![]() ![]() Keep in mind, this textual and social analysis is just one way of responding to The Commitments, not the only way. It doesn’t get into the 1991 film (which in any case differs slightly from the book).Įither way, there are spoilers, plus quotes and concepts that may be jarring to run into without warning if you’ve experienced racism (particularly as a person of colour). And, more than 30 years later, what do we make of it now?Īs you might expect, then, this page unpacks notions of Blackness in Roddy Doyle’s novel, The Commitments.It can be uncomfortable looking back, especially when how we were no longer chimes with who we are or want to be, but a couple of questions can give us a steer: In these terms, surely borrowed Blackness is a positive thing? Well, it is and it isn’t – or at least, it reveals interesting things about how Black culture is interpreted, embraced and even exploited. Ultimately, it’s an enabling concept through which they find a voice, for themselves and their audiences. It’s something they put on and take off, a mantra that helps navigate their own exclusion and deprivation. Inspecting Blackness in The Commitmentsīeing Black is a state of mind for the fictional band members of Roddy Doyle’s novel. There’s just one thing: every character in the book is white. “Say it once, say it loud, I’m black an’ I’m proud,” Jimmy says.īlack pride is the spark that ignites a musical revolution from a garage in Dublin. And all it takes is for them to embrace their Blackness. In the end, personality, hormones and ambition knock the band off its wheels, but for a while, they’re electric. And it’s how he brings together an eclectic bunch of musicians, unleashing the spirit of Dublin Soul. ![]() It’s why Outspan and Derek ask him to manage their band. “You’d never see Jimmy coming home from town without a new album or a 12-inch or at least a 7-inch single.” This is old money – vinyl records and cassette tapes – but the point is, Jimmy knows his stuff. Jimmy Rabbitte isn’t so much the book’s protagonist as an inciting incident. The film was dwarfed at the box office by Disney’s animated feature, Beauty and the Beast ($14m worldwide gross Vs $248m), but The Commitments’ cultural legacy was set.ĭoyle’s novel had captured something raw and relatable about being working-class in Ireland in the 1980s (and working-class, young and unseen elsewhere). Then musician Elvis Costello praised the book’s portrayal of garage band life, publisher Random House picked it up – and suddenly, The Commitments had arrived.Ī film adaptation followed in 1991, along with two soundtrack albums. It was self-published, initially to not so great acclaim in the Dublin music press. Roddy Doyle’s debut novel was a slow-burn, cult, breakout hit, somehow all at the same time. Revisiting Roddy Doyle’s 1987 breakout novel, The Commitments, in which Blackness stands for joy, revolution and good music … but reveals the duality in how we talk about race. ![]()
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