Supernatural and the Underclass- 3

[laespada]

Supernatural and the Underclass 3- Music

Part 1- Intro
Part 2- Dangers of Underclass

If I were to start by using one thing, I would point out the music. American rock oldies, you say. Yeah, okay, big deal. Yes,  very American, so what's your point? The point belongs to that of a generational divide that, unless you are someone born in  the 50s, or

Comments

[laespada]

I have something like 50 years of American history knocking around inside my head simply by virtue of being 23 and living with parents in their mid 50s. It's definitely interesting, sometimes.

I actually haven't read any kind of creator commentaries, which I guess is probably not the best for someone who's doing meta. Whoops. D:

I've been trying to avoid most of the more pejorative terms used for qualifiers. I mean, what may seem really weird to other people, but we definitely had "ranks" of poorness and class. There were trailer trash and white trash, and rednecks, and hillbillies, and it goes on. There's all very specific instances in which you'd label someone something, and they have to meet certain specific criteria. Displaying the Confederate flag like that, at least up here in the North in my community, would make you a redneck. :/ Hell, you're not even southern, so you can't just throw it up there.

Yeah, most definitely with economic strata point. It depends on where your family came from, how long they've been around, what your parents do for a living, what their parents did for a living. There are certain criteria within those communities that are unconsciously enacted to determine where you are.

For example, if I were to take myself, if I judged myself by my grandparents generation (and somewhat by my parents days), I would be so totally socially fucked. Not only am I a.) adopted, I am b.) Irish (and therefore subhuman because I'm yellow, against all of the old English farmers around here), c.) a girl, and d.) a farm girl. I would have been so royally fucked. Nowadays, I'm poor but not classless. Because I could read exceedingly well, was smart and attentive, washed, fed, and spoke English in front of adults without dropping the "ng" or using "ain't" and didn't drop into hick talk until I was with the boys.

What I find most dismaying is the middle class's utter fixation with the only underclasses being those based on ethnic diversity. I spent the better portion of my the graduate English comp seminar I took in college trying to convince about 20 other people that yes, the impoverished white do exist, and yes we are just as significantly impacted as ethnic groups. Shit falls on all sides of the fence.

I might be able to do a meta piece on levels of underclass in Supernatural. Sort of like defining what characters belong to which strata in the underclass, and maybe even take a stab at which class the middle class might perceive them as.

[randomstasis]

But whites are the majority, can't be underprivileged! (But we all want a place in a hierarchy, so when one group is all you have, some of them must be less, so the others can be more. None of us live in the whole nation, we all live in discrete communities that don't have a whole range of groups to look down on)
So yeah, the English will sneer at the Irish, and the Germans at the Poles, the boys at the girls, the townies at farmers and the rich at the poor, and the criteria we set for our contempt depends on what we have available- no fun sneering at people who aren't there, right? White *is* a majority, so it's way too broad to be an exclusive niche, most places.

"defining what characters belong to which strata in the underclass"
Oh, that could be fun!
btw- Sorry, i'm having conversations with you in my head, parts of which you're not privy to, thanks to LJ- The band, of course, used the flag to id themselves and *represent* against that stigma you're talking about, but people don't even remember what the war was really about-the winners write the history, and North won, so we learn the flag means racist, but it still means solidarity to them. Kinda funny that Northern rednecks pick up on that anyway, and become fans,though;)The music really does speak to the class, not the location.

"It depends on where your family came from, how long they've been around, what your parents do for a living, what their parents did for a living. There are certain criteria "
LOL-It does, but... Do you read or watch the True Blood series at all? Interestingly , the main Storyline involves 2 equally old founding families in their Deep South town-20 generations of privileged elite, and 20 generations of white trash. Some fun role dynamics come up thereby; the vampire hero is ancestor to the first and the heroine who saves him is the dirt poor bar waitress from the other- and he totally expects her to help him help *his* family regain their status.

"I'm poor but not classless. Because I could read exceedingly well.."
loling again- I told you I worked my way to travel/earn college money- the reasons I couldn't get enough scholarships are a fairly relevant study in double jeopardy, but way too long, sorry-
Anyway, at one point I ended up ensconced in Britain's extremely deliberately stratified society, mostly hanging with the "privileged elite without money" class- it's a real thing*_* the non-elite without money are steered into working class educations very early, but these folks- All veddy public school, unconciously snobbish, but I was like you, and they'd just assume I'd had the same privileges. I enjoyed telling them I was just a very well-read hick from the sticks, because it really shook them up. Point is, though- I came home with a whole new eye for our "classless society"- and it ain't no such thing. Ours is just as vicious, but it happens behind a veil.
Dad's family lost the farm in the Depression, he got out on the GI bill, post WWII back when it did what it was supposed to, (and a BA meant something! now, of course, you need an MA:( because any rabble can get a BA) Mom did what you did-but as a female she was shut out of any really lucrative major- Their stories fuel the myth- but we've always been just one step away from falling back in. And now the step is tilting..

[laespada]

Yeah, that is almost always the reasoning when the argument gets put forth that whites can't be underprivileged. Cause we're a majority! But if you took a look at what my grandparents and their generation did, you'd be really flabbergasted. I mean, my grandmother sneered at my father marrying my mother because she had an Irish last name and had only lived in the community for something like a year. So yeah.

Actually, no, I tend to avoid most TV since I never had time to watch it, so I never got into the habit of it. I have heard of True Blood, but I had no idea that was one of the things behind it. Interesting idea on southern servitude (like my family has served this family for X generations), really, even though it hasn't officially been around since the Civil War. It's interesting to see how it pops up anyway.

Oh Britain. I've had Brits argue with me that we can't possibly have a class divide like they do. And it definitely is interesting to see the overt classicism that goes on between communities over there. I had no idea about their moneyless privileged population, so that's very interesting. Over here, there's more fine criteria, or at least it's not applied so overtly.

About your Mom- that's really interesting, and pretty incredible that she got an education during her time, especially as a female. Awesome story.