11.22.63, JFK, and the Boomer Creation Myth

[mallorys_camera]

Pleasant close to the disheartening holiday weekend – sitting in Coppola’s, sipping bourbon, nibbling eggplant rollatini, watching the snow do the full James Joyce monty: His soul swooned softly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

Joyce left out the reflection of the red neon on the white snow – by far the trippiest part of the spectacle.

Nothing wrong with me that an Adderol script wouldn’t cure, but in the meantime, I’m finding it hard/hard/hard to harness my mind in the directions I want it to go.

I suspect this is an occupational hazard of old age. Geriatric ADD.

I do not like being old one bit. Or rather – I like the fact that I’m so much smarter now than I was even this time last year, but I don’t like the irrelevance, the invisibility. If I sat next to you at a café, and you didn’t know who I am, you wouldn’t notice me. ‘Cause I’m old.

And I really don’t like watching history repeating itself. The technology is new, but everything else is recycled. Everything.

The second time you realize it’s all happened before, you think, Huh. That’s interesting. And you scurry around, buttonholing veritable strangers, Well, see – but this is exactly what happened in 1998 when...

The third time you realize it’s all happened before, it’s just wearisome.

###

I was mildly drunk when I got home. I did a little bit of work, and then settled down to watch Hulu’s dramatization of Stephen King’s 11.22.63.

I’m a big, big Stephen King fan. Not just of his work. Also of his trajectory. He was not a particularly good writer when he started out. And with his degree of success, there was no particular pressure on him to become a good writer. But he did! A story like That Thing, You Can Only Say What It Is in French is just brilliant. Rivals anything Raymond Carver ever wrote.

11.22.63 is a very readable novel whose subtext is actually the Boomer creation myth.

The Boomer creation myth is very tied in to the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States.

I have no idea how Millennials view the JFK Presidency.

I think historians these days are generally agreed that it was a disappointment.

From the Bay of Pigs to the Vietnam War, JFK’s foreign policy was a disaster.

I believe JFK was the very first President – with the collusion of his even creepier brother, the Attorney General – to utilize wiretaps, IRS audits, and FBI raids at dawn as punitive measures against those on his enemies list.

JFK’s devotion to physical fitness was a complete joke since he was being kept alive with pharmaceutical cocktails that included regular injections of painkillers and amphetamines. It might have been interesting to do a tox screen on JFK the day of the Cuban Missile crisis.

Nonetheless, the assassination of JFK is some kind of romantic touchstone for many of us Boomers. We all remember exactly what we were doing when we heard about it – well, those of us who haven’t succumbed to Alzheimer’s, of course! (I was climbing the steps of an IRT subway station, on my way to the Brooklyn Library at Grand Army Plaza.) If only JFK hadn’t been assassinated, we think. The world would be such a better place!

Undoing the JFK assassination is the basic plot of 11.22.63.

It’s a very good adaptation. And James Franco reminds me so much of Robin!

Comments

[starlight-pf.livejournal.com]

That was the book that got me hooked on Stephen King.

Before that, I thought "oh he's just that horror writer." I didn't think IT, or Stand by me, or The Green Mile.... I was thinking Carrie, Christine and Pet Sematary.

Truthfully, I didn't even know he was still alive.

I still haven't read everything he ever wrote. There are a few story collections and a few of the 70s works (I've never read Firestarter, Christine and Carrie) and the Bachmann novels... that I haven't read yet. He's such an incredibly productive writer. I find it very hard to keep up with him and I'm afraid I speed-read my way through some of his work.

I'm glad to hear the TV adaptation is good. Under The Dome was absolutely ridiculous.

[immemor.livejournal.com]

JFK wasn't presented to us Gen Xers as a tragedy, it was presented as a conspiracy theory. So, in other words, it became a joke. A similar thing is happening with the very young and 9/11. It's just something old people lose their minds over.

I read James Franco's master's thesis. It was a collection of short stories about suburban teens in California. A few of the stories were really good and others were alright. But over all it was enjoyable.

[sulphuroxide.livejournal.com]

history does repeat itself, even a spring chicken like me can see that. what i can't see is how i am repeating history, how i am fitting myself into some kind of archetype in my tactical decisions. long term its obvious how i see myself. however, if you can see it, it's interesting to note the conditions of how it's different this time around and why it repeats. everything is much simpler when we erase the smoke screen of BS justifications we hide our own intentions with... hide them from each other and ourselves.

Wrong myth

[bb-lurks.livejournal.com]

Even when I was 13, I knew that JFK was underwhelming. Perhaps because my parents were card-carrying ACLU etc. liberals, I knew how Hubert Humphrey got screwed in favor of the middle of the road that JFK represented.

The real creation of the boomers wasn't JFK's myth, though indeed his assassination was a marker (but no more than that) of the times. What made us the cynical hedonists that many of us became was the nuclear threat. I remember just about every time a jet flew high over my house thinking about Russian bombers. Living between the Pratt&Whitney jet engine factory and the Groton submarine base meant that (as Dad explained) fallout shelters would be a laughable waste of time. In case of war, the best thing to do would be to go outside and wait for the pretty fireworks.

Re: Wrong myth

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

I think you're underestimating the extent to which JFK escalated the Cold War.

Of course, it was the dominant political zeigeist from the end of WWII to the 1970s, but it was JFK who made it sexy, who infused it with "vim" and "vigor" (his two favorite words! Ironic given that he was a veritable cripple.)

The promise of change afoot coupled with the reality of same old, same old is the Boomer ethos in a nutshell. And that's the JFK Camelot myth.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

RTT and I recently saw a theatrical version of Misery. We went because I adore King and have a huge crush on Bruce Willis, who made his theatrical debut as Paul Sheldon. (Verdict: He should stick to movies. :-) )

Can't say I've read everything King has ever written. I'm not interested in the Bachmans, The Dark Tower, or his non-horror books.

I do really like and admire King, though.

His book On Writing is one of the best books out there on the actual craft of writing.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

JFK wasn't presented to us Gen Xers as a tragedy, it was presented as a conspiracy theory.

Wow! That's a really insightful observation.

James Franco...

Not sure whether he'll play Robin in the inevitable dramatization of RTT's life or whether RTT will play James Franco in the inevitable dramatization of Franco's life, but I know the two of them have a lot in common. :-)

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

I notice the repetition most in connection with historical events, though I'm sure it takes place on the personal level as well.

Re: Wrong myth

[bb-lurks.livejournal.com]

Not buying it. It was the boomers parents who fellated JFK. Those of us who grew up with his war in Vietnam had a much less starry view. As to same old, same old, you're forgetting that it was 1972 before contraception was legally available to unmarried couples nationwide (Eisenstadt v. Baird) and only in 1965 to married couples (Griswold v Conn) When I was in my 20's women still needed a co-signer to get a credit card or a mortgage, and it was perfectly OK to not hire women because: women. While the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts were passed in 1965, it was boomers who made them happen and lived through the changes. Nothing at all same old/same old. Similarly it was young "boomers" who revolted at Stonewall, and who formed the shock troops of Act/Up. etc. etc.

Re: Wrong myth

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Blame for the Vietnam War was conveniently turfed to LBJ. It was LBJ who incited outrage! I lived through that as well. Never in any of the endless Vietnam protests I attended was JFK's memory ever badmouthed. If you had the foresight to recognize cause and effect, then feel free to congratulate yourself on your amazing perspicaciousness. I can assure you: The sentiment was not universal.

Contraception was widely available on a state-by-state basis before Eisenstadt v. Baird, and -- what? You're giving Boomers credit for that court decision? The Justices on the Supreme Court who handed down that decision were Boomers? Brennan born in 1906, Douglas born in 1898, Stewart born in 1915, Marshall born in 1908 et al? I don't think so.

True, Boomer guys were horny devils who took full advantage of the contraceptive revolution. Are you saying that this would not have been the case in an earlier era?

You owe the Civil Rights Act entirely to the legislative compromise genius of LBJ -- born in 1908. Not a Boomer! Plus, you know, baaaaaad dawg on account of the Vietnam War!

[nokomisjeff.livejournal.com]

Stephen King shops at my Publix and I see him all the time, like on a weekly basis. The workers say that he shops there every day. He looks awful and is following a downward trajectory health wise.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

I am genuinely sorry to hear that! I have a lot of admiration for the man.