A New Look Back at an Old Anger
A short review of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger
There’s a sour disposition rising again among an increasingly large population of under-employed intellectuals. It’s a familiar refrain, and one that has historically appeared thematically in a number of literary movements. The Angry Young Men movement of the 1950s was focused primarily, and almost exclusively, around this phenomenon, and offers some relatable material for the contemporary environment.
Produced in 1956 , John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger has since been considered a spearheading work of landmark change in British theater. An iconic and representative pillar of the Angry Young Men movement, it illustrated the frustration of young adult men in post-war England with the uneasy transition from the indulgent Edwardian era of leisure and luxury, through the necessity and purpose of the World War II era, and into the directionless fog of the post-war era.
Ideological shifts in American culture in recent years effectively fashioned a similar sense of disenchantment in not only young adult men but also, and especially, in young adult women. As in 1950s England, social perspectives have evolved from those of contented optimism and comfort with tradition to those of critical challenge and suspicious cynicism. We are discontent, and we demand change.
Such is the case with Jimmy Porter, Osborne’s main character in Look Back in Anger. Porter is not as defined by his own intellect and ability as he is by his eruptive frustration with the lack of attention and appreciation he receives for them. His tortured awareness won’t allow him to find comfort in his humble circumstances, and he lashes out at those closest to him in desperation.
Porter’s professional endeavors are unsubstantial and unrewarding, and his living circumstances are meager. Because so many of those around him share his plight, they are unable, or at least not compelled, to adequately provide him with the sympathy and shared feelings of injustice to which he believes he specifically is entitled.
Burdened with an idle mind and too much idle time, and relentlessly agitated with inequity of his station in life, Jimmy Porter vents his angry energy by haranguing his one loyal friend and his exhausted wife until both are forced to abandon him to varying degrees. Desperate to instigate change in his own situation, Jimmy succeeds only in creating further isolation and hopelessness for himself.
Look Back in Anger can usefully function in two different ways for a contemporary audience. First, it demonstrates a frustration with which we can identify. We can find representation in Jimmy Porter’s rantings and in his wife Alison’s weariness. We can feel heard via their discontented voices and disappointed views.
Finally, we can treat the message of the play as a warning that while cynicism and disillusion may indeed be the necessary impetuses for change in some circumstances, an overly insistent and/or exclusive adhesion to them may end up preventing us from allowing ourselves to accept the small boons and victories life does occasionally offer.
