Joey Batey has linked Pulp’s song “Common People” to Jaskier in another interview. @ub-sessed made a post where she was surprised because to her--and I agree--Jaskier is more like the “you”, the girl “who came from Greece” with a “loaded” dad, than the “I” of the song.
If the song is Jaskier’s personal anthem, does Mr Batey think Jaskier is too thick/privileged/narrow-sighted to notice whole verses like:
“ But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all,
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And you dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do
Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're really laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool “ (Songwriters: Banks / Doyle / Senior / Cocker / Mackey )
I think there is a really interesting conversation to be had about Jaskier|Dandelion’s life choices.
We know limited things about the social structure of the Continent, such as whether Jaskier’s dad would take him back, bail him out and restore him as Viscount de Lettenhove; not least because there seems to be a difference between Netflix and the books.
He does not go around using his real name in the books. Even in Posada, when begging for him life from the Elves, he says he has friends who would ransom him, but doesn’t mention that he’s a noble.
(In the book story “The Last Wish”, after Dandilion[sic] has been cursed by the Djinn, they ride to the nearest town, only to be told:
“‘None may pass at night. That’s the order. There’s no way through for anyoneunless they’ve got a letter of safe-conduct from the king or the mayor. Or they’re nobility with a coat of arms.’
Dandilion croaked, huddled up even more, resting his forehead on the horse’s mane, shuddered, shook and retched dryly.”
To me, it’s an open question whether Dandilion was trying to declare his nobility; if he was he didn’t go on to try very hard IMO. there’s no”Dandilion was trying to speak again,” or, “Dandilion made signs for a pen and paper“.)
In our world, the first troubadour is often identified as Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who, although he owed fealty to the French Crown, was effectively the local ruler.
Royalty and nobles in the mediaeval and early modern periods could writeand perform poetry/music/songs in pasrtt to illustrate how educated and cultured they were.
Being employed as a minstrel or jongleur, especially without a permanent court position, or a “day job” (e.g Geoffrey Chaucer was sent on embassies for the Crown and worked as, basically, a tax collector etc), was a very different, lower-class, possibly disreputable, thing. It has been speculated that one reason the court musical Mark Smeaton (played by Joey Batey in the RSC “Wolf Hall”) was included in Anne Boleyn’s list of accused lovers was to evoke class/caste disgust, a “How could she stoop so low?” sensation, thus further blackening her reputation as what we might call a nymphomaniac.
Netflix Jaskier writes “Chansons des Gestes“ (Songs of Deeds), not about national heroes (Arthur, Arthur’s knights, Roland, Robin Hood etc) or a king or a noble patron, but about a Witcher!
I think we have to question whether Book!Dandelion could ”go home” (even without his criminal history). But in Netflix Jaskier also uses his title and birth name.
(There is even more that could be discussed about Dandelion|Jaskier’s anti-violence stance and conscious effort to not know about or carry weapons given both noble education and mainstream culture on the Continent, but let’s keep this to “Common People”.)
What does it mean to say that is Jaskier’s “anthem”?
turnnoffyourmind
baratheonpilled
