Saturday, October 29, 2011

gritty




On a recent post at Detectives Beyond Borders, Photographe à Dublin pondered a question that I believe has been preoccupying her a bit, namely, since when does something have to be gritty to be realistic? This led me wonder when 'gritty' came into the lingo to mean, not 'full of grit', but a dark and unflinching look at  harsh reality. I don't know if I can find the answer to this one, but it seemed like a nice one to attempt.

***

Well, in a way I wasn't too successful. I was somewhat surprised that the Online Etymology Dictionary has it that the sense of 'gritty' passed from describing the physical quality of grit to meaning unpleasantness in general as early as 1882, derived from the sensation of eating gritty bread apparently. But this still didn't tell me a lot about the genre. And in fact there was dearth of etymological explanations, though quite a large fascination with 'nitty-gritty' and it's possible beginnings. That's a bit far afield for this post, though.

In the end though, I was richly rewarded by finding the word defined in the Urban Dictionary. Sure, you've got the link, but since many won't bother to click on it, I'll just post it here in its entirety. You really should just go on and read all three definitions:


1.
gritty
harsh, coarse, rough and unrefined, as in film depictions that portray life as it truly is, without false distortions, stylizations, or idealizations. Often, the realism is exaggerated such that the culture or society being portrayed appears more coarse than it really is.
The film "28 Days Later" is a gritty, dirt-under-your-fingernails kind of raw.
 
28 Days Later--gritty!
 
 2.
gritty




A type of realism, usually invoked by films and documentary. Strangely
enough, "gritty realism" is only perceptible to media and film critics and the term is hardly ever used by anyone else. In fact no-one but film and tv critics ever use the term.
 
 Film Critic: " X is a film depicting the gritty realism of life in the New York suburbs"

or
"the gritty realism of this documentary is in stark contrast to his other work"
 
 
 3.
gritty





A middle-to-upper class term to describe the living conditions of the majority of the human populace as seen through indie movies.
 
"The film 'x' was a gritty depiction of life on the streets of NY."
 
 
 

There was one other consolation prize, although this time of bittersweet nature. I discovered the blog of Michael J. Sheehan, which is called Wordmall. Sheehan is a retired English teacher of the City Colleges of Chicago, and he has been running a pretty fine etymology et cetera blog for a few years. It's kind of like this blog, except that he actually knows what he is doing.

Check it out, and do feel free to defect.

I might.    

17 comments:

  1. It's possible I have used the word "gritty" in a poetry book review. Gritty, meaning the opposite of pretty. It's a good thing.

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  2. This is a great post, Seana.

    I don't find that "real" life is gritty or, if I think further, realistic.

    The language of lit crit is often used very loosely as if all the questions had been neatly tied up and answered. It is a world in itself and a lot of work is being done at present to ensure that genre is analysed precisely and with insight.

    The idea that "pretty" is the antithesis of "gritty" has added to my synaptic activity and for that much thanks.

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  3. Kathleen, yes, I can see that gritty might be a higher adjective applied to a poem than pretty, though not than beautiful.

    Maria, if it's a good post, it's really only largely because I lifted it from Urban Dictionary. But it was an interesting one for me as well.

    I think gritty has passed over from academia by now though. I'm sure I've described a fewn crime novels as gritty to a few customers at the store. In this case, it's to distinguish them from 'cozy'. Which is generally a fairly helpful distinction.

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  4. I like the sociological dimension to definition #3. I am also reminded of the song “Grits Ain’t Groceries,” which I have never heard but whose title I have always liked.
    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've remembered where I first focused on the idea of "gritty realism".

    It seems to be linked to a dissociative personality and, in many cases, much liquor.

    "http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120773152"

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  6. And just look at the title of this blog, maintained by someone who just commented at my site.
    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gritty...pretty. Hmm, makes a fellow feel like rewriting a song from West Side Story:

    I feel gritty! Oh, yeah, gritty!
    Feel like kicking and picking a fight.
    And I pity any dude who ain’t me tonight.

    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice little piece on Carver, Maria. I haven't really latched on to the Carver love, but I don't know how much of his stuff I've read.

    Alcoholism and the writing life are linked enough in this country to have provoked a book called The Thirsty Muse, by Tom Dardis, which discusses the phenomenon through the lives of Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald and O'Neill. I was going to say that I always meant to get around to it, but on reading the description at Amazon, I realized that I already had. Worse, I am pretty sure this is not the first time I've forgotten that. It may be that I only skimmed it, but the O'Neill part of the tale sounds familiar.

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  9. Peter, for a long time the Brits did strike me as more gritty in their crime fiction. Or bleaker, anyway. But I think the Americans have probably caught up.

    As for the lyrics, what can I say? You've got the knack.

    Or at least the cadence.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's interesting; the Americans traditionally had the hard-boiled, gritty rep: Black Mask vs. Miss Marple.
    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's true, but it's more about where I came into mystery reading again. I had been reading people like Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky in the U.S, and while not cozy, they were hardly gritty either. The British novels like Derek Raymond's and The Long Firm by Jake Arnott were definitely dealing with an underworld that I hadn't really thought about bieng in England. But even more mainstream British mystery writers like P.D. James and Ruth Rendell seemed to have a decidely darker view of human nature than those on our side of the Atlantic. It kind of struck me, because in my time in England I hadn't noticed a particularly bleaker outlook. Of course, I was just a naive tourist.

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  12. That's true. Ruth Rendell may not be gritty, but she is dark.

    Americans are proverbially an optimistic people, which must figure into this discussion somewhere.

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  13. I went to see "The Help" and instantly thought of Eudora Welty, a writer who delves into the dark without being gritty.

    "http://www.npr.org/2011/08/22/139669124/-the-help-needs-assistance-from-a-realistic-voice"

    Perhaps the whole question of "literature" versus "genre" could be measured in grit content?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just in passing, I'm not sure what group your photo represents.

    There is a TV programme called "Made in Chelsea" that is so bizarre that I wonder if the characters are actors, but it seems to be more in keeping with the contemporary "bright young thing" set than the sort of people in the photo.

    I'm at a loss with the subtle nuances but beer seems to be linked to the rugby set.

    This has all reminded me to stay home...

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  15. Apologies...

    This should be on the next thread in relation to the posh people.

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