Our Jes Grew of Today
Jes Grew represents a powerful cultural force that spreads like an uncontrollable epidemic, embodying freedom, creativity, and African diasporic expression. In Mumbo Jumbo, it is expressed as a “plague” that infects people with dance, rhythm, and joy, standing in direct opposition to rigid Western structures that try to suppress individuality and Black culture. Obviously, now we know that Jes Grew is not a literal disease, but a metaphor for cultural awakening—a rebellion against conformity and the erasure of African identity. Ishmael Reed celebrates how culture, especially music and art, cannot be contained or silenced by systems of control. During the novel, the Atonist Order symbolizes the forces that seek to suppress Jes Grew: institutions of power, colonialism, and cultural dominance. Fearing that the spread of cultural challenges hierarchy and celebrates expressions outside the normal “American” norms. In a sense, Jes Grew becomes more of a fight for authenticity and cultural survival, and identifies itself as a defiance against oppression. The movements also mirror the historical moments, such as the Harlem Renaissance or the rise of jazz, which were periods when Black creativity flourished despite systemic behaviors.
Today, Jes Grew’s spirit continues to live on in modern culture, especially through social media, music, and viral movements. Especially TikTok, for instance, allows new forms of dance, music, and self-expression to spread rapidly across the world daily. Often originating from marginalized communities. A lot similar to Jes Grew, these trends often face appropriation or suppression once they become too influential. Many people say it is “stupid”, “idiotic”, or “a waste of time”. And yet they continue to evolve, reminding us that cultural energy cannot be contained or buried. The global popularity of hip-hop and rap, for example, began as a voice for the unheard and has now become one of the most powerful cultural languages worldwide—an undeniable reflection of Jes Grew’s force. Again and again, Jes Grew reminds us that the desire for rhythm, identity, and connection will always find a way to spread. It is not just a story about culture; it is a symbol of human freedom and the refusal to be silenced. Doesn’t always have to be in the form of dance and music, but it can also be in the forms of literature or animation as well. Jes Grew will always spread and find its way.
Hi Jessy, I really enjoyed reading your post. I definitely still see Black culture, along with trends by and for Black people, facing loads of criticism, yet these aspects of culture never stop evolving. I specifically liked your ending, "Jew Grew will always spread and find its way", along with your use of imagery.
ReplyDelete"Ishmael Reed celebrates how culture, especially music and art, cannot be contained or silenced by systems of control"--this is a nice articulation of how this novel depicts the "culture war" over music and art in the 1920s. There's something inherently nonsensical about suppressing *music*, or seeing rhythm itself as something "dangerous" that has to be "controlled." The idea, of course, is that rhythm leads people to move their bodies in certain ways, and those forms of movement may have certain overlaps with sexuality, and we know that Atonists have been very invested in policing young people's sexual behavior for a very long time, so it all does kind of make sense. But I'm also reminded of the quote from Louis Armstrong about the second-line bands in New Orleans: "The spirit hits them, and they follow." This is how rhythm works: it is *infectious*, and the urge to "follow" can indeed be involuntary. It's possible that, to the wallflowers on the sidelines, these dancing people might look out of control or stupid in some way, but that's the wrong perspective to take--it has to be understood from the inside. No one who is fully immersed in dancing would CARE what the sour-faced guy on the sidelines might think, and that only upsets the Atonists further. The idea of suppressing certain rhythms seems absurd--and yet, as Reed is fully aware, such suppression WAS a key tenet of the slavery system, where the use of drums on plantations was often banned. Readers of this novel will understand such bans not merely as one aesthetic preference prevailing over another--they can understand it as a form of "containment or silencing" of profound cultural voices. In the end, sound/music/rhythm cannot be suppressed, although the Atonists will keep trying. it's almost funny to compare the relative lack of real cultural influence reflected in the Fox and Friends hosts complaining about Beyonce at the Super Bowl--the majority is voting with their ears, and their hips. Who cares if Hinckle Von Guiliani is on the TV screen complaining that it's just mumbo jumbo?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that Jes Grew will always find a way to spread. As for your comment about tiktok spreading Jes Grew, I'm not sure it can. In a way, like you said, the nature of Jes Grew is something so authentic. Yet, online, we often find mimicry to be cheap flattery, and constant cash-grabs. Posting online at all, knowing the algorithmic nature of social media, cannot contain Jes Grew, because it lacks authenticity.
ReplyDeleteHello Jessy, I like your mention of Tiktok. The famous Tiktok dance is a clear parallel to the dancing of the 1920s. The addictiveness of Tiktok is also similar to how when people heard Jazz, they could not help but dance. How authentic Tiktok is depends on the person you ask and each persons feed, and that could be a feature not a bug.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessy, great post! Tiktok as the modern Jes Grew text is an interesting point. Through social media, we live in a world where dance and culture spread quicker than ever; elements of everyone's culture becomes blended together. Great point!
ReplyDeleteI really like the analogy to TikTok, but I think TikTok is more of an information spreader instead of the actual form of Jes Grew. That is, Jes Grew could spread through TikTok, but TikTok is not Jes Grew. Like newspapers to television to TikTok, Jes Grew will probably just hop onto the next chaotic social space once it becomes too Atonist/corporatized.
ReplyDeleteZAYUM BIG JESSY! this post was great, I do believe that you used a good example with TikTok about the fact that TikTok spreads these pieces of cultures which can find their origins in marginalized groups but still manage to grow popular despite some backlash is definitely a big characteristic of Jes Grew.
ReplyDeletehi jessy! I liked your analysis of Jes Grew and how you tied it to very relevant platforms like Tiktok. Social media is definitely a breeding ground for culture, both the app itself and the posts that people share. I really liked what you said about how cultural energy cannot be buried. I totally agree with that I think thats very obvious in today's world with the huge popularity of hip-hop and rap. great blog!
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