February 22, 10: 52 pm. Sitting in the kitchen riddled with spray paint fumes and sticky pasta, Erin asks Dave what he thought of Billy the Kid.Erin: What did you think of Billy the Kid?
Dave: I didn't like it. It was really boring. It didn't go anywhere. You weren't learning anything. It was "hey, remember that kid with the wolf t-shirt and the fucked up mullet in school?" It was kind of a guilt trip movie. It goes with midddle class white people saying "oh isn't this taboo." There was nothing thought provoking. Very fishbowl; tapping the glass watching the fish swim around. I felt gross watching it. He was in the boiler room class with all the other miscreants and social outcasts pushed to the side by society. You're putting the spotlight on them like you did in school.
Erin: But didn't you find it charming at all? The kid's a performer, he seemed to enjoy the attention and worked with the camera. Everyone is acting for the camera to a certain extent.
Dave: No I didn't find it charming. I was questioning the validity of the subject matter the entire time. These are the people who used to come in to my store. They're people not spectacles. They make them out to be sideshows, freaks because we have chosen them to be for our elitist groups. We're talking about people who can't function in society. "oh look, they have feelings too." Fuck that.
Erin: Why do you think we make and watch these movies?
Dave: To feel better about ourselves, to seem interesting, to win awards, to educate others.
People fortunate enough to have an education are the only ones watching. He's smart for his age, but so what. He's not gonna have the same opportunities. He's going to have to fight his entire life. I hope he becomes happier or a performer.He's a spectacle for privelaged people to look at.
Erin: Do think all documentary film is spectacle?
Dave: It's entertainment. Especially the documentaries you are watching. Not many of them are educational. We're not watching any on the Sahara, space, or penguins; those are cut and dried. Factual. In your documentaries science and art is convoluted. Are we learning something? Is this the real world? If so what do we take from it? Why is it that the miscreants of our society are really what brings the Pulitzer home?
Dave is a hater by nature though.
ReplyDeleteI loved Billy the Kid, not because it was a spectacle, but because it was just a look at this kid's life. I think it's because I love biographical documentaries. I love getting to know and falling a little bit in love with the people in them. There's nothing deep or profound about it, I just like people, especially people from a distance. I've always been a fan of non-fiction, documentaries tickle my fancy because they are real. Well, as real as they can be with a camera on them.
Exactly what Im talking about.
ReplyDelete