Author Robert Farris
Thompson, professor of art history
at Yale University,
suggests that Itutu, which he translates
as 'mystic coolness,'[6]
is one of three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the
15th century[7]
by Yoruba and
Igbo civilizations
of West Africa. Cool, or Itutu, contained meanings of conciliation
and gentleness of character, of generosity and grace, and the
ability to defuse fights and disputes. It also was associated with
physical beauty. In Yoruba culture, Itutu is connected to water,
because to the Yoruba the concept of coolness retained its physical
connotation of temperature.[8]
He cites a definition of cool from the Gola
people of Liberia, who define it
as the ability to be mentally calm or detached, in an other-worldly
fashion, from one's circumstances, to be nonchalant in situations
where emotionalism or eagerness would be natural and
expected.[5]
Joseph M. Murphy writes that "cool" is also closely associated with
the deity Òsun of the Yoruba
religion.[9]
Although Thompson acknowledges similarities between African and
European cool in shared notions of self-control and
imperturbability,[8]
he finds the cultural value of cool in Africa which influenced the
African
diaspora to be different from that held by Europeans, who use
the term primarily as the ability to remain calm under stress.
According to Thompson, there is significant weight, meaning and
spirituality attached to cool in traditional African cultures,
something which, Thompson argues, is absent from the idea in a
Western context.
"Control, stability, and composure under the African rubric of
the cool seem to constitute elements of an all-embracing aesthetic
attitude." African cool, writes Thompson, is "more complicated and
more variously expressed than Western notions of
sang-froid (literally, "cold blood"), cooling off, or even
icy determination." (Thompson, African Arts)
The telling point is that the "mask" of coolness is worn not
only in time of stress, but also of pleasure, in fields of
expressive performance and the dance. Struck by the re-occurrence
of this vital notion elsewhere in tropical Africa and in the Black
Americas, I have come to term the attitude "an aesthetic of the
cool" in the sense of a deeply and completely motivated,
consciously artistic, interweaving of elements serious and
pleasurable, of responsibility and play.[10]
Ronald Perry writes that many words and expressions have passed
from African
American Vernacular English into Standard English slang
including the contemporary meaning of the word "cool."[11]
The definition, as something fashionable, is said to have been
popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester
Young.[12]
This predominantly black jazz scene in
the U.S. and among expatriate musicians in Paris
helped popularize notions of cool in the U.S. in the 1940s, giving
birth to "Bohemian", or beatnik,
culture.[2]
Shortly thereafter, a style of jazz called cool
jazz appeared on the music scene, emphasizing a restrained,
laid-back solo style.[13]
Notions of cool as an expression of centeredness in a Taoist sense, equilibrium
and self-possession, of an absence of conflict are commonly
understood in both African and African American contexts well.
Expressions such as, "Don't let it blow your cool," later,
chill out, and the use of chill as a
characterization of inner contentment or restful repose all have
their origins in African
American Vernacular English.[14]
When the air in the smoke-filled nightclubs of that era became
unbreathable, windows and doors were opened to allow some "cool
air" in from the outside to help clear away the suffocating air. By
analogy, the slow and smooth jazz style that was typical for that
late-night scene came to be called "cool".[15]
Marlene Kim Connor connects cool and the post-war
African-American experience in her book What is Cool?:
Understanding Black Manhood in America. Connor writes that
cool is the silent and knowing rejection of racist oppression, a
self-dignified expression of masculinity developed by black men
denied mainstream expressions of manhood. She writes that
mainstream perception of cool is narrow and distorted, with cool
often perceived merely as style or arrogance, rather than a way to
achieve respect.[16]
Designer Christian
Lacroix has said that "...the history of cool in America is the
history of African-American
culture".[17]
'Cool', though an amorphous quality—more mystique than
material—is a pervasive element in urban black male
culture.[18]
Majors and Billson address what they term "cool pose" in their
study and argue that it helps Black men counter stress caused by
social oppression, rejection and racism. They also
contend that it furnishes the black male with a sense of control,
strength, confidence and stability and helps him deal with the
closed doors and negative messages of the "generalized other." They
also believe that attaining black manhood is filled with pitfalls
of discrimination, negative self-image, guilt, shame and
fear.[19]
"Cool pose" may be a factor in discrimination in education
contributing to the achievement gaps in test scores. In a 2004
study, researchers found that teachers perceived students with
African American culture-related movement styles, referred to as
the "cool pose," as lower in achievement, higher in aggression, and
more likely to need
special education services than students with standard movement
styles, irrespective of race or other academic
indicators.[20]
The issue of stereotyping and discrimination with respect to "cool
pose" raises complex questions of assimilation
and accommodation of different cultural values. Jason W. Osborne
identifies "cool pose" as one of the factors in black
underachievement.[21]
Robin D. G.
