Rich Hall’s ‘The Dirty South’
Rich Hall sets his keen eye and acerbic wit on his homeland once again as he sifts truth from fiction in Hollywood's version of the southern states of the USA. Using specially shot interviews and featuring archive from classic movies such as Gone With The Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire and Deliverance, Rich discovers a South that is about so much more than just rednecks, racism and hillbillies.
via BBC - BBC Four Programmes - Rich Hall's 'The Dirty South'.
It's rare that I watch anything challenging lately. I'm usually content to sit down and veg out to either comedy, soaps (yes, soaps) or some film I've watched before. However, last night I watched Rich Hall's The Dirty South.
Now I'm not saying that it was a challenging show, but it was something I had to concentrate on and think about - that's enough for me after a day at work.
I really enjoyed it. 90 minutes well spent that not only gives me greater appreciate for America, but resulted in a couple films being added to my 'would like to watch' list.
My Beliefs
As the show was anti-Hollywood, the show itself challenged my beliefs (whether I like it or not, I tend to learn things from films - especially biopics). As enjoyable as the show was, I find it hard to watch or listen to things that do this - it's hard to swallow. I'm quite happy with my beliefs. Among other things, those beliefs have resulted in me enjoying the films Ray and Walk the Line (the Johnny Cash biopic). Why would I not want to enjoy a film? But the next time I watch those films, I don't know whether I will enjoy them or not.
Ray
Rich Hall points out that when making biopics, Hollywood attempts to associate character development with key moments in a person's life, even though it isn't true to life. As he put it, Ray Charles didn't become a heroin addict because his brother died. He became one because he kept shooting heroin into his arms.
When watching these films, in the back of my mind I kind of know this. But it's great to get caught up in the story and believe that "blimey, Ray Charles really did do it hard!". It not only helps me to enjoy the film, but also the music. So it's hard when someone challenges that.
Easy Rider
One thing I am please he did though was point out that Easy Rider just seems to be about two guys smoking pot and driving motor bikes.
Easy Rider has always come across as a bit of a "hands off! This is a classic so I don't want to hear a bad word about it". When I watched it, I kind of enjoyed it but I did end up thinking "What's the point of that?". Until now though - until Rich led the way - I'd never feel comfortable admitting it. Thanks Rich!
As I wrote earlier though - with regards to The Dirty South, 90 minutes well spent. Anything that makes you think enough to compel you to write a blog post must be worth it in my eyes.
Unrandom Acts of Friendlyness
One thing that struck me on my trip to America last year was how unfriendly the English are compared to the Americans (at least those in and around Atlanta). Don’t get me wrong, when you know people in England, they’re as nice as pie, but its not that often you’ll walk down the street and some stranger will say “Hi” to you. In America this happened all the time. Not only that, but when they do speak to you, they (from my point of view) string things out a little. When you say goodbye in America it’s “you have a nice day now” and they seem perfectly happy to chuck in all those unwarranted words. In England it seems we’ve gone to great lengths to say as little as possible. “Cheers” is just about manageable.
This isn’t a complaint against us English. The novelty of being nice wore off by the end of the two weeks and I wanted to revert back to my old ways of sticking on my headphones and living in my own world. Being nice to strangers can be tiring when you’ve not had much practice.
Even in England though there are exceptions to the rule. We’re not always so closed off from each other.
I can think of three situations where we let our guard down and speak to people, regardless of who they are:
Christmas Day
The most obvious is Christmas Day. Walk down the street on Christmas Day and all of a sudden everyone you pass makes the effort to say “Hi”. Stand with a stranger long enough and it might even escalate into a full blown conversation.
Glastonbury Festival
Stan's visual debut on this blog
The 2nd situation (for me at least) is the Glastonbury Festival. This probably applies to any event/situation where people are brought together by a common interest. Not only do strangers chat at Glastonbury Festival, but they go so far as to ask if they can share your log fire – and they’re always welcome - and they're happy to return the favour.
Fellow Parents
I encountered the 3rd situation over the weekend. Again it’s generated by a common interest. I took my son Stan over the park for the first time and had a play on the slide and swings. A couple other young families then entered the park. Strangely it seemed completely natural to chat to these people. If we passed in the street we’d probably have gone out of our ways to lower our heads to avoid eye contact.
I’m not entirely sure why I’ve written this blog post. The Christmas Day friendliness has always fascinated me, but maybe it’s just an excuse to finally post a picture of Stan on this blog…