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Five genres you should read more about.
Pine & Gilmore recommend five books that offer real perspective.
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FAKE FEST
How fake
IS fake?
Watch one movie and pour over two books for a more in-depth look at some of the philosophy behind why all business offerings are fake, fake, fake.
The Matrix
Written and directed by The Wachowski Brothers
(Warner Brothers, 1999)
Perception versus reality. Blue pill versus red pill. This sci-fi film starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne may cause you to question your own sense of what is fake and what is real – and forever change your perception of perception.
The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real
Edited by William Irwin (Carus Publishing, 2002)
Twenty-four professional philosophers combine to write twenty essays that thoroughly dissect the movie from various metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, aesthetic, and even religious angles – questioning the questions posed by the film.
The Matrix of Meaning:
Finding God in Pop Culture Co-authored by
Craig Detweiler & Barry Taylor
(Baker Academic, 2003)
Through their examination of the theologizing that takes place in works of contemporary pop culture, Detweiler and Taylor put movies and other such cultural artifacts in greater perspective. The distinction they draw between postmodernism and postmodernity proves most helpful. |
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NATURAL AUTHENTICITY
The Gospel of Food by Barry Glassner (Harper Perennial, 2007)
Perhaps more than any other industry, the food business grapples with various issues – organics, sourcing, culinary practices – that strike at the heart of what it takes to appeal to real via natural authenticity. Glassner challenges the fallacious thinking flowing from what he calls “the church of naught” that tosses about labels so loosely it creates a philosophical “gumbo of conflicts.” Readers will see parallels between Glassner’s treatment of “inauthentic authenticity” and “the perils of perfection” and Pine & Gilmore’s Real/Fake Matrix and their perspective on being polar versus pure. (N) |
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ORIGINAL AUTHENTICITY
Creative Authenticity by Ian Roberts (Atelier Saint-Luc Press, 2004)
Roberts examines “16 principles to clarify and deepen your artistic vision” and in the process provides keen insight on how acts of artistic creativity can inspire one’s approach to rendering original authenticity. He recognizes the difference between achieving one’s own originality and then effectively translating that originality into an expression that others find valuable. Roberts’ own expressions about how best to make inner-directed art outwardly compelling makes for a quick read and a treasure chest of passionate yet reasoned explanations for why some original works finds a real audience while others do not. (O) |
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EXCEPTIONAL AUTHENTICITY
Peak by Chip Conley (Jossey-Bass, 2007)
The founder and president of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Chip Conley, is held up by Pine & Gilmore as their favorite “themer,” so brilliant is Conley’s technique of selecting a magazine (or marriage of magazines) as the dominant organizing principle for each JDV venue. It would be a mistake to think Conley’s prowess extends only to creating compelling places, for as his most recent book attests, he offers invaluable perspective on inspiring and motivating people in the workplace. His multifaceted treatment of Maslow’s Hierarchy in Peak unlocks the code to rendering exceptional authenticity via genuine, heartfelt demonstrations of human caring. (E) |
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REFERENTIAL AUTHENTICITY
Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour (MIT Press, 1972)
This seminal tome is worth reading again and again for its unsettling take on architecture and its advocacy for learning from the commonplace, indeed, for outlining “a way of learning from everything.” An analysis of a landscape “built in a day,” Learning from Las Vegas helps explain why referential authenticity provides a powerful means of rendering the real in today’s Experience Economy. Consider the authors’ provocative claim: “Sprawl and strip we can learn to do well.” Well, do you believe that? Read and revisit your assumptions about what can be rendered authentic. (R) |
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INFLUENTIAL AUTHENTICITY
The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly (Penguin Books, 2006)
Many of today’s efforts by businesses to appeal as real through influential authenticity attempt to do so through initiatives aimed at helping others. In its most codified and explicit form, this manifests itself under the banner of Social Corporate Responsibility. This seeking to leverage the desires of customers to help others exists in myriad other nuanced forms as well. Easterly’s book delivers a scathing indictment of Western foreign aid to poorer nations, documenting how more harm than help has resulted over the past fifty years from various plans (each “The Plan”). When reading Easterly’s analysis, you can’t help but wonder what influence efforts closer to home are really having. (I) |
For more on the 5 genres of authenticity, see chapters 4 and 10 of Authenticity. |
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