Dear Author

[neadods]

(wow, it's been a while since I wrote one of these!)

Dear Author:

I know that you're British. I know that you're trying to set a scene very quickly. I know that America is surprising in how much territory our regional accents cover.

But just for the record, not everyone from New York sounds like they come from Brooklyn. And for that matter, Guys and Dolls is not an accurate record of Brooklynese.

Also - and again, I get it that you're British and this may be something that you either don't think about or don't want to think about, BUT! 1976 was kind of an important year in America. Especially July. Something about an anniversary of something, now what was it, it involved guys in red coats and a Declaration and some fighting, and yes we've made up and all, but you may have heard the odd mention of the event in your history classes?

SERIOUSLY. We as a nation didn't look up on July 4, 1976 and go "wow, it's the Bicentennial!" and then forget about it 24 hours later. Yes, it was particularly intense in early July, but it was kind of a year-long thing, especially for any state that counts as one of the original 13 colonies.

So, no, setting a story in New York on July 16, 1976 and not mentioning a certain little detail even in passing kind of stands out, no matter what the story is really about.

It especially stands out to old coots who *remember* 1976. Not all of your audience is knee high, I'm just sayin'.

Comments

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

you may have heard the odd mention of the event in your history classes?

Highly unlikely. The history syllabus in English secondary schools, at least up until GCSE (previously O-levels) - when everyone will study history - tends to cover British history (kings and queens, Civil War, social change etc), the World Wars and European history leading up to them, and modern European history. Very little American history at all. And I wouldn't even think it's a 'don't want to think about it', either - I do occasionally see comments from Americans to the effect that British people must be pissed off at the Fourth of July celebrations, but... to be quite honest, I think Brits generally see it as irrelevant to them *g*

By all means, complain about the author's lack of research on US culture - national and regional - but that specific point isn't really valid. I don't expect the British abdication crisis of 1935 is on many American school boards' history syllabi either! :)

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I don't expect the British abdication crisis of 1935 is on many American school boards' history syllabi either!

Given that The King's Speech won Best Picture, maybe US schools will start teaching about it!

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

I thought about that just after I hit post! *g*

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Not so much teaching in school, but all of the newspaper articles about the movie mention it, so people are picking it up by osmosis (if they weren't Lord Peter fans who'd read Thrones, Denominations already. Or went to the same high school Wallace Simpson did *cough*)

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

nah. they still don't really cover the depression (and the events that led up to it) correctly. If they had, we wouldn't have a "Tea Party" and union-busting state governors today, and Obama would not be trying so many Hooverist tactics (guaranteed to fail) to try to solve this mess.

Like I've written elsewhere, even with AP History under my belt, I've only ever heard of Hoovervills from the Brits, first Alistair Cooke in his America series (though I'd forgotten it 'til recently), and then in Doctor Who.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I think I first heard of Hoovervilles from Annie: "We'd like to thank you, Herbert Hooveeeeer..."

[neadods.livejournal.com]

You and me both!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

If they had, we wouldn't have a "Tea Party" and union-busting state governors today

Yeah we would. Because it isn't about history, it's about who can spin the loudest.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

if you know your history, you can ignore the spin to find the underlying motive.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That requires an edumacation, which is elitist and therefore evil and unAmerican.

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

Your AP US didn't cover Hoovervilles?! o0 Mine did...

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

were you from here in the DC area? that might make a difference.

Everything about the Depression in our class was the cause and FDR's eventual response to it, and then the "9 old men" and FDR's reaction to that (and the relapse in 1938). In short: the politics of it all.

all facts and figures, nothing to tell you what 20% unemployment actually FEELS like.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

This transplanted Brit can confirm. And even though I knew vaguely about the Fourth of July and 1776 and all that, I wouldn't've twigged that the Americans had made such a fuss about the Bicentennial until relatively recently (and that through trawling Wikipedia, nothing to do with the fact I'd studied post-1815 American history at Oxford wtf.)

Fair point about the excruciating accent, though I suppose someone whose only contact with US accents is either telly or musicals may well revert to stereotypes simply because they've never heard an actualfax American as opposed to someone playing one.

