Music References and Historical Context
Mr. Mitchell - I’m not sure if you planned it like this, but it’s interesting that we have two novels in a row that take a very different approach to placing the novel “in an era”. My last post was about how Housekeeping omits the historical context of the story, so that the story becomes “timeless” to some degree, showing the human life in geological context to emphasize its transience. On the other hand, the historical context of Black Swan Green is expressed in a variety of ways and its deeply important to the actual story.
The musical references are a really perfect way to place the book in historical context and to depict the emotions Jason is feeling. It shows that people are always a part of a greater culture, interacting with it in unique ways, so writing a book with such direct references is super cool. Music is a potent way of evoking an era, and a great way to elicit memories. And not only does Mitchell mention the music, but he describes how Jason feels about it. He also describes how he listened to it, and I love the detail of how “Oliver’s Army” was thought to be called “Olive’s Salami”. It reminded me of how my mom and her friends thought the song “Le Freak” by Chic was called “Africa” - it shows how people interact with music in a variety of times and cultures in their own way. This level of realistic description not only shows the music, but the context in which the music was listened to.
The book also frequently relies on 1980s current events, as well as other historical things, to place the characters themselves in context. The context of the Falklands War does a few things: it describes the political and media culture of the time, the sort of culture war/divide between the kind of people who would read the Daily Mail versus The Guardian - and it’s a divide we can still totally understand today. It also showed us what kind of culture Julia was part of, as a reader of the Guardian, and how she as an older sibling influence Jason. But it’s most important in the context of Jason’s coming-of-age as the analogy for the war between his parents. But it’s very important that he didn’t just describe his parent’s war in comparison to any war. It was the Falkland War, a sort of last-colonial-stand, a kind of Pyrrhic victory. Mitchell wants us to understand how Jason used the exact war that was going on to articulate his own problems. And this reflects exactly how we come of age and understand the world.
We’re deeply impacted by the culture, time, and history we live in, and our consciousness is shaped by that. And reading Black Swan Green has made me wonder what my own life would appear like in a novel through a different cultural lens. How would my political opinions appear? The media I consume? The music I listen to? You could easily tell my age, my socioeconomic status, and even who my friends are. It’s an interesting way to think about your life, as a constant interaction of individuality and societal/cultural forces.
The musical references are a really perfect way to place the book in historical context and to depict the emotions Jason is feeling. It shows that people are always a part of a greater culture, interacting with it in unique ways, so writing a book with such direct references is super cool. Music is a potent way of evoking an era, and a great way to elicit memories. And not only does Mitchell mention the music, but he describes how Jason feels about it. He also describes how he listened to it, and I love the detail of how “Oliver’s Army” was thought to be called “Olive’s Salami”. It reminded me of how my mom and her friends thought the song “Le Freak” by Chic was called “Africa” - it shows how people interact with music in a variety of times and cultures in their own way. This level of realistic description not only shows the music, but the context in which the music was listened to.
The book also frequently relies on 1980s current events, as well as other historical things, to place the characters themselves in context. The context of the Falklands War does a few things: it describes the political and media culture of the time, the sort of culture war/divide between the kind of people who would read the Daily Mail versus The Guardian - and it’s a divide we can still totally understand today. It also showed us what kind of culture Julia was part of, as a reader of the Guardian, and how she as an older sibling influence Jason. But it’s most important in the context of Jason’s coming-of-age as the analogy for the war between his parents. But it’s very important that he didn’t just describe his parent’s war in comparison to any war. It was the Falkland War, a sort of last-colonial-stand, a kind of Pyrrhic victory. Mitchell wants us to understand how Jason used the exact war that was going on to articulate his own problems. And this reflects exactly how we come of age and understand the world.
We’re deeply impacted by the culture, time, and history we live in, and our consciousness is shaped by that. And reading Black Swan Green has made me wonder what my own life would appear like in a novel through a different cultural lens. How would my political opinions appear? The media I consume? The music I listen to? You could easily tell my age, my socioeconomic status, and even who my friends are. It’s an interesting way to think about your life, as a constant interaction of individuality and societal/cultural forces.
Really well-written post Zona! I think it's fascinating to think about this novel in comparison to Housekeeping in terms of cultural context. I hesitate to say I like one better than the other, but I do appreciate how grounded Black Swan is in historical events. I feel like I can relate to Jason more because I recognize the way he interacts with music and politics in my own life.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post! Time during housekeeping was definitely very transient. It was never clear how old Ruth and Lucille were or how much time had gone buy. By the end of the book, I couldn't even tell how old Ruth was. Black Swan Green is definitely much more defined by time as the whole book takes place over a year and as you mentioned the events that happen during that time are very important.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely partly because I'm a history nerd, but I definitely preferred how grounded Black Swan Green was in it's time compared to how little we knew about Housekeeping. Black Swan Green very much feels like a captured year in time, more in depth and real than anything we could learn about in school, showing both the events in the life of Jason as well as popular attitudes, social problems, and world events. Housekeeping, on the other hand, really feels like it could happen at almost any time. Black Swan Green created a much more engaging and easier to connect to world - even if I will have never lived in Britain in the 1980s, through Jason ad the book I learn so much about his environment and through the music I can connect to him in ways that just couldn't occur in Housekeeping.
ReplyDeleteI definitely loved all the music and pop culture references in Black Swan Green. Even though I never lived in 1982 Britain, I still feel very immersed in the culture. I agree, David Mitchell did a great job showing how kids interact with pop culture and, as a result, I could really relate to Jason even though I never lived in 1982 England. In a way, Mitchell makes 1982 England feel like a unique and distinct time period but also a relatable one.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Mitchell giving all this historical context really helped me get a feel of what life was like for Jason. I think the fact that Jason talks about the music and current events while Ruth never mentions either also shows aspects of their characters. Jason, like most people, cares about and is affected by that stuff, while Ruth, because of her philosophy and personality, doesn't care as much.
ReplyDeleteHaving sort of a "soundtrack" for this book really made it a more complete experience. I think you're right, the datedness of this book helps us learn more about Jason and how he sees the world.
ReplyDeleteThe questions you ponder at the end have a lot to do with why the last two novels on the syllabus resonate with me so strongly--both _Black Swan Green_ and even moreso _Sag Harbor_ were the first books I'd read where the cultural and historical context of *my* childhood and young adulthood had been turned into "literature." You'll likely experience this at some point--the first "serious" work of literature that treats the mid- to late 2010s as its cultural context, with a little bit of historical distance so there's a sense of "excavating" this recent past. Think about what songs, movies, shows, styles, slang, and other cultural elements would need to be included for it to "feel like" 2019 for you. It's definitely a unique experience to see those familiar and in some ways seemingly private or personal points of reference immortalized in print for the first time.
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ReplyDeleteBlack Swan Green was fascinating to read because Jason's world is very different from my own. At first it was a little disorienting because I didn't get all the music references or the political context. I had to Wikipedia some things in order to understand what Jason was talking about. However, I think that grounding the text in a clear time and place makes it more powerful because the novel can be referred back to as a concrete moment in history.
I thought about that after we read the first book. What would my life look life if it was written down and then turned into a book? I think that the different cultures that people are raised in greatly impacts the way they act and that goes all the way down to nature v. nurture where scientists have studied how the environment or a person's upbringing changes how they will be in the future and they both have effects.
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