Similarity of Modernist and Postmodernist Writers as Societal Critics

No matter whether one believes that the boundaries between modernism and postmodernism are clear or muddy, or whether postmodernism is a break from, or continuation of, modernism (Matteo par. 4, Mambrol par. 2), its apparent that writers from both periods may serve the same roles. Two works that exemplify how modernist and postmodernist writers serve as societal critics are T.S Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” and Donald Glover’s song (as alter-ego Childish Gambino) “This Is America”. 

Eliot’s poem is probably the most famous poem of the twentieth century (“A Brief Guide to Modernism” par. 4, Tearle “…The Waste Land” par. 1), and Glover’s song “amassed ten million views in only twenty-four hours” (Beaumont-Thomas par. 1) and is currently at over 435 million views seven months after its release, demonstrating its popularity.  In “The Waste Land”, Eliot critiques the declining sexual morality, the futility of institutions like marriage, and the toll on mental health, of individuals in a society in the aftermath of WW1. The infertile wasteland is as much in the minds of the people, as in the war-torn lands of post-war Britain. With “This Is America”, Glover critiques a society that portrays violence and guns as part of its entertainment while the same violence and guns (and racism) are the major issues facing that segment of society. Partying is favoured over acknowledging the problem, in a modern version of cognitive dissonance. The added irony is that he uses the same entertainment media to convey his message. The methods that both pieces use to convey their critiques are strikingly similar and most differences exist in the areas of postmodernism’s embracing of minority voices and the use of irony rather than tragedy in postmodern versus modern.

The first similarity observed is that both artists use references in their works that cross artistic boundaries. Both periods are noted for rejecting “the rigid boundaries between high and low art [… and] mixing different, incongruous elements” (Mambrol par. 3). Eliot’s “The Waste Land” contains references to the jazz tune “Shakespeherian Rag” (126-130), Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde (31-42), and classic literature with Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra (77) and Ovid’s Metamorphoses (98-100). Glover’s “This Is America” contains references to rap songs such as “Gimme the Loot” by The Notorious B.I.G. (Glover 2:42), Jim Crow caricatures (Khal par. 3, Beaumont-Thomas ‘He’s playing Jim Crow’, Glover 0:53) and cake-walking (St. Félix par. 2, Glover 0:34-0:53), the Bible (Khal, paragraph 6, Glover 2:35-:2:40), choir gospel songs (Glover 0-0:17, 1:41-1:46), and recent news events such as the church shooting in Charleston (Gajanan ‘The gunned down choir’, Khal par. 4, Glover 1:55-1:57). Mixing allusions and snippets from differing levels of art help the audience to connect to the works and develop their own understanding of them.

The previous examples also demonstrate the use of pastiche and intertextuality. The references are ones likely known by the intended audiences of the works and serve to add meaning to the works beyond just the words contained in them. In referencing Tristan and Isolde, Eliot reminds the readers of the doomed love of the protagonists (Tearle “... ‘The Burial of the Dead’” par. 4). He makes the reader think of the rape of Philomena in the allusion to Metamorphoses (Tearle “… ‘A Game of Chess’” par. 2). An additional allusion to Edmund Spencer’s Prothalamion, “Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.” (Eliot 176,183,184), contrasts the marriages of that poem with the cheap sex prevalent of the Thames of “The Waste Land” (Tearle “… ‘The Fire Sermon’” pars. 2-3), alluded to in the poem with “The nymphs are departed. / and their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors; / Departed, have left no addresses” (Eliot 179-181). These references drive home the critique of declining morality and the erosion of value in marriage. When Glover uses “like blocka” (2:42), it is reminiscent of the onomatopoeia for gunshots in Notorious B.I.G.’s “Gimme the Loot” (3:07). The hooded figure on the white horse (Glover 2:35-2:40) calls to mind the first horseman of the Apocalypse (American Standard Bible Revelations 6:2).  When Glover sings “America, I just checked my following list and / You go tell somebody / You mothafuckas owe me” (3:03-3:06), those familiar with rap artists might think of Young Thug’s issue of having lots of followers but poor album sales (Zisook par. 12). These allusions show a society that both glorifies violence as entertainment while also suffering the effects of that violence, a dichotomy that cannot be sustained. Both pieces contain many more intertextual allusions, but these should show that, for the audiences of each work, there is meaning to be gleaned beyond the lines of the works.

