe from making buttons featuring ""Elvis's Hair."" Doss evinces an anthropologist's detailed interest in the permutations of Elvis culture, from the MacLeod family's cheerful GracelandToo, a two-story tribute to Elvis paraphernalia, to Kiki Apostolakos's shrine to her spiritual relationship with the King--but the author is intrigued by more than just the artifacts and rituals. Her most striking insight is that Elvis's embodiment of contradictions allows aficionados and acolytes to engage in the ongoing process of creating Elvis's image, whatever Elvis Inc. may have to say. Doss's work is equally enjoyable for its considered analysis of fandom as for its vast catalogue of ways that fans honor their hero. The King may be dead, but his image is alive and well. (Apr.)