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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/30/autographs-are-out-selfies-are-in-were-just-monsters-arent-we
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| Autographs are out, selfies are in: we're just monsters, aren't we? | Autographs are out, selfies are in: we're just monsters, aren't we? |
| (3 months later) | |
| A childhood memory came flooding back to me yesterday. Eight years old and nervously approaching bottle-blonde leg-spinner Shane Warne, then a veteran of just a single test match for his country, I stuck out my autograph book and politely asked my new idol for to sign. “No worries buddy, they’re two bucks each.” | A childhood memory came flooding back to me yesterday. Eight years old and nervously approaching bottle-blonde leg-spinner Shane Warne, then a veteran of just a single test match for his country, I stuck out my autograph book and politely asked my new idol for to sign. “No worries buddy, they’re two bucks each.” |
| From everything I’ve seen and read since, such stories are rare and that aberration probably spoke more of Warne’s larrikin streak than the mortified child-me could ever realise. Now Warnie says that the autograph is dead, usurped by the selfie. He should know, too. He’s probably had more people ask him for one of either than any living Australian. | From everything I’ve seen and read since, such stories are rare and that aberration probably spoke more of Warne’s larrikin streak than the mortified child-me could ever realise. Now Warnie says that the autograph is dead, usurped by the selfie. He should know, too. He’s probably had more people ask him for one of either than any living Australian. |
| After doing 5 selfies with people this morning before 8am on my morning run / walk I've come to the conclusion that the autograph is dead ! | After doing 5 selfies with people this morning before 8am on my morning run / walk I've come to the conclusion that the autograph is dead ! |
| I guess Don Bradman can be thankful he wasn’t around for the selfie, the latest development in celebrity culture. I promised myself I’d mostly leave that part of Warne’s comment alone, but it is interesting to note how shameless and self-indulgent we’ve become in expecting celebrities and sports people to pose dutifully as we invade their personal space, holding a smartphone aloft to capture the whole awkward exchange. But you know, we’ll have that photo for, well, however long the phone lasts. | I guess Don Bradman can be thankful he wasn’t around for the selfie, the latest development in celebrity culture. I promised myself I’d mostly leave that part of Warne’s comment alone, but it is interesting to note how shameless and self-indulgent we’ve become in expecting celebrities and sports people to pose dutifully as we invade their personal space, holding a smartphone aloft to capture the whole awkward exchange. But you know, we’ll have that photo for, well, however long the phone lasts. |
| After Melbourne’s spirit-lifting AFL win against Richmond at the MCG a fortnight back, I actually noticed a fan lean over the fence and request a selfie as the players high-fived their ecstatic fans. It was even more amazing to note the way that the player in question posed not once but twice when the selfie-seeker deemed the first pic a flop. We’re just monsters, aren’t we? | After Melbourne’s spirit-lifting AFL win against Richmond at the MCG a fortnight back, I actually noticed a fan lean over the fence and request a selfie as the players high-fived their ecstatic fans. It was even more amazing to note the way that the player in question posed not once but twice when the selfie-seeker deemed the first pic a flop. We’re just monsters, aren’t we? |
| It’s probably a moot point whether the selfie and the autograph are really comparable, too. It’s the front required to make yourself an explicit part of the outcome that grinds my gears a little. Do selfie-hunters see reflected glory in their faces (watch out for red eye) or the look of desperation? For those of us who balked at even requesting a personalised dedication when collecting autographs as children, it all just seems a bit off. | |
| The autograph probably has its roots more firmly planted in nerdom too, which is what makes it appear so innocent and harmless and less vain. It’s just deeply uncool to ask for an autograph, especially once you reach adulthood (oh the look on Graham Yallop’s face when asked if he’d sign my copy of "Lambs to the Slaughter"). It’s also more permanent and so feels like a lasting act of devotion or completism than a nuisance per se. | The autograph probably has its roots more firmly planted in nerdom too, which is what makes it appear so innocent and harmless and less vain. It’s just deeply uncool to ask for an autograph, especially once you reach adulthood (oh the look on Graham Yallop’s face when asked if he’d sign my copy of "Lambs to the Slaughter"). It’s also more permanent and so feels like a lasting act of devotion or completism than a nuisance per se. |
| If the autograph ever were killed off by the selfie, us luddites and romantics would be duty-bound to heap the same scorn on it as we do with Kindles and iPod docks. And can you really "collect" selfies, anyway? Collections need to be kept safe and in order. You can pick them up and thumb through them or sell items off and trade up. | If the autograph ever were killed off by the selfie, us luddites and romantics would be duty-bound to heap the same scorn on it as we do with Kindles and iPod docks. And can you really "collect" selfies, anyway? Collections need to be kept safe and in order. You can pick them up and thumb through them or sell items off and trade up. |