The use of these snippets, or fragments, is another similarity between the modernist “The Waste Land” and the postmodernist “This Is America”. The “mixing of different, incongruous elements” (Mambrol par.3) can be quite effective at pointing the audience to what the author wants them to see. Eliot scatters snippets hinting at WW1 throughout his poem. With “And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s” (13), he alludes to the assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand.  “A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, / I had not thought death had undone so many.” (62-63), may refer to either the ghosts of the war dead or of those undone by their deaths (Tearle “… ‘The Burial of the Dead’” par. 8).  “I think we are in rats ‘alley / Where the dead men lost their bones.” (115-116) is likely a reference to the trenches of the war (Tearle “… ‘A Game of Chess’” par. 3). There are also references to mental health issues. “I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.” (Eliot 18) is “one of the most powerful and subtle lines ever written about insomnia” (McAloon par.4).  The conversation between the couple, that starts with “’My nerves are bad tonight...’” through “’Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?’” (Eliot 111-126) conveys the frayed nerves of the woman along with the “strong suggestion that the man is scarred by some sort of trauma and has blocked out much of his life and refused to talk about it.” (Tearle “… ‘A Game of Chess’” par. 3). This is also a commentary on the effect that the war has had on relationships and the breakup of marriages. Yet another reference comes through “’On Margate Sands. / I can connect / Nothing with nothing. / The broken fingernails of dirty hands.’” (Eliot 300-303), as Eliot himself spent time in Margate while on leave to deal with his depression (McAloon pars. 2-3). The fragmentation becomes so pronounced in the last part of the poem that it almost seems as if “the speaker has finally gone completely mad: ‘Hieronymo’s mad againe’ [(Eliot 432)]” (Tearle “… ‘What the Thunder Said’” par.7). Combined, he paints a picture of the mental wasteland that has been left in the war’s wake.

The fragmented and incongruous elements in “This Is America” appear not just in the lyrics, but in all the video’s elements (dance, music, background visuals). Glover is in almost constant motion, and “When his character is not dancing, he is killing.” (St. Félix par. 3). Often, the movements, music, words, and background visuals are all doing different things at the same time. The video must be watched multiple times to follow each individual element without distraction, to catch the subtle messages. This itself is part of the message- that the music and the dance are meant to distract the audience from the violence that is occurring in the background (riots (Glover 2:00-2:19) and fires (2:30-2:36)), just as the entertainment culture distracts from the real-life violence. “It’s hard to tell if this is ignorance to what really matters or a coping mechanism and escapism from the fuckery of everyday life” (Khal par.5). This reference to escapism or mental coping is echoed in the lyrics “I’m so cold like yeah / I’m so dope like yeah / We gon’ blow like yeah” (Glover 1:33-1:37), suggesting that it is easier to deal with all the violence if you act like you do not care and party. The few times that the disparate elements synchronize are full of impact, being so rare in the chaos. Right before the music changes to aggressive, Glover stops dancing, background clears, and then guns are fired to the lyrics of “This is America” (0:50-0:54, 1:55-1:58). Not only is this vivid statement the meat of Glover’s critique—prevalent gun violence—it also mirrors how everyone remains distracted by their entertainment until the next incident of gunfire striking a member of their society down. As in “The Waste Land”, the various elements in “This Is America” each convey part of the message. In Glover’s body movements, cheerful grins morph into manic grimaces (0:39-0:49, 1:03-1:15, 1:49-1:55). At times he looks “sexy, at other times crazed” (St. Félix par. 2). One wonders if the character is fully sane.  The dances move from grotesque cake-walks (Glover 0:37-0:49, 0:58-1:32) into popular fad dances (1:33-1:40) such as the “gwara gwara, and then into a slew of viral dances” (St. Félix par. 3), a parody of black dance as entertainment over the years. After shooting the hooded guitarist (Glover 0:51) the body is finally dragged off, yet the gun is carefully placed and wrapped in a red cloth, “as if the black body isn’t worth … as much as the instrument used to end its life” (Khal par. 3), all while Glover continues to smile and dance like nothing has happened. Just with these few elements’ messages, Glover’s critique is hard to miss, and the video is full of many more.

As a final similarity in how the two works convey their critiques, both “The Waste Land” and “This Is America” employ a variety of ambiguous phrases. These can be interpreted different ways by the audience, and further add to the author’s message, no matter which interpretation is embraced.  In Eliot’s poem, we have the example of “The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne” (77), an allusion to Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra (77 Note), which could be taken at face value as a literal throne, or as the slang of throne for a toilet, each giving a different perspective from which to view the subject woman in the following lines. Likewise, the opening stanza of “The Fire Sermon” section of the poem (173-181) describes a dying brown river bank, as summer ends and “The nymphs are departed”. Eliot could be referring to nymphs as spirits of nature and green and implying “the modern world…has lost its magic and spiritualism” (Tearle “… “The Fire Sermon’” par. 2), or he could be using nymphs as a euphemism for prostitutes and showing its moral decay.  With Glover’s “This Is America”, there are a couple of phrases that could be taken as allusions to slavery, or to modern black culture. With “Look what I’m whippin’ up” (0:59), there is the whipping of slaves meaning, or the modern ones of making money, making crack, or a car. With “I got the strap” (1:21) there is the same reference to slave punishment, but also the modern one, when taken with the preceding line of “Guns in my area” (1:19), of a gun holster. Another phrase with double meaning follows these two, “I gotta carry’ em” (1:23), which could mean carry either the guns, or those shot by them. Probably the best example of double meaning is in the lyrics “This is a celly / That’s a tool” (2:25-2:28). “It’s either highlighting just how powerful the cellphone has become in documenting these horrific acts of violence…or a reference to the Stephon Clark case, where police thought Clark was holding a gun or a tool and then shot him…only to find out he was holding his cellphone” (Khal par. 7). In both works, these ambiguities and the multiple interpretations that arise from them (along with the other similarities mentioned above) help “give voice to the insecurities, disorientation and fragmentation of the 20^th century western world.” (Mambrol paragraph 3 and 4).

