Bright Lights, Big Backlash

            The release of Bright Lights Big City ultimately faced backlash as a result of the prevailing mood of the time.  The late 70s into the early 90s had seen the growth of a new political coalition.  The conservative movement in the United States began to alter in geographical and ideological configuration, as conservative southern Democrats began to weaken in electoral strength due to their association with the Democratic Party at large, which was deemed too liberal by many in the South East United States.  As a result, the political grouping known as the Reagan Coalition began to coalesce.  The group would include moderate fiscal conservatives, and social conservatives, including the notable addition of Southern Evangelicals.  The coalition would in 1980 win a landslide election and gain significant numbers of national and state offices in the election.  After four successful years, the coalition would again make significant gains against Walter Mondale in the 1984 election.

            With the history lesson out of the way, the political power dynamics of the time created a situation conducive to challenging the publication of the book.  The themes of drug, and alcohol abuse would not sit well with the social conservatives at the time.  The political elections four years before and just after the book was published granted office to a number of conservative persons by means of Reagan’s coattails.  These elected officials were among those who would oppose the book, and also had the ability to amplify their opinions due to the public nature of the offices they held.  Similarly, the people who put these individuals into office shared a similar viewpoint to those of who elected them and would therefore also oppose many of the themes and elements of the novel.

            In many ways the book did reflect elements of the time.  Pablo Escobar was an up and coming leader of what was one of many large South American drug cartels which were growing at the time.  With new distribution mechanism, cocaine, the drug which was referenced many times in the book, began to infiltrate some of America’s largest cities including New York.  The novel’s disappointment with the “office job” type of work that the narrator took part in was also a key aspect of social critique of capitalism at the time.  Largely because the 80s were one of the earliest decades where desk jobs become more numerous.  In conclusion the opposition and themes of the novel were both shaped by the broader developments in American society at the time.