David Brin’s novel The Postman might be best known to most readers as the book upon which the movie was based.  And, again for most readers, that might not be the best endorsement, considering that the film (starring Kevin Costner) was something of a box office flop.

I, however, like the book (and, to a lesser extent, the movie).  But then, I am always willing to give a shot to this sort of post-disaster story, even if it is just to see how the survivors manage to make their way, and what sort of society they create.

One of the things I enjoy about the Brin novel (and it is reflected in the movie) is how it explores what things from our cultural existence today manage to carry over into the new world in which the survivors live.  Not only do we see the US Postal Service’s uniforms take on a new meaning (eventually facilitating a revival of the Pony Express), but all sorts of things find new life in the new world.  And, part of what I love about it all is that the elements of “highbrow” and “popular” culture survive in happy juxtaposition.

The term “popular culture” is often used in a binary relationship with the idea of “serious” or “high” culture.  In The Postman, we see popular culture surviving in the form of commercial jingles, video games, and the symbolism of Oz.  Alongside this, we have Beethoven, supercomputers, and a more ancient civilization, Ephesus.  Neither high nor low culture is given preference in the new society (though Gordon has a preference).  Instead, it all serves the same purpose, to provide some sense of continuity with a lost past.  This is well demonstrated when Mrs. Howlett explains to Krantz why Michael stayed to watch Macbeth or listen to Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, saying that he loved to watch TV as a child (p. 35-38).  This might seem to strike many parents as odd, particularly the parent who believes that TV prevents kids from finding cultural gems like Shakespeare or Abraham Lincoln.

Brin’s novel seems to recognize that Shakespeare, for instance, was the popular culture of his own day, and so situates him in that place again after the disaster.  The post-WWIII world of the novel continues to rely heavily on what we would today think of as popular culture, but this in no way presents a threat to “serious culture” in that world.  The Biblical figures Noah (p. 124) and Moses (p. 136) seem quite content to live happily alongside Uncle Remus’s Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear (p. 5-6) in the minds of the survivors.

One of the items of popular culture that strikes me as having a special place in the world of the novel is the “lovingly remembered commercial jingles” (p. 52).  They find a place in the communal life of the various societies that are shaped in the wake of the war, despite the fact that the products they were meant to sell have mostly disappeared.  Ford Lincoln Mercury even takes his name from a well-worn phrase that came out at the end of many a TV and radio commercial in my growing up days (though I believe the character might be too young to remember that sound byte).  Every time I read the name, I read it as if it is all one word, just as it was once announced over and over again in commercials.  (Is it still said that way in the US?)

It is interesting to reflect on what this says about commercialism.  Long after the consumables have passed out of existence in this novel, the amusement value of the ads remains.  I guess amusement sells.  That seems, to me, to say much about our consumer society.

©2007 Shelly Bryant

Citations from Brin’s book are taken from:

    Brin, David. The Postman. New York:  Bantam Spectra

    Books, 1985.