I concur with the fundamental conclusion though: MOAR YANKPICK PLZ.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

MOAR YANKPICK PLZ

Yeah, pretty much. It just really hit me because I *remember* the parties. I was a lot younger, but I was there, y'know?

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

the problem is that wikipedia is a collection of cite-able "facts", and there isn't really a "history" of 1976 (aside from the Carter election and the Bruce Jenner victory in the Olympics) to go on. Our Bicentennial was a cultural artifact, covered in "style" sections and Good Morning America and occasional mentions in the evening news. Facts aren't impressions, and an author has know not only the facts but also the impressions in order to accurately portray a period to the audience so that the audience also feels the impressions.

Yes, it was huge, but it was never front page (outside of July 4 itself). While we were patriotic, we hadn't reached the gross state we are today where "patriotism" itself is a political (wedge) issue.

On the other hand...

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I, for one, did learn about the British abdication crisis of 1935 in high school. Except it was in English class. = p

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I do occasionally see comments from Americans to the effect that British people must be pissed off at the Fourth of July celebrations, but... to be quite honest, I think Brits generally see it as irrelevant to them *g*

It's like being part of an ex-couple after a bad breakup, I think. "He still wants me. He's sorry I left." :D

Thing is... I know about the abdication crisis. I didn't learn about it in school, but I picked it up quickly in British media/lit, and I'd expect any American author setting a story in London about a fortnight later to at least mention something like "they ran past a newsstand with headlines about..."

Heck, most of the news articles here about The King's Speech are naturally focused on the movie, acting, Oscar hopes, etc., but they generally have one half sentence about why the King's speech patterns suddenly matter. It's as if there was an article all about the movie and what it depicts without even that half-sentence. Wouldn't that stand out as a glaring omission?

[fyrdrakken]

It's like being part of an ex-couple after a bad breakup, I think. "He still wants me. He's sorry I left." :D

IIRC, one Holmes story involving Americans finished up with the case being solved and Holmes wanting to have a chat with one or more of the Americans on the topic of whether the US would ever rejoin the British Empire. Can't remember which case, read it years ago, but I found it amusing and eyebrow-raising at the time.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

... I think I dimly remember that, and more or less going >.< O.O

One of the souvenirs I used to have from the actual Bicentennial was a flyer a guy was handing out saying why we should reunite with England.

[fyrdrakken]

I did have kind of a wistful moment when I was in the UK on my six-month permit -- all I was allowed -- and discovered that citizens of Commonwealth nations could get permits for a year at a time, and keep renewing them. (My housemates included several South Africans and a Kiwi in the attic who had been in London for years and was replaced by a set of Canadians.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think the only way to get past 6 months is to emigrate, which is a little drastic.

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

But the Abdication crisis (and a fortnight after it) and a fortnight after a significant anniversary of the Abdication crisis are two different things. And, also, as someone else says, it's a bigger deal for the US to regard 1776 as the important year, whereas one could credibly argue 1947 or 1921 had more of an impact on the UK.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

the Abdication crisis (and a fortnight after it) and a fortnight after a significant anniversary of the Abdication crisis are two different things

Neither of which was probably celebrated by repainting large portions of the city. (Turning fire hydrants into little people was very in fashion at the time.)

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

maybe, maybe not. there is one thing of note: almost every British person, especially any older than 30, has seen Alistair Cooke's America series which was specifically made by an ex-pat Brit to send back home.

In this, they often have a slightly more honest view of Americans than we ourselves do. In particular, the series talks about the Hoovervilles that built up, something I've NEVER heard about in any of my 4 American History classes (including AP history), but which was such (relative) common knowledge in Britain that it became a setting in a Doctor Who episode almost without afterthought.

But yes, the author picked a setting and a year that was of serious significance, and screwed up by not incorporating it. There was not a single town, from a city like NY to the smallest small town in Nebraska, that hadn't already started putting up Red White and Blue ribbons everywhere.

Side note: I actually knew about the Abdication because of a restaurant, the "Prince of Wales Grill" in Coronado (San Diego), which is themed after that Prince's lifestyle and era, and is filled with pictures of the Duke and his once-divorced bride.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

As said by someone else on the thread, I learned about Hoovervilles through Annie.