Kelley criticizes calls for assimilation and sublimation of
black culture, including "cool pose." He argues that media and
academics have unfairly demonized these aspects of black culture
while, at the same time, through their sustained fascination with
blacks as exotic others, appropriated aspects of "cool pose" into
the broader popular culture.[22]
George Elliott
Clarke writes that Malcolm X, like
Miles Davis,
embodies essential elements of cool. As an icon, Malcolm X inspires
a complex mixture of both fear and fascination in broader American
culture, much like "cool pose" itself.[18]
In Japan, synonyms of "cool" could be iki
and sui. These are traditional commoners' aesthetic ideals that
developed in Edo. Some tend to immediately connect the aesthetics
of Japan to samurai, but this is historically inaccurate. In fact,
samurais from the countryside have often been the target of
ridicule by the commoner in the civilized Edo in many art forms
including rakugo, a form of comical
story telling.
Some argue that the ethic of the Samurai
caste in Japan, warrior castes in
India and East Asia all resemble cool.[1]
The samurai-themed works of film director Akira Kurosawa
are among the most praised of the genre, influencing many
filmmakers across the world with his techniques and storytelling.
Notable works of his include The Seven
Samurai, Yojimbo,
and The Hidden
Fortress. The latter was one of the primary inspirations
for George Lucas's
Star Wars, which
also borrows a number of aspects from the samurai, for example the
Jedi Knights of the series.
Samurai have been presented as cool in many modern Japanese movies
such as Samurai
Fiction, Kagemusha,[23]
and Yojimbo,[24]
which was appropriated in American movies such as Ghost
Dog[25]
and The Last
Samurai[26]
In The Art of War, a
Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC,
general Sun Tzu, a member of the
landless Chinese aristocracy, wrote in Chapter XII:
Profiting by their panic, we shall exterminate them completely;
this will cool the King's courage and cover us with glory, besides
ensuring the success of our mission.
Asian countries have developed a tradition on their own to
explore types of modern 'cool' or 'ambiguous' aesthetics.
In a Time Asia article
"The Birth of Cool" author Hannah Beech
describes Asian cool as "a revolution in taste led by style gurus
who are redefining Chinese craftsmanship in everything from
architecture and film to clothing and cuisine" and as a modern
aesthetic inspired both by a Ming-era minimalism and a strenuous
attention to detail.[27]
Paul Waley, professor
of Human Geography at the University of Leeds, considers Tokyo along with New York,
London and Paris to be one of the world's "capitals of
cool"[28]
and the Washington
Post called Tokyo "Japan's Empire of Cool" and Japan "the
coolest nation on Earth".
Analysts are marveling at the breadth of a recent explosion in
cultural exports, and many argue that the international embrace of
Japan's pop culture, film, food, style and arts is second only to
that of the United States. Business leaders and government
officials are now referring to Japan's "gross national cool" as a
new engine for economic growth and societal buoyancy.[29]
The term "gross national cool" was coined by Journalist Douglas
McGray. In a June/July 2002 article in Foreign
Policy magazine,[30]
he argued that as Japan's economic juggernaut took a wrong turn
into a ten-year slump, and with military power made impossible by a
pacifist constitution, the nation had quietly emerged as a cultural
powerhouse: "From pop music to consumer electronics, architecture
to fashion, and food to art, Japan has far greater cultural
influence now than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic
superpower."[31]
The notion of Asian 'cool' applied to Asian consumer
electronics is borrowed from the cultural media theorist
Eric McLuhan who
described 'cool' or 'cold' media as stimulating participants to
complete auditive or visual media content, in sharp contrast to
'hot' media that degrades the viewer to a merely passive or
non-interactive receiver.
