Jason Getting Cancelled
One idea that’s been on my mind a lot is “cancel culture” and how it plays a big part of our generation. Cancel culture “refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.” Every other day we’re hearing of another story/scandal that gets a celebrity or influencer cancelled. Sometimes, the reason for canceling the famous person is justified, while other times, I feel like society has become too sensitive and people are almost looking for reasons to cancel someone.
One factor that intensified and allows cancel culture to hold people accountable is the advancement of technology. Decades ago, public figures were still doing the same awful and disgusting things that they do to get cancelled today. It’s just nowadays there’s social media to spread the word and hold them accountable to their actions. At this point you’re probably wondering, what does cancel culture have anything to do with Black Swan Green. Jason Taylor, in a sense, got cancelled among his peers.
At one point in Black Swan Green, Jason was close to joining the Spooks. In fact, he technically did because he says, “Us Spooks pissed ourselves” and he’s referring to himself within the Spooks group. At this point, he’s at the top of the hierarchy. He feels accomplished and the people he looks upto are praising him for finishing with ten seconds to spare. They hear a crash and Jason realizes that Moran is alone in Blake’s greenhouse and no one is going to help him. Jason makes the decision to go against what all the members of the Spooks are telling him and go help Moran. This brings Jason to the bottom of the hierarchy. He was just with the other “cool kids”, but now he’s at a place worse than his original position. When Jason goes to school, people don’t think twice about him and he now hangs out with the Lepers, when at some point he was almost with the Spooks.
This reminded me of cancel culture because nowadays celebrities/influencers hop on trends to stay relevant. One day they might be the center of attention and everything anyone is talking about. Due to cancel culture, in a split second the public loses respect for that person and they don’t strike another thought. This is similar to Jason, one second he’s with the Spooks fulfilling his dream, and the next he’s with the Lepers contemplating how he’s even considered a part of this group. In both situations, the “main person” falls to the bottom and no one notices or cares.
One factor that intensified and allows cancel culture to hold people accountable is the advancement of technology. Decades ago, public figures were still doing the same awful and disgusting things that they do to get cancelled today. It’s just nowadays there’s social media to spread the word and hold them accountable to their actions. At this point you’re probably wondering, what does cancel culture have anything to do with Black Swan Green. Jason Taylor, in a sense, got cancelled among his peers.
At one point in Black Swan Green, Jason was close to joining the Spooks. In fact, he technically did because he says, “Us Spooks pissed ourselves” and he’s referring to himself within the Spooks group. At this point, he’s at the top of the hierarchy. He feels accomplished and the people he looks upto are praising him for finishing with ten seconds to spare. They hear a crash and Jason realizes that Moran is alone in Blake’s greenhouse and no one is going to help him. Jason makes the decision to go against what all the members of the Spooks are telling him and go help Moran. This brings Jason to the bottom of the hierarchy. He was just with the other “cool kids”, but now he’s at a place worse than his original position. When Jason goes to school, people don’t think twice about him and he now hangs out with the Lepers, when at some point he was almost with the Spooks.
This reminded me of cancel culture because nowadays celebrities/influencers hop on trends to stay relevant. One day they might be the center of attention and everything anyone is talking about. Due to cancel culture, in a split second the public loses respect for that person and they don’t strike another thought. This is similar to Jason, one second he’s with the Spooks fulfilling his dream, and the next he’s with the Lepers contemplating how he’s even considered a part of this group. In both situations, the “main person” falls to the bottom and no one notices or cares.
I got the cancel culture definition from: https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/cancel-culture/
This is a super interesting idea. I never really thought about how Jason's downfall could be related to cancel culture but it makes a lot of sense. There's also a similarity in how almost everybody at school jumped on the bandwagon of hating Jason without really knowing what he did. Like if people thought about what Jason did and how he saved Dean, most of them wouldn't think what Jason did was uncool, but because other people like Wilcox are bullying Jason, everybody else decides to bully him too.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a lot of really great points in this post. It's interesting to think about what would have happened to Jason if he were in our present-day situation with technology, social media, etc. While I do think some people would support Jason for standing behind his friend, as we know with cancel culture, people don't always pay attention to the different sides of a story. Imagine #JasonTaylorIsOverParty trending....
