tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post4632924073058784381..comments2024-03-28T03:13:15.831-04:00Comments on Remarkable: POP! Goes the Reference: Pop Culture References in LiteratureGeoff Klockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09080580776997273785noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-88810069836258057202009-03-17T09:55:00.000-04:002009-03-17T09:55:00.000-04:00Mikey,Yup, for the DVD set released last year in t...Mikey,<BR/><BR/>Yup, for the DVD set released last year in the States. Each series has two commentaries the 'original' commentary by cast and creators and then a second commentary featuring celebrity guest, including Kevin Smith, Patton Oswald (who has a huge crush on Jessica Hynes nee Stevenson), Quentin Tarantino and Dioblo Cody. Tarantino does two episodes on the second series, including the episode that opens with the Pulp Fiction homage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-14635722189412367762009-03-17T09:31:00.000-04:002009-03-17T09:31:00.000-04:00And (last one):WTF?! Tarantino provided commentary...And (last one):<BR/><BR/>WTF?! Tarantino provided commentary on Spaced? Cool.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13843014015527136142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-47001964472469359552009-03-17T09:27:00.000-04:002009-03-17T09:27:00.000-04:00Also - The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by...Also - The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Dias is littered with pop cultural references which are sometimes allegorical, sometimes descriptive shorthand and sometimes just touchstones for the reader to keep the buoys of the narrative bobbing up and in view. <BR/><BR/>The book sets out its stall from the outset with two epigraphs: <BR/><BR/>an excerpt from the Derek Walcott poem The Schooner 'Flight'; <BR/><BR/>and a certain quote that will be familiar to many here: <BR/><BR/>"Of what import are brief, nameless lives . . . to Galactus??" (Fantastic Four, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Vol. 1, No. 49, April 1966)<BR/><BR/>Which practically tells you everything you need to know about the form and content of the novel in micro.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13843014015527136142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-42417622880598367542009-03-17T09:24:00.000-04:002009-03-17T09:24:00.000-04:00I had this whole detailed point on allegory writte...I had this whole detailed point on allegory written but I couldn't quite get at what I mean and others have touched on it above anyway. <BR/><BR/>But I was talking about Kavalier and Clay as an example of something that is so coherent and immaculate in its strategy of interweaving different indexes of history - the pop culture referents also function as allegory, background colour, historical detail, character voices and pretty much everything else, while also never actually taking over and trivialising the narrative.<BR/><BR/>In fact, I may have a post on this - something I've been thinking about recently regarding Jameson's concept of the 'holographic novel'. I'll try and work it up into something more coherent.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13843014015527136142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-32464185395524460572009-03-16T23:45:00.000-04:002009-03-16T23:45:00.000-04:00I think it's a mistake to assume that pop-culture ...I think it's a mistake to assume that pop-culture references are a recent phenomena when one of things we're assuming is that they won't be understood in 30-40 years. The fact of the matter is that many works in the past were filled with pop-culture references (the urban comedies of sixteenth-century Britain come to mind - hell, Horace's satires are filled with them); we just don't always know what they are referring to. As a result, works that addressed more stable referents acquired more staying power. <BR/><BR/>However, as the canon dissolves and the internet evolves, it's becoming less likely that everyone will catch an allusion to Greek mythology and more likely that everyone can look up a reference to the X-files, so it's possible that pop-culture references will make smooth transitions into "allusions" just because the information will remain accessible. <BR/><BR/>After all, this is an era where multiple people have annotated Morrison's Batman (and I mean nothing pejorative by that statement; I think it's great).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-34734951523620702032009-03-16T22:13:00.000-04:002009-03-16T22:13:00.000-04:00Nothing to add, but wanted to point out that CBC d...Nothing to add, but wanted to point out that CBC did a <I>Jpod</I> TV series that's available on TV in case you weren't aware of it. I've yet to read the book, but dug what I saw of the show--don't know how it compares.Chad Nevetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11785622045733202883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-74566972865220711712009-03-16T19:32:00.000-04:002009-03-16T19:32:00.000-04:00Please ignore the grammatical mistakes above... I'...Please ignore the grammatical mistakes above... I'm enjoying my evening glasse of wine a bit too much :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-74203130200683958392009-03-16T19:29:00.000-04:002009-03-16T19:29:00.000-04:00I do think that the pop-culture reference is now r...I do think that the pop-culture reference is now replacing that time honored literary device; the allusion. Once upon a time (or back in the day as my students might say), learned poets and playwrights would make allusions to past works of literature as a sort of signpost to their readers, drawing from to most common examples from antiquity. A sort of collective memory... That's what we do now with Pop-Culture; only, instead of referencing Hercules or Dionysus, we reference Star Trek or The Cosby Show. (Kanye has a great line from the Graduation album where he says "I'm not one of the Cosbys, I didn't go to Hillman", referencing, Not only The Cosby SHow but A Different World).<BR/><BR/>I was just watching SPACED with the commentary by Quentin Tarantino and he pointed out that the Pop-Cultural reference in art is a fairly recent development. It was only with his generation that came of age in the 70s and included people like himself, Coupland and Kevin Smith that, suddenly, everyone had this common ground on which to stand in terms of the TV shows and movies that they grew up with (I'm guessing this is because this was the first generation where 'EVERYONE' had a TV and that Home Video became commonplace)<BR/><BR/>And, if you think about it, these references appeal and can be understood by a much larger audience than the 'allusion of old' seeing as how, once upon a time, since allusions would only be readily understandable to someone with a 'classical education' so to speak; which, I'm pretty sure, put them in a pretty select minority.<BR/><BR/>So, perhaps these aren't 'Pop-Culture' references at all; they are, in fact, 'The Peoples Allusions'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-74340695488246902562009-03-16T16:21:00.000-04:002009-03-16T16:21:00.000-04:00I'm with Jason. Posterity is for narcisists and Ja...I'm with Jason. Posterity is for narcisists and James Joyce. <BR/><BR/>Be obtuse, if you want to be remembered.<BR/>Hell, Joyce said it himself: “I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality.”<BR/><BR/><BR/>Anyway, I don't mind dated pop references. I actually think they're part of the fun.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Kieron Gillen of Phonogram fame, said something interesting in regards to Scott Pilgrim: This generation of readers look at the world through the eyes of pop culture: "This is about how humans of a certain generation process reality. I mean, take last week in New York. Jamie, 2000-AD writer Al Ewing and myself went up the Empire States Building. When looking over one of the greatest city of Earth, the reference points which were voiced were: Bioshock. Sim City. Risk pieces. That Scene In Preacher Where Cassidy Threw Himself Off. Point being, our art shapes how we relate to reality. Scott’s joy – and why it speaks to so many people – is that it understands the pulp through which we see the world, and assumes that’s as natural as blinking.<BR/><BR/>Scott Pilgrim compels because of its fundamental honesty, its fluency in a shared tongue and its lightness of touch."Christian O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00444025571307204096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23042008.post-87724759575965875092009-03-16T15:55:00.000-04:002009-03-16T15:55:00.000-04:00I remember being struck by an interview with Nick ...I remember being struck by an interview with Nick Hornby once, wherein he was asked about all the pop culture references (particularly to music) that he puts in his books. The interviewer couched it along the lines of, "Most writers don't do a lot of pop culture references."<BR/><BR/>HIs answer was, "Most writers seem to have one eye on posterity, which is something I'm not concerned with at all. I want people to read my books *now*."<BR/><BR/>Interesting response, I always thought.<BR/><BR/>(And sidebar: I think Watchmen would've been a more successful film if they'd bumped everything up 20 years and made it about the current global situation. Since part of the point is the "alternate reality" aspect, they could easily have altered things slightly to make the set-up into a "Cold War" between us and Iraq, or us and North Korea. The flashbacks to "20 years ago" would then be set during the Cold War with the Soviets, which would still give sense to a lot of scenes (like the Comedian's, "You'll be the smartest guy on the cinder" line to Ozymandias). I think it would've made the film seem more relevant and less quaint to mainstream audiences.)Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13298753675007196538noreply@blogger.com