Jes Grew Hits the For You Page
When Jes Grew took over the country in Mumbo Jumbo, an epidemic of dance and jazz culture of the 1920s, the readers are left with questions about the role of black culture in a modern, specifically American, society. Mumbo Jumbo tells an Afro-centered history, particularly a cultural history, that traces back thousands of years to ancient Egyptian mythology to demonstrate how Black culture is the root of almost everything in main society. The battle lines between the monotheistic pearl-clutching Atonist and Jes Grew in Mumbo Jumbo is one of the few constants throughout history, from the Wallflower order's plans against the Jazz epidemic in the 1920s to Osiris' band v.s. Set B.C.E (166). Mumbo Jumbo even shows how the amazing feats by Jesus -- water into wine, etc. -- is really just a washed out copy and paste of Voodoo culture (170).
100 years later, similar viral culture found through social media platforms. Many popular dances, while not only being made by black dancers, also have key features of black dance: moves accentuating the syncopated rhythm, strong expression and individuality, and locking movements that can be seen through the hip-hop culture of the 70s but even back to dance in the 20s. While places like TikTok gave a platform for creators to share, it also made it easy to disenfranchise black culture. Not only does algorithmic bias put white creators on the front of everybody's' for you page, getting millions of more views and likes, through views and likes the white creators make exponentially more money than the original creators. In addition, similarly to Jes Grew, this dancing did face some backlash, especially from older generations, because it is perceived as too suggestive.
What does Mumbo Jumbo have to say about this? Funny enough, in Mumbo Jumbo when Moses similarly tried to adopt black culture, not only did Moses do it incredible poorly he actually made his audiences' ears bleed (184). However satirical of a message, that is not what happens in the real world. The book concludes with Jes Grew fading out, but never gone, as it will come back in future incidents of viral culture. However, it is still unclear whether or not African American culture belongs in the whiter mainstream or should remain just for their people. Would a successfully overtaking of Jes Grew in the 1920s ended up with everybody infected by the voodoo, dance, and jazz culture, black or white? Now, in the 21st century, our social media platforms beg us to ask the same questions.
Hi Eve, I'm intrigued by how the algorithm of Tik Tok works by promoting white content creators over black ones. I never knew about the origins of The Renegade, and I assumed it came from Addison Rae. I think over time dance forms naturally start to blend together, but that it's also important to remember their origins and cultural significance. I do think that Tik Tok is an interesting example of Jes Grew with the way many smaller creators can go and create something to be shared with others.
ReplyDeleteHi Eve! This reminds me of a lot of the RnB songs that we have been listening to in American History through pop culture where many of the original black singers are not credited and only the watered down versions by white people get popular. This pattern has continued for decades and I find it really interesting that it finds itself currently in Tik Toks today.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many paradoxes around this whole conversation, it's sometimes hard to say anything without contradicting it in the next sentence. But there is an interesting ambiguity around this question of Black cultural products going "viral" and gaining a more mainstream/nonblack audience. On the one hand, if this is something that threatens Atonism, we should be all for it--if we believe (rightly!) that Black music and culture should be understood to be at the very CENTER of what we mean by "American culture," then this would entail the "mainstreaming" of the culture. If Jes Grew is going to successfully undermine or marginalize Atonism, which the novel clearly views as a good thing, it's going to need a bunch of white kids dancing along, in other words. And I think we HAVE seen something like this trend happening over the course of the 20th century--the Elvis model of cultural appropriation isn't happening to nearly the same degree anymore (see my blog post on "Hip-Hop Jes Grew" for a brief digression on why white rappers never managed to undermine the culture the way that Elvis did). And yet, your examples from Tik-Tok show that the same shit does seem to keep happening, in different contexts, only the culture as a whole is more attuned to the threat of appropriation at this point, so people get called out for it when earlier they were simply celebrated for it.
ReplyDeleteHi Eve! I think this is a really powerful present day example of jes grew and "talking androids." Cultural appropriation is definitely something Ishmael Reed calls attention to. He makes a point that there is something inauthentic about faking black culture, and it doesn't have the same magic as real culture. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Eve, your example of Tik Tok is a great portrayal of how Black culture can be diluted of its meaning and taken over by white people. This phenomenon presents itself in many ways, through dancing, but also through music, hairstyles, clothing, and more. I think a good question to ask is how society can celebrate and appreciate Black culture without stripping it of its original meaning. In the case of Tik Tok, crediting the original creator of the dance is definitely a good place to start, but I also think that more can be done. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting. I had no idea about any of the stuff relating to tiktok or the origin of the dance. It's interesting how this book has so many parallels to real life in its messaging, especially in pop culture. I think instances like this show us how often atonists get their way in modern society and how instances like beyonce's performance are not just a one-off.
ReplyDeleteEve, I loved your blog post!!! Before reading this blog post, I never knew that TikTok dances were first created by black artists. I thought that your description of black culture and how it was incorporated into the story was really well done. Good Job!!
ReplyDeleteHi Eve! This was one of the most thought provoking posts I read. Thinking about the themes of this book in our modern culture, especially from a tiktok perspective shows how spot on it can be. I think most new/cool popular culture, from slang to dances to music, almost always originates from black culture, before white kids inevitably start trying to adopt it. However, as you show in the tiktok example this can also lead to the appropriation and exploitation of culture. Any way you look at it, Reed's themes are still accurate, with Jes Grew originating and spreading outwards, either by being embraced or demonized and exploited.
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