Pure and Public, Popular and Personal

In the article I reexamine the traditional aesthetical and political critiques of popular culture and reevaluate the social and communicative potential of bestselling cultural artifacts such as highly popular television series.

First, I sketch the alleged aesthetic and social problems of popular culture as described in the critical tradition originating in Kant and radicalized by Theodor Adorno regarding the cultural industry, and by Jürgen Habermas regarding the public sphere.

Second, I draw attention to the blind spots of this critical tradition: the distinctions of the pure aesthetic and the exclusions of the public sphere. I argue that the ideals of a pure aesthetic and a public sphere neglect issues that are crucial to the type of commonality at stake in popular cultural artifacts: personal issues, social conflicts, and what is pleasurable to the senses or has to do with emotions.

Third, I exemplify my argument by drawing on the case of the television series Borgen, produced by the public service broadcaster DR (the Danish Broadcasting Corporation) in 2010-13. I examine how Borgen’s combination of themes, discourses, and domains includes the viewers in ways that point towards a more pragmatic and inclusive understanding not only of bestselling popular culture but also of aesthetics and the public sphere.