The artistic and
personal liberties unleashed by the escape from the repressive, conformist
1950s and the energy and optimism accompanying the civil rights and anti-war
movements were methodically and overwhelmingly suffocated by corporate
cooption. Any and every new spring of creative originality—whether it be a new
popular musical form or an original film director—has been damned and channeled
by the monopoly entertainment industry. As a result, cultural products with any
claim to broad popularity are reduced to either formulaic, safe entertainments
or vapid, lifeless expressions of “high” culture.
This is not to demean the tens of thousands of talented cultural workers who struggle at minimum wage jobs while studying and exercising their craft for the few willing to step away from the corporately constructed temples of culture. They labor even more heroically than their predecessors who were occasionally able to hew some measure of independence from the grasp of cultural moguls and business accountants. That is less possible today when only unrestrained vulgarity and violence or unchallenging distraction and fantasy offer the keys to entering the cultural big stage.
In an age where the
promise of hip hop has been reduced to a grinding pulse of swagger, violence,
and selfishness and the freedom of independent commercial film predictably
delivers time-released, regular spasms of ultra-violence, nudity, and sex,
relief from the tedium is especially delicious. More and more that relief is
coming from documentary film.
I have in mind two
documentaries that expose the worst and best of the US.
The
Queen of Versailles
The best
documentaries often rise to great heights on sheer dumb luck; the Irish film
makers who, by happenstance, captured close-up the coup against Hugo Chavez and
its aftermath were extraordinary examples of the film gods in action (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised).
Similarly, Lauren Greenfield's 2012 documentary, The Queen of Versailles draws its drama from the impact of the
economic crisis upon one of the richest families in the US. What begins as the
capture of the excesses and embarrassing vulgarity of the nouveau riche
devolves to a tale of blame, self-pity, and neglect, thanks to the impact of
the unforeseen crisis.
On the way up, a
fortune built around the hustle and shrewd entrapment of the time-share
industry allows an orgy of self-indulgence, senseless consumerism, and
smugness. David Siegel, the ruler of the empire, brags about his clandestine
role in getting Bush elected President; he creates a glitzy tower in Las Vegas
to signal his success, and he aspires to build the largest private home in the
US to flaunt that success. Siegel embodies Marx’s infamous iconic capitalist:
“… The less you eat, drink, and buy books; the less you go to the theater, the
dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorize, sing, paint,
fence, etc, the more you save—the greater becomes your treasure which
neither moths nor dust will devour—your capital.”
But as Marx acknowledges, your abstinence and single-minded greed is rewarded,
for your accumulated wealth can “appropriate art, learning, the treasures of
the past, political power…” And Siegel does all of this.
But the 2008 economic
collapse brings the Siegel family to its knees. Dead, unattended pets; dog
feces on carpets; fast food; cranky, spoiled children; and sullenness and
self-pity replace the former swagger. “It’s the banks, the rotten, greedy
banks,” the Siegels exclaim. They angrily protest that “ordinary” people like
themselves are victimized by selfish bankers.
As the empire totters,
the Siegels scramble to adjust. On a visit to her childhood friends, wife
Jackie must subject her children to their first flight on a commercial airline.
“Why are these other people on our plane?” they wonder. Jackie asks the rental
car agent for the name of the driver; he responds with a puzzled look. The rich
are not like the rest of us.
Through their
“ordeal,” David Siegel sulks, whines, and wallows in self-pity. While Jackie’s
untamed consumerism remains pathological, she shows more character and resilience,
serving as both the family’s anchor and morale-booster. This snap shot of the
very wealthy in full bloom and under duress shows the shallowness of that life
choice and the ugliness of conspicuous self-aggrandizement. It is hard to feel
sympathy for the Siegels.
Searching
for Sugarman
If the Siegels
conjure contempt, even disgust, Sixto Rodriguez—the focus of the documentary, Searching for Sugarman—counts as a
glorious expression of the best of us. Rodriguez, a discarded cultural worker,
exudes nobility, humility, warmth, and intelligence, whether working in small,
marginal clubs, laboring on excavation or demolition sites, raising his
children, or enjoying a belated celebrity.
Others have written
of his strange, magical journey from a quickly emerging and falling talent
forty years ago to the re-discovered celebrity of today. In between, Rodriguez
worked and raised his children like millions of others, but with uncommon
dignity and strength. The film, Sugarman,
attests to the man’s resilience, but also celebrates his incredible impact upon
others.
Unmistakably,
Rodriguez, himself a former autoworker and the son of an immigrant Mexican
autoworