Reconciling The Beatles of the 60s and Today - Semester Project
Here's the link to my project because formatting on blogger is rough.
Henry K. Thaw as the Trump of the Early 1900s
I focused a lot on Henry K. Thaw in my last blog post, talking about how Doctorow uses the contrast between him and Houdini to create a social commentary on the state of class in the United States. However, the more I think about Thaw and his situation, the more frustrated I get. To me, it shows continuation of the class privilege in America. We briefly touched on this in some of our class discussions, but his immense power and privilege that he gets from his money and class status separates him from the rest of society, even when in jail. In Ragtime, Doctorow uses Thaw as a contrast between the working class immigrant communities in New York at the turn of the century, during the first big surge of capitalism in America and the class inequity that comes with it. Yet, what I keep coming back to is the fact that in real life in the early 1900s, Thaw shot and killed Stanford White in public and in front of witnesses, and still got away with it. I know that Doctorow ha...
Your story was so interesting! I didn't know that The Beatles were looked down on so much while they were making music. This was not only educational for me though; I really liked how you told Jane's story. One of my favorite parts was how you brought in Roger as a physical embodiment of the criticism that Jane faced instead of keeping it more distant. I also really liked the eerie appearance of future newspaper clippings whenever Jane bought a Beatles album, which made me feel less bad for her during her constant rejection because she knew she was right in the end. Overall, you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this story! I like how the story isn't just going into the past or future, it's doing both. She reflects on getting different albums as well as the newspaper clippings from the future. All of this is happening while she is presently with Roger. Something like that can get a bit confusing for the reader but you managed to do it well.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing how your story fleshed out! The different parts of the story where Jane found the newspaper clippings were so much like her finding the newspaper clippings themselves, which was a parallel I thoroughly enjoyed. I also didn't know The Beatles were so disliked by critics back in the day, so that was definitely something I learned here. All in all, I liked your concept and I think you did a good job making it into a reality!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who also wrote about the Beatles it was really interesting to read someone else's idea for a fictional history about one of my favorite bands. Although, your story was decidedly different from mine I really enjoyed how yours encompassed the entire timeline of the Beatles, it was interesting to hear it from the perspective of a fan as well.
ReplyDeleteWowee, do I love this. As a huge fan of the Beatles and 60s music history, I loved the direction you took with your project. I know the whole idea of Beatlemania hits home for you as well, and I could feel the disdain you had for current antis oozing out of the pages. I love the simultaneous realness and magicalness of the newspaper clippings, as if the universe is sending her little messages to assure her. I also really liked the dynamic she had with Roger, and the subtle sexism that shows itself in his comments to her. When the Beatles started becoming more popular and "cool" for edgy college kids after Sgt. Pepper, it was only because the male students encouraged male journalists to write the articles. Sexism has always been part of the history of the Beatles, and you handled that topic really well, I think, especially as those anti-Beatles (and, to some extent, anti-any-girl's-opinion) comments came from someone she was with.
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