Aegis 2015
68
Book Review >>> Bethany Blinsky
I Wear the Black Hat Klosterman, Chuck New York: Scribner, 2014. 242 pp.
Society has a deep fascination with the dark mind of the villain. In I Wear the Black Hat, Chuck Klosterman explores this attraction. He ponders how we determine one to be an antihero, analyzing the calculation that occurs in our minds. Ultimately his thesis is such that a villain is “is the person who knows the most but cares the least (14).” Klosterman applies the thesis to as many people, real or fake, that he can. From Joe Paterno, to Batman, to Kanye West, and even the rock band The Eagles, Klosterman is on a mission to discuss the villainy in everything. I Wear the Black Hat reads like a series of essays that are entwined through the one thread of the thesis. If the villain is the person who knows the most but cares the least, then it appears that this could be applied to any person, and thus one could simply deduct if they are evil or not. But if you are Klosterman, that is not exactly the case. Not because his thesis gets more in depth, but because its application is confusing. One chapter consists of Klosterman discussing why he likes Kanye West but he wants him to fail - and why he dislikes Lebron James but wants him to succeed. One might be slightly perplexed by what this has to do with villainy. That confusion is justified. Klosterman’s intention in these random subject analyses is anything but clear. Therefore the ultimate conclusion of the entire book is equally as hazy. Some chapters were far easier to understand, while some felt as if he was reaching too far with an argument that wasn’t quite strong enough. One chapter discussed Seinfeld. Klosterman decided to elaborate on the common view that Seinfeld is essentially a show in which nothing actually occurs. However, he twisted it a little. He argues that Seinfeld’s humor is dark and this is why it is funny. Yet, that does not really seem surprising. If anything most people would probably agree that a lot of comedy has a dark mocking tone, and this may actually be why it is so amusing. He attempts to illustrate his point by bringing up a specific joke Seinfeld made - the humor being that Seinfeld could not date a woman because she was excessively nice and it bothered him. Klosterman analyzed this, “Because he’s so candid about this distaste, it feels like a traditional joke. But it’s not a traditional joke. It’s an omnipresent worldview that informs everything else, and it’s what made audiences feel like they were watching the most sinister (and the most authentic) versions of themselves (171).” Klosterman ultimately concludes that Seinfeld normalized psychopathy, writing “They sat in a coffee shop and casually discussed how civilization was awful and existence is meaningless, and twenty two million people watched it every week. It opened a window while pulling down the shades, and we can’t go back (173).” Klosterman concludes that Seinfeld’s humor serves as a deeper look into the disturbed parts of our own minds.
