Scenes: Open and restricted
This article suggests that the scholarly writing on scenes is marked by a divergence between two ways of conceiving a scene. “Open” conceptualizations of a scene treat them as broader manifestations of urbanity, as part of the theatricality of city life. A “scene”, in this sense, is engaged in the instilling, within city-dwellers, of the values and ethical protocols of urbanity. “Restricted” conceptions of a scene regard them as the forms of organization which surround particular cultural forms, like genres of music. However much one might imagine a reconciliation of these ways of conceiving scene, each has generated its own traditions of research and each mobilizes distinct domains of cultural analysis. Each, as well, presumes different ways of thinking about the visibility of scenes.