In My Darkest Hour is a pretty grim read throughout, but I did find many of the creative choices that Santiago makes in the text to be very interesting. One thing that I noticed during my initial reading is the clear visual focus that Santiago gives to the mundane details of commercialized products and pop culture, and their overall prevalence in the story. While this aspect doesn’t seem to be overtly thematic when compared to the larger issues of addiction, mental illness, poverty, race, and post 9-11 U.S. foreign policy, it was interesting to see how Santiago portrays the everyday aesthetics of mundane life.
As has been discussed on Twitter, Santiago’s images seems to be presented in a more straightforward, almost photographic style whenever the focus is on something commercial like beer and soda labels, liquor bottles, and candy wrappers. But this same “cleaner” style is also applied to many of the more personal aesthetics of individual identity for various characters in the text. By this I mean the things in life the characters use to send a message to others about who they are, what they believe, what music they like, etc. This was especially noticeable for me in the different tee-shirts we see characters wearing (Omar’s “NIN” shirt, a “Faux News” shirt, and even a “Billy Ray Cyrus” shirt), as well as in the various posters in Lucinda’s and Caroline’s rooms (perfume poster, Art Institute of Chicago, Rosie the Riveter).
Santiago’s focus on presenting a clearer picture of these mundane details of life sets In My Darkest Hour apart from most of the other texts we’ve read this semester. A part of this obviously would seem to stem from the fact that this plot is the most rooted/dependent on contemporary society from all the texts that we have encountered. But I’m also interested in how Santiago may use this technique to make a more deliberate commentary about Omar. Omar’s confusion/hopelessness/general mental angst seems to be constantly represented in the distorted styles that permeate much of the text. Does the clarity given to the commercialized products of booze and candy signify how these items (also symbolic of his larger addictions) serve as his anchors in a tumultuous world? Likewise – does the focus on the mechanisms of a pop culture centered identity point to Omar’s ultimate shallowness and lack of any significant identity himself? The text seems to take on a more deliberate anti-corporate feel in the post 9-11 section at the end, with the corporate logos interspersed with the drawing of the pig slaughtering assembly line. But to me this seems a little disjointed with the pop-culture, song lyrics, and commercial references that are placed throughout the text.
John