I had been hesitant to bring up this subject on the blog or in class because I wasn't quite sure how to present the context. Luckily, Maia's presentation on Monday introduced the class to the musical version of Ragtime, and I was able to finally mention how the production had effected my impression of the text. For those who weren't there or don't remember, I saw the musical version of Ragtime when I was very young. I had never read the book before, and therefore judged everything on its own merits. When I heard that we were reading Ragtime this semester, I became excited for a passionate character drama based around discrimination and privilege in America. The secondary work influenced my expectations of the original content. If this wasn't the case, I think would have liked the book much more than I do.
The way I saw it initially, both musical and book have the same basic story, with a main focus in different elements of storytelling. The original was made as a more of a detached and ironic look at culture and historical events of the time, whereas the musical focused more on the fictional characters and their emotions. It was obvious to me as I read through the book (and especially during Coalhouse & Sarah's story) that the musical had spoiled me on characterization. IF I had read the book first, I would have been able to focus more on appreciating the complex and well written irony and subtext, and then the musical would have shown me how complex the characters were below the surface. As it stands, I feel unsatisfied and perplexed whenever a huge scene of character development or motivation is glossed over or ignored.
I still very much like Ragtime as a novel, and can still appreciate the writing if I am given a chance to remove myself from my bias, but it is still somewhat frustrating to have to deal with all of my preconceptions about the story, and I fear that it has seriously impacted my overall enjoyment of the book. I do think, however, that I should revisit this book, a year from now or later, and go through it again. Perhaps time will allow me to separate the two experiences in my mind, and the removal of the initial surprise and disappointment might redeem the novel in my eyes.