"Aristocratic cool", known as sprezzatura, has
existed in Europe for centuries, particularly when relating to
frank amorality and love or illicit pleasures behind closed
doors;[1]
Raphael's "Portrait of Baldassare
Castiglione" and Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" are classic
examples of sprezzatura.[32]
The sprezzatura of the Mona Lisa is seen in both her smile
and the positioning of her hands. Both the smile and hands are
intended to convey her grandeur, self-confidence and societal
position.[33]
Sprezzatura means, literally, disdain and detachment. It is the art
of refraining from the appearance of trying to present oneself in a
particular way. In reality, of course, tremendous exertion went
into pretending not to bother or care.
English poet and playwright William
Shakespeare used cool in several of his works to describe
composure and absence of emotion.[1]
In A
Midsummer Night's Dream, written sometime in the late-16th
century, he contrasts the shaping fantasies of lovers and madmen
with "cool reason,"[34]
in Hamlet he wrote "O
gentle son, upon the heat and flame of thy distemper, sprinkle cool
patience,"[35]
and the antagonist Iago in Othello is
musing about "reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings,
our unbitted lusts."[1][36]
The cool "Anatolian smile" of Turkey is used to
mask emotions. A similar "mask" of coolness is worn in both times
of stress and pleasure in American and African
communities.[1]
The key themes of modern European cool were forged by
avant-garde artists who achieved prominence in the aftermath of the
First World War, most notably Dadaists, such as key Dada
figures Arthur Cravan and
Marcel Duchamp,
and the left-wing milieu of the Weimar Republic.
The program of such groups was often self-consciously
revolutionary, a determination to scandalize the bourgeoisie by
mocking their culture, sexuality and political
moderation.[1]
Berthold Brecht,
both a committed Communist and a philandering cynic, stands as the
archetype of this inter-war cool. Brecht projected his cool
attitude to life onto his most famous character Macheath or "Mackie
Messer" (Mack the knife), in The Threepenny
Opera. Mackie, the nonchalant, smooth-talking gangster, expert
with the switchblade, personifies the bitter-sweet strain of cool;
Puritanism and sentimentality are both anathema to the cool
character.[1]
During the turbulent inter-war years, cool was a privilege
reserved for bohemian milieus like Brecht's. Cool irony and
hedonism remained the province of cabaret artistes, ostentatious
gangsters and rich socialites, those decadents depicted in
Evelyn Waugh's
Brideshead
Revisited and Christopher
Isherwood's Goodbye to
Berlin, tracing the outlines of a new cool. Peter Stearns,
professor of history at George Mason
University, suggests that in effect the seeds of a cool outlook
had been sown among this inter-war generation.[37]
The Second World War brought the populations of Britain, Germany
and France into intimate contact with Americans and American
culture. The war brought hundreds of thousands of GIs whose
relaxed, easy-going manner was seen by young people of the time as
the very embodiment of liberation; and with them came Lucky
Strikes, nylons, swing and jazz—the American Cool.
To be cool or hip meant hanging out, pursuing sexual liaisons,
displaying the appropriate attitude of narcissistic
self-absorption, and expressing a desire to escape the mental
straitjacket of all ideological causes. From the late 1940s onward,
this popular culture influenced young people all over the world, to
the great dismay of the paternalistic elites who still ruled the
official culture. The French intelligentsia were outraged, while
the British educated classes displayed a haughty indifference that
smacked of an older aristocratic cool.[38]
The new attitude found a special resonance behind the Iron
Curtain, where it offered relief from the earnestness of socialist
propaganda and socialist realism in art. In the Polish industrial
city Łódź, jazz,
"the forbidden music", served Polish youth of the 1950s much as it
had served its African-American creators, both as personal
diversion and subterranean resistance to what they saw as a
stultifying official culture. Some clubs featured live jazz
performances, and their smoky, sexually charged atmosphere carried
a message for which the puritanical values and monumental art of
Marxist officialdom were an ideal foil.[39]
Arriving in Poland via France, America and England, Polish cool
stimulated the film talents of a generation of artists, including
Andrzej Wajda,
Roman Polanski,
and other graduates of the
National Film School in Łódź, as well as the novelist Jerzy Kosinski,
in whose clinical prose cool tends towards the sadistic.[1]
In Prague, the capital of
Bohemia, cool flourished in the faded Art
Deco splendor of the
Cafe Slavia. Significantly, following the crushing of the
Prague Spring by
Soviet tanks in 1968, part of the dissident underground called
itself the "Jazz Section".[1]