| Some would also probably say that the act of collecting is itself a display of narcissism though, that is true. When he was unpacking his library, incurable book collector Walter Benjamin said “ownership is the most intimate relationship one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.” Maybe autograph collectors are just as self-absorbed as selfie-hunters after all. | Some would also probably say that the act of collecting is itself a display of narcissism though, that is true. When he was unpacking his library, incurable book collector Walter Benjamin said “ownership is the most intimate relationship one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.” Maybe autograph collectors are just as self-absorbed as selfie-hunters after all. |
| Charles Leski, a sports memorabilia expert and auctioneer at Mossgreen in Melbourne, thinks that the physical object will prevail in the end. “I think very few people would think a selfie has any value beyond the other person in the photograph,” he told me. | |
| “I can see what [Warne] means as far as people wanting to record a moment – it’s a very nice thing to have a selfie but having something that you can physically treasure will continue to be much more important than the selfie.” | “I can see what [Warne] means as far as people wanting to record a moment – it’s a very nice thing to have a selfie but having something that you can physically treasure will continue to be much more important than the selfie.” |
| Warne’s death of autographs theory may be a little hasty, especially if auction prices are anything to go by. At a recent Mossgreen sale an autograph sheet signed by England’s infamous Bodyline Ashes squad of 1932-33 sold for close to $1,800. You can usually add another zero for bats signed by the combatants in that famous series. Leski does though warn against the type of autograph collecting in which a harried or sweaty sports star grabs a Sharpie and scrawls something indecipherable to get the obligation over and done with. “What’s the point of getting a squiggle and having to explain to someone that it’s Shane Warne or Muhammad Ali?” Quite. | Warne’s death of autographs theory may be a little hasty, especially if auction prices are anything to go by. At a recent Mossgreen sale an autograph sheet signed by England’s infamous Bodyline Ashes squad of 1932-33 sold for close to $1,800. You can usually add another zero for bats signed by the combatants in that famous series. Leski does though warn against the type of autograph collecting in which a harried or sweaty sports star grabs a Sharpie and scrawls something indecipherable to get the obligation over and done with. “What’s the point of getting a squiggle and having to explain to someone that it’s Shane Warne or Muhammad Ali?” Quite. |
| The declining aesthetics of the celebrity signature is probably a sign of the autograph's decline, to be fair. Gone are the days of flowery and artistic signatures labored over with the flourish of a fountain pen. These days you’re more likely to get an indecipherable smear or hastily-scribbled initials, even on expensive licensed products. | The declining aesthetics of the celebrity signature is probably a sign of the autograph's decline, to be fair. Gone are the days of flowery and artistic signatures labored over with the flourish of a fountain pen. These days you’re more likely to get an indecipherable smear or hastily-scribbled initials, even on expensive licensed products. |
| Those who do manage to score an autograph from Warnie would do well to view their acquisition as an item to be enjoyed rather than added to the home and contents insurance. The Don is an instructive example. Contrary to what Channel Nine’s memorabilia warehouse might have had you believe over the years, Leski says that Bradman probably signed more autographs than any Australian, let alone Australian sportsperson. Even in advancing years and with a trembling hand that lessened the earlier flowing beauty of his John Hancock, Bradman just never stopped signing. It doesn’t make his signature worthless, but you probably won’t put be buying a beach house with the proceeds of that "limited edition" bat. | Those who do manage to score an autograph from Warnie would do well to view their acquisition as an item to be enjoyed rather than added to the home and contents insurance. The Don is an instructive example. Contrary to what Channel Nine’s memorabilia warehouse might have had you believe over the years, Leski says that Bradman probably signed more autographs than any Australian, let alone Australian sportsperson. Even in advancing years and with a trembling hand that lessened the earlier flowing beauty of his John Hancock, Bradman just never stopped signing. It doesn’t make his signature worthless, but you probably won’t put be buying a beach house with the proceeds of that "limited edition" bat. |
| Rare and attractive signatures will always find a buyer and bring joy to collectors, but all indications are that there’ll be no future market for the selfie. “That collection of object and the care of an object and the rarity of a physical object can be demonstrated,” Leski says, “whereas other items, particularly in electronic forms, who knows how they will be accessed and whether anyone will be interested in them in the future?” | Rare and attractive signatures will always find a buyer and bring joy to collectors, but all indications are that there’ll be no future market for the selfie. “That collection of object and the care of an object and the rarity of a physical object can be demonstrated,” Leski says, “whereas other items, particularly in electronic forms, who knows how they will be accessed and whether anyone will be interested in them in the future?” |
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