This essay argues that consumer culture is a medium through which the classical tradition becomes incorporated into everyday experience. It does this through a close examination of the Broadway musical The Pink Lady (1911), which plays with the theme of nymphs and satyrs and is set in a variety of commercial environments. This theme has been mediated by earlier responses to classical culture, and its reimagining in the production design has been particularly influenced by the Rococo period. However, this art-historical context has been transformed by new cultures of celebrity and mass media. Using a range of contemporary sociological responses to consumption, as well as later scholarship on the topic, I demonstrate that classical antiquity made an excellent source for modern commodification. Consumer culture has a substantial impact on people’s sense of social identity and the way in which the public sphere is constructed. The Pink Lady makes links between ancient nymphs and satyrs on the one hand and contemporary fashion and sexual mores on the other. Through analysis of this production, I explore the role classically inflected modes of consumption play in the overlapping phenomena of sexual expression, social identity and the cultivation of discernment. The classical tradition was shaped as much by the apparently democratizing impulse of modern consumption as it was by fantasies of aristocratic idleness.

本文认为，消费文化是一种将古典传统融入日常体验的媒介。它是通过仔细检查百老汇音乐剧《粉红色的女士》来实现的（1911），以若虫和色狼的主题为背景，并在各种商业环境中进行设定。这个主题是由对古典文化的较早回应所调解的，洛可可时代对它在生产设计中的重新构想尤其产生了影响。但是，这种艺术历史背景已经由新的名人文化和大众文化所改变。通过使用一系列当代社会对消费的反应以及后来对该主题的研究，我证明了古典古代是现代商品化的绝佳来源。消费文化对人们的社会认同感和公共领域的构建方式具有重大影响。粉红女士一方面使古代的仙女和色狼之间建立联系，另一方面使当代时尚与性行为之间建立联系。通过对这种生产的分析，我探索了经典的消费模式在性表达，社会认同和辨别力的交叠现象中所起的作用。古典传统的形成既有明显的使现代消费民主化的冲动，也有贵族闲置的幻想。