I think there are situations when corniness is necessary, but not sufficient for genius - I'm thinking of Disney movies, which need to be corny to be genius, although there are plenty that are corny without achieving genius.
Then there are situations where an artist can be corny and/or genius, but not at the same time. Johnny Cash immediately springs to mind.
I'm as unwilling to consider the term "genius" with precision as you are, but I think Paul Simon is a corny genius. And like a lot of these people, he went in and out and in (and out) of popular esteem and critical regard and so on! I can't believe I'm saying this, but *in a way* James Ellroy is a corny genius!!!
I am starting to convince myself that Yasujiro Ozu was, in fact, a corny genius, and understood as such in Japan during his lifetime. It was only in the reception of his work after his death through the lens of modernist art cinema (which was not the tradition he was working in) that an ironic attitude was attributed to him.
I'm having a hard time tracking down etymology here. Lots of internet claims that it references the jokes in the back of seed catalogues (dad jokes basically) but no substantive citation. Scatttered attribution to African-American slang. My 1971 OED doesn't list this sense of corny or the word "cornball." Current OED citations vacillate between deriving from "cornfed," and the catalogue thing.
"except for jazz, which will have hardly any" -- uh-oh, i predict this will set off the comments section!!
two cents: (1) early jazz grew out of vaudeville and was absolutely stacked with corn, that's why all the post-bop guys like Miles Davis thought Louis Armstrong was an Uncle Tom; (2) once jazz went mainstream in the swing era, new levels of corny were reached. Cab Calloway is a shining example. ETA: (3) my third cent, Fats Waller!! and really the entire Harlem stride piano crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VsnNMqbGF8
also, in modern pop music, Adam Young (Owl City) is 1000% corny genius! this was a great post 10/10
I think this is right except the ones it does have are its greatest giants. Louis Armstrong is definitely a corny genius. Can’t decide about Ellington but probably. Basie yes. Ella.
Are the good Star Warses works of corny genius? (Andor no, but maybe Rogue One and the very first film.) Is Spielberg? (I don’t like most of his oeuvre but maybe Close Encounters qualifies here, and ET, for people who like it.) Truffaut approaches corny genius.
I can't believe you wrote an essay on the Corny Genius without mentioning the Final Boss of Corny Geniuses - The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.
I think there are situations when corniness is necessary, but not sufficient for genius - I'm thinking of Disney movies, which need to be corny to be genius, although there are plenty that are corny without achieving genius.
Then there are situations where an artist can be corny and/or genius, but not at the same time. Johnny Cash immediately springs to mind.
I was born the week "Alone" replaced "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" as the Billboard #1 song... summer 1987, a great time for corny genius?
I'm as unwilling to consider the term "genius" with precision as you are, but I think Paul Simon is a corny genius. And like a lot of these people, he went in and out and in (and out) of popular esteem and critical regard and so on! I can't believe I'm saying this, but *in a way* James Ellroy is a corny genius!!!
I am starting to convince myself that Yasujiro Ozu was, in fact, a corny genius, and understood as such in Japan during his lifetime. It was only in the reception of his work after his death through the lens of modernist art cinema (which was not the tradition he was working in) that an ironic attitude was attributed to him.
I'm having a hard time tracking down etymology here. Lots of internet claims that it references the jokes in the back of seed catalogues (dad jokes basically) but no substantive citation. Scatttered attribution to African-American slang. My 1971 OED doesn't list this sense of corny or the word "cornball." Current OED citations vacillate between deriving from "cornfed," and the catalogue thing.
"except for jazz, which will have hardly any" -- uh-oh, i predict this will set off the comments section!!
two cents: (1) early jazz grew out of vaudeville and was absolutely stacked with corn, that's why all the post-bop guys like Miles Davis thought Louis Armstrong was an Uncle Tom; (2) once jazz went mainstream in the swing era, new levels of corny were reached. Cab Calloway is a shining example. ETA: (3) my third cent, Fats Waller!! and really the entire Harlem stride piano crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VsnNMqbGF8
also, in modern pop music, Adam Young (Owl City) is 1000% corny genius! this was a great post 10/10
“except for jazz, which will have hardly any.”
I think this is right except the ones it does have are its greatest giants. Louis Armstrong is definitely a corny genius. Can’t decide about Ellington but probably. Basie yes. Ella.
Are the good Star Warses works of corny genius? (Andor no, but maybe Rogue One and the very first film.) Is Spielberg? (I don’t like most of his oeuvre but maybe Close Encounters qualifies here, and ET, for people who like it.) Truffaut approaches corny genius.