ReplyDeleteI love that you brought this up because cancel culture is definitely a really strong thread in our society (at least in GenZ). I think an interesting part of cancel culture is that most of the time, the people who are cancelling a figure/person don't even care that much for the cause or even liked the person before. However, once it's a trend and they see everyone else doing it, they also join in because if you even remotely stand with the person being cancelled, you're also at risk. That's definitely a trend that you see in Black Swan Green and with the middle school kids. Jason never really did anything to them but because one person hates him, now it's a trend and if you stand with him, you're also demoted to the social lepers. Really I think it's the fear of other kids that "ruined" or "canceled" Jason.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! A lot of times people don't even think twice before cancelling someone. Especially on social media, many people don't even care about looking up WHY someone is being cancelled in the first place. When the kids at school the next day find out Jason Taylor is at the bottom, many of them probably just go along with it without questioning the situation or why Jason is at the bottom. For them it doesn't matter, it's every kid for themself.
DeleteI love the parallel you make of "hopping onto trends", and how it results in these lightning fast switches from someone being adored to abhorred. Likely, most of the kids that make fun of Jason and the rest of the "lepers" don't actually know them or really care about them that much - maybe some kids aren't even really certain WHY some of the lepers are lepers. They just recognize that everyone else (or at least the kids on top) have made a decision, and they follow it. I also think a reason why the other kids are so quick to turn is because a fear that they would be next if they don't agree, which I think you can also see in current cancel culture. Even just not saying something is sometimes seen as being complacent and an accomplice, so to keep your standing, you go along with everyone else, perhaps regardless of what you really think. This is getting long, so lastly, I think another thing that makes cancel culture so prominent and easily spread is that it feels like there are no repercussions to anyone who hops onto the train at any given time since it's all online (and almost always, there aren't). I would say that's the one thing that doesn't line up completely with Jason's experience, as even though it's incredibly unlikely for a leper to get out of the bottom, if they do, they know exactly who "canceled" them and have the ability to target them back.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really great connection - I never thought of how cancel culture affecting celebrities could be related to Jason's experiences with different groups. the way in which Jason is living his dream life only to be brought back to reality is absolutely reminiscent of celebrities being held accountable, but I think the analogy can be extended even further. Just as celebrities can be cancelled for a great reason or a triviality the same extends to the social dynamics of an average kid like Jason.
ReplyDeleteThis is an unexpected but really good connection. The way that social media has influenced so many peoples lives, especially through cancel culture is quite similar to the pressure that Jason faced. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThe comparison of twitter to a bunch of evil prepubescent boys beating each other up is excellent. Jason's fight for popularity was a losing battle, he was too genuine to take part in a system that requires people to be below you for you to thrive.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good way of thinking about it! I was really happy that Jason went back even though he knew he'd be "cancelled." I think that this is clearly a case of someone being unjustly cancelled and I'm glad Jason got revenge. Really interesting post!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good connection I had not thought about at all. I think being cancelled is slightly different because the people doing the cancelling consider themselves righteous, whereas the spooks have a code that Jason breaks that doesn't have anything to do with values.
ReplyDeleteYour idea is very interesting to me. The correlation between cancel culture and Jason’s desire to be popular is never something I would have considered but it makes total sense to me. One thing that sets Jason apart from the influencers we associate with cancel culture is that Jason doesn’t need to be popular anymore. I feel that influencers now-a-days will do anything to stay on top, even when they’ve been cancelled and most of the world doesn’t like them anymore. Their desire to be at the center of attention overrides any dignity they may have, but for Jason it’s the opposite. After the fallout with the Spooks, Jason begins to learn that he doesn’t need to be popular and that he wouldn’t have a good time being a Spook. I think the influencers of today have a lot to learn from Jason.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting way to view Jason's social-status rollercoaster. While I didn't see it this way the first time I read it, I completely agree that Jason got cancelled after helping Moran. I think, in real life, people generally get cancelled for reasons that are the exact opposite from Jason's; so, I think it's interesting to see what the sociocultural differences between the book and real life will "cancel."
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