Daisy Jones and the Six | Bonus
Show Notes:
Daisy Jones and the Six was written by Taylor Jenkins Reid and was published in 2019. In 2023 it was adapted for screen and released in March.
This is a solo-episode where Julia Washington discusses some of the changes between book to screen and where the show failed to capture the nuance.
Transcript:
Hey friends, this is Pop Culture Makes me jealous where we analyze pop culture through the lens of race or gender, and sometimes both. This episode is a bonus solo episode with me, your host, Julia Washington. To hear the full episode, you can join us on Patreon. It's really easy. You just go to patreon.com/popculturemakesmejealous.
And now here we go to the show.
Daisy Jones in the six was first published in 2019. It was written by Taylor Jenkins Reed. It is a Reese Witherspoon book Club Pick, has most recently been adapted to a miniseries for Amazon Prime starring a lot of people. So there's no guest in this episode, so we're just gonna dive right on. When Daisy Jones and the sixth first released the New York Times had this to say, quote, Taylor Jenkins.
Reid has written a stylish and propulsive if sometimes sentimental novel set against the backdrop in the stadiums studios and pool houses of the late 1970s. La Though the back cover suggests that everyone knows Daisy Jones and the six, the book is the story of a fake band in a real world. Daisy Jones n.
The six is a fairly earnest portrait of the 1970s through a documentary without mocking end quote. I purchased this book on publication day, excited for the story of this fictional band. Though I never experienced the 1970s, my childhood was filled with its music. At the time, it wasn't uncommon for me to read a book in a day, and this one was no exception.
My original review on Instagram stories was this, and I'm not gonna lie, it's a little embarrassing. Daisy Jones in the six is a story of the rise and fall of America's greatest fictional band in the seventies. Told from multiple perspectives in the style of interviews. This book has it all. Love in all forms.
Complicated relationships, complex people, and a whole lot of rock and roll. I had every intention of doing a deeper, more reflective review, but I couldn't, at the time, I didn't know why. While other more prestigious reviewers like the Times and Kirks suggested the book had drawbacks, I saw none myself. I felt that Taylor Jenkins read had captured the emotions and what it's like to be in love with a musician and connect creatively with that person.
Having seriously dated a musician myself, I knew firsthand what it was like to be Cam. , but, but the completely different. In March of 2023, the first three episodes of the Prime original Daisy Johnson II released after a frenzy of anticipation. Hello Sunshine did a fantastic job with all elements of marketing and advertising.
The show's release with the actor and author Buy-in. If this campaign isn't studied in future academic classes or what you can do for a book to screen adaptation, screen release, then I would be shocked. Not only did the actors do the traditional press junket, but musicians were hired to take the album Aurora from the book and bring it to life.
This album released on streaming platforms making Daisy Jones in the sixth, the first fictional band to ever hit number one. The series was adapted for screen by Scott New Statter. I don't know if that's how you pronounce his name, and I maybe apologize if I got it wrong. And Michael h Web. You've heard on this show before in the past when a woman's writing is put in the hands of a man for execution, things get lost in translation.
And while it seems pretty divided on the internet, whether or not the adaptation is good or represents the book well, the changes were clear and the team behind them stands by those decisions. The book offers nuance in a way the series doesn't. It is, in my opinion, the missing nuance is what we as Daisy Jones and the six fans were hoping for in the series.
The book was already a good framework for bringing the story to life. While many critics suggested that interview style boxed in the characters, what is left unsaid is just as clear as what is said making for an easy transition to. On March 24th, vanity Fair ran an article outlining all the biggest changes from the book to series.
In episode one, we immediately see Eddie and Pete loving, reduced to Eddie Roundtree in the book, having two sets of brothers, Billy and Graham Dunn. And Pete and Eddie Loving offers a parallel. Eddie and Billy, both elder brothers with ideas and talent, but Billy rises higher than Eddie creating bitterness.
Within Eddie, we see Graham's loyalty to his brother, which then brings the rest of the group into loyalty. To him as well. Two sets of brothers show us. This creates a different type of tension. You don't like Eddie, but you understand why he's frustrated. Why is the band the Done Brothers? When it's equal Parts, Lovings, this tension grows.
And even after a name change, Eddie is so irritated with Billy that there's no coming back from it. When interviewed with Time Magazine, showrunner, Scott Nu Statter had this to say about. Quote, the Pete character serves as a function in the novel, but doesn't have much to say. He's not the most dramatic.
We know if we were going to cast Pete, the actor might want to do more. It felt like eliminating Pete enabled us to do more with the characters that we had in the ensemble. I think that removing Pete. , even though he didn't have a large speaking role in the show, in the book, was a little shortsighted. And here's why though.
His only speaking role comes at the end of the book, what he offers throughout. The story contributes to Eddie's anger. Unlike Graham Pete playing music with his brother is a short-term gig. There's a part in the book where Pete says he's going to quit and everyone panics and wants Billy to talk him out of it.
This makes Eddie so angry. He's standing before the band. Telling them he's tried and Pete's not going to change his mind, but no one is listening to him. Maybe you know that feeling, telling someone something that you, the person closest to the situation, the expert if you will, and in, and in this case, the sibling, and it falls on deaf ears.
Being unheard, is infuriating. And for Eddie, this wasn't just another moment when he was ignored, it was one of the final. Okay, friends, since this is a Patreon bonus episode, that's all you get for the full thing. You can find us on patreon.com/popculturemakesmejealous as a member. You get benefits, like bonus episodes and other stuff too.
I appreciate you for taking the time to tune in. Also, we have a book club, the Jelly Pops book club. We read Daisy Jones in the sixth in March of 2023, and it was a really good time. We have some awesome people who show up. So if you are fed up with a patriarchy, love to read and love television and movies, we might be the club for you.
We only read book to screen adaptations. And one more thing before I go. We recently hit 10,000 do downloads. We have sensor pass that number, and for an independently produced podcasts from an introvert who gets over stimulated and overwhelmed by too much socialization, I feel like that's a pretty damn good marker to hit for the time we've been.
I appreciate all of you, and I thank you all for tuning in Until next time.
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