In the end, Eliot and Glover employ many of the same techniques to convey their criticisms of the societies they are part of. Their role as writers is the same: to share their critiques with a broader audience in ways that the audience will understand, relate to, and enjoy consuming, so that the message is received and spread, hopefully sparking change. In this, there lies a final difference between the modernist Eliot, and the postmodernist Glover: Eliot at least attempts to suggest avenues for correcting things, at least the wasteland of the mind, with the teachings of Eastern cultures. Glover simply presents the broken state of things and offers no escape from it, apart from his song. (Mambrol pars 5-6).

Works Cited

“A Brief Guide to Modernism.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org/print/70293.

American Standard Bible. Bible Study Tools, Salem Web Network, www.biblestudytools.com/asv.

Beaumont-Thomas, Ben. “This Is America: Theories behind Childish Gambino's Satirical Masterpiece.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 May 2018, www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/07/this-is-america-theories-donald-glover-satirical-video-childish-gambino.

Eliot, T S. “The Waste Land.” Representative Poetry Online, rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/waste-land.

Gajanan, Mahita. “Childish Gambino's 'This Is America': Breaking Down Symbols.” Time, Time, 7 May 2018, time.com/5267890/childish-gambino-this-is-america-meaning/.

Glover, Donald. “Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 5 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY.

Khal. “The Real Meaning Behind Childish Gambino's ‘This Is America.’” Complex, Complex, 1 June 2018, www.complex.com/pop-culture/2018/05/the-real-meaning-behind-childish-gambino-this-is-america-video/.

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Postmodernism.” Literary Theory and Criticism Notes, Literary Theory and Criticism, 15 May 2018, literariness.org/2016/03/31/postmodernism/.

Matteo, Virginia. “What's the Difference Between Modernism and Postmodernism in Literature?” Owlcation, Owlcation, 29 May 2018, owlcation.com/humanities/Whats-The-Difference-Between-Modernism-and-Postmodernism.

McAloon, Jonathan. “TS Eliot's The Waste Land Remains One of the Finest Reflections on Mental Illness Ever Written.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/feb/13/ts-eliot-the-waste-land-mental-illness.

St. Félix, Doreen. “The Carnage and Chaos of Childish Gambino's ‘This Is America.’” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 17 July 2018, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-carnage-and-chaos-of-childish-gambinos-this-is-america.

Tearle, Oliver. “A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot's 'The Burial of the Dead'.” Interesting Literature, Interesting Literature, 4 Mar. 2017, interestingliterature.com/2016/10/13/a-short-analysis-of-t-s-eliots-the-burial-of-the-dead/.

Tearle, Oliver. “A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot's 'A Game of Chess'.” Interesting Literature, Interesting Literature, 4 Mar. 2017, interestingliterature.com/2016/10/20/a-short-analysis-of-t-s-eliots-a-game-of-chess/.

Tearle, Oliver. “A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot's 'The Fire Sermon'.” Interesting Literature, Interesting Literature, 4 Mar. 2017, interestingliterature.com/2016/10/27/a-short-analysis-of-t-s-eliots-the-fire-sermon/.

Tearle, Oliver. “A Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot's 'What the Thunder Said'.” Interesting Literature, Interesting Literature, 11 Feb. 2018, interestingliterature.com/2016/11/10/a-short-analysis-of-t-s-eliots-what-the-thunder-said/.

Tearle, Oliver. “A Very Short Analysis of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land.” Interesting Literature, Interesting Literature, 28 June 2018, interestingliterature.com/2016/10/06/a-very-short-analysis-of-t-s-eliots-the-waste-land/.

The Notorious B.I.G. “Gimme the Loot.” Genius, Genius Media Group Inc., 13 Sept. 1994, genius.com/The-notorious-big-gimme-the-loot-lyrics.

Zisook, Brian. “Is Young Thug's Popularity Flatlining? Here's What the Numbers Say.” DJBooth, DJBooth, 26 June 2017, djbooth.net/features/2017-06-26-young-thug-music-numbers.