"any stance can be perceived as a pose": There are popular musicians - David Bowie and Steely Dan (i.e., Walter Becker and Donald Fagen) jump to mind, but there are many others - who have countered this, um, liability by continually, deliberately, and obviously striking poses. You may or may not like their poses, but they seldom or never pretend to be not pretending. Authenticity, schmauthenticity.
Vaclav Havel said of his plays that they were "theatrical images of the basic modalities of humanity in a state of collapse" and that they "tend to be decadently joking in tone". Decadent joking, also known as snark (or at least a large subset of snark), strikes me as highly appropriate for most art these days. Part of what makes much corniness corny is that it's earnest, painfully earnest, in an environment so stuffed with absurdities that earnestness tends to seem like cluelessness.
"any stance can be perceived as a pose": There are popular musicians - David Bowie and Steely Dan (i.e., Walter Becker and Donald Fagen) jump to mind, but there are many others - who have countered this, um, liability by continually, deliberately, and obviously striking poses. You may or may not like their poses, but they seldom or never pretend to be not pretending. Authenticity, schmauthenticity.
Vaclav Havel said of his plays that they were "theatrical images of the basic modalities of humanity in a state of collapse" and that they "tend to be decadently joking in tone". Decadent joking, also known as snark (or at least a large subset of snark), strikes me as highly appropriate for most art these days. Part of what makes much corniness corny is that it's earnest, painfully earnest, in an environment so stuffed with absurdities that earnestness tends to seem like cluelessness.