Revolutionary daughters and their radical paths in literature and film
The turmoil of 1960s American politics can often be difficult to describe in words of writing and film in a way that today’s young people can understand. The complexities of war, communism, and cultural instability can be hard to swallow for modern youths whose understanding of the 60s only includes psychedelic hippies and hard rock. However, two creators have found a way to bring this decade to the 21st century.
Phillip Roth’s novel “American Pastoral” gives readers insight into the struggle of an all-American family losing their daughter to radicalism. Similarly, director Julie Taymor’s film “Across the Universe” depicts the reality of a daughter following the path to revolution. The infamous Merry Levov is introduced in Roth’s novel and only a decade later, fans of the Beatles met Lucy Carrigan in Taymor’s jukebox musical.
Merry and Lucy exude similar attitudes towards the politics of their day, but they choose different paths on their journey towards political extremism.
Dakota Fanning as Merry Levov in 2016’s “American Pastoral",” and Evan Rachel Wood as Lucy Carrigan in 2007’s “Across the Universe.”
The plot of Roth’s “American Pastoral” follows the life of Seymour Levov, played by Ewan McGregor. By the time Levov had reached middle age he had been a high school star athlete, a verteran of the Marine Corps, the owner of a successful family business, and the husband to the former Miss New Jersey. With the addition of a large farm house and a beautiful daughter, his life can be described as the perfect American Dream.
Similarly, in Taymor’s “Across the Universe,” Lucy Carrigan’s father owns a large home, also in New Jersey, where his son attends Princeton University and his daughter, Lucy, is enrolled in a private high school. The Carrigan family throws lavish dinner parties, dresses formally, and their lives can also be described as a picturesque example of americana.
The Levov and Carrigan children both had normal childhoods. In the opening scene of the film, Lucy is seen dancing at prom with her boyfriend, all students dressed in poodle skirts and white tuxes. Apart from a consistent stutter, Merry Levov’s childhood was one of a typical up-beat, curious kid with an affinity for Audrey Hepburn.
For Merry, it wasn’t until high school when she became politically conscious. For Lucy, this came as a shock when she received news that her boyfriend had been killed in Vietnam after valiantly entering the army. While Merry becomes increasingly frustrated with the world around her, Lucy takes more time to experience the impact of the political climate after moving to New York City.
Firstly, viewers must understand the literary context in which Merry and Lucy are set. After the 1960s, writers turned onto the trope of writing women as unlikely revolutionaries, similar to that of real-life hero Dr. Angela Davis. This can be seen specifically in Roth’s work when Seymour Levov analyzes Davis’s autobiography in an attempt to understand his daughter’s new political ideology. In Roth’s words, “he knows that Angela Davis can get him to his daughter.”
Revolutionary women have been presented largely within fictionalized topics of domestic terrorism. Some literary theorists believe that by making the characters female there can be a sympathetic light on the political desires of left-wing revolutionaries and that this can open an analysis of the thought process of terrorists.
Due to young daughters of the American Dream like Merry and Lucy being perceived as tainted innocents, audiences can more easily swallow the violence and, in Merry’s case, atrocities the femme fatales commit.
“And so many were girls. Girls whose political identity was total, who were no less aggressive and militant, no less drawn to ‘armed action’ than the boys. There is something terrifyingly pure about their violence and the thirst for self-transformation.”
- “American Pastoral,” Phillip Roth, 1997
One could specify the point at which Merry begins her transformation into a radical as the viewing of Thich Quang Duc, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who self immolated on June 11, 1963. For Lucy, the experience of her boyfriend dying as a soldier and her brother later being drafted can be seen as the founding moments of her turn towards radical political activism.
In both, New York City is seen as a hub of political involvement with multiple ideologies, anti-war groups, and a buzz of civic fervor. While there were surely movements in Newark and Princeton, both women long for the nearby big city.
Merry begins her forays into the city as a teen, spending weekends with unknown friends, much to Seymour’s dismay. Similarly, when Lucy expresses interest in joining her brother, Max, in the big city, her mother disapproves due to her belief that Max surrounds himself with “dubious dope fiends.”
Both parents show trepidation towards New York City, believing that sending a child into the depths of a politically charged metropolis is dangerous and could lead to irresponsible decisions on the daughter’s parts. In these instances, both parents were correct in their assumptions.
While the interaction between Merry and her city friends is never described, when Lucy comes to stay with Max his friends are not necessarily politically involved, but psychedelic art and drugs are present in daily workings of the shared apartment. Though the apartment residents themselves are pacifists, Lucy later meets Paco, a leader of prominent student protests and the Editor in Chief of the radical “Rat Magazine”—a play on the historical “Rat Subterranean News,” NYC’s prominent underground newspaper.
Lucy Carrigan’s ascent into radicalism never went as far as that of Merry Levov’s. The latter began her political exile with a bang, planting and setting off a bomb in the local post office, killing the owner. After going on the lam, most of Merry’s storyline is told through Seymour’s speculation and tidbits of information from a strange informant.
“Across the Universe” tells Lucy’s story of political involvement from start to finish. After getting involved with Paco and seeing him interrupt a peaceful protest, shouting “every day the hatred grows in the hearts of the Vietnamese who want us out!” Lucy begins working with him. Her inner push towards extremism slowly escalates. She agrees with Paco when he demands that protestors must “stop laying in the streets giving flowers to cops.”
In a style reminiscent of Merry, during a quarrel with her boyfriend, Lucy exclaims, “we’re in the middle of a revolution! Maybe when bombs start going off here, people will listen!” However, a few scenes later Lucy walking into the “Rat Magazine” office to find it completely empty but for Paco hidden away in a closet making homemade bombs.
Unlike Merry who would expectantly join the crafting circle, Lucy is shocked and unwilling to remain affiliated with the group, saying, “I thought it was the other side that dropped bombs.” In this way, Merry and Lucy differ greatly. While their road to revolution progressed in similar styles, they ultimately took opposite paths.
“You say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all wanna change the world… but when you talk about destruction,
don’t you know that you can count me out. Don’t you
know it’s gonna be alright?”
-”Revolution 1,” The Beatles, 1968
In Part 3: Paradise Lost of “American Pastoral,” Seymour Levov is finally reconnected with his daughter to find that she identifies with the Indian religion of Jainism, which takes pacifism to the fullest.
While not specifically identified, Lucy experiences similar expose to eastern religious philosophies during a whirlwind scene of drug-induced psychedelic experiences led by a self-professed profit of “transcending the bullshit” at the Headquarters of the League of Spiritual Deliverance (“I am the Walrus”). Additionally, Lucy and her friends meet Buddhist monks on the subway and travel to see a healer of eastern medicine.
The political fugitive and young activist share many experiences while their contextual stories are different—”American Pastoral” focusing on the tensions between generations and “Across the Universe” portraying a dramatic love story. All these similarities can lead an audience to think how closely the lives of these revolutionary daughters overlap.
The Beatles were popular during the sub-setting pertaining to Seymour Levov in the 60s. As a jukebox musical featuring the top hits of the band, “Across the Universe” adds poignant visuals to the stories of the psychedelic, upbeat, and revolutionary lyrics. The stories of Merry and Lucy are so similar that it leads one to believe that Merry would have also been conscious of the music of political movements of the time.
Songs like “Revolution” and “Helter Skelter” are featured in the film during prominent scenes of political activism. The energy of these songs could have also led Merry and her friends into believing in their cause as it is projected in popular music. Specifically, “Helter Skelter” is set to the scene of Paco and Lucy running a large student protest at Columbia University when police begin beating protestors and invading the building. The rock n’ roll jam adds to the chaos and fear of voicing descent, which Merry has been a part of.
Similarly, “Across the Universe” includes details such as the Vietnam War being televised over public broadcast channels, bringing war into the home for the first time. Lucy and Paco would have these images playing in the office of “Rat Magazine” as they planned protests and wrote incendiary articles. Merry would likely have also been exposed to this news from the headlines.
Many scenes in Taymor’s musical portray the experiences of Max Carrigan during his time being drafted, such as going through the assembly line of the draft office (“I Want You”), carrying the Statue of Liberty through the jungles of Vietnam (“She’s So Heavy”), and an extended stay in a military treatment facility where he becomes addicted to morphine (“Happiness is a Warm Gun”).
While Roth does not specifically describe a friend of Merry’s being drafted to the front lines, the fervor of her continuing violent actions would allow the connection to be drawn. Merry and Lucy would have fostered similar outsider perspectives of their relations being shipped to a war-torn country in America’s fight against Communism.
“The revolution was a disaster for the people who believed
in it, and the only ones who really profited were the ones
who didn’t believe in it at all.”
-”American Pastoral,” Phillip Roth, 1997
With all the similarities between the revolutionary daughters of Phillip Roth’s “American Pastoral” and Julie Taymore’s “Across the Universe,” one could draw an easy conclusion that the 2007 musical was heavily inspired by the 1997 novel.
Lucy Carrigan and Merry Levov could be seen through the same light as the post-1960s innocent girls tainted by politics to become violent revolutionaries. When Merry is first introducted by the narrator, her uncle calls her “the monster,” “this killer,” and a “freak of nature,” but her tale of becoming a “monster” is far more complicated than her family can imagine.
So, too, is the path of Lucy. Her parents never understand her desire to fight against the Vietnam war, but rather than calling her names, she receives a phone call from her mother begging her “beautiful daughter” to not get hurt and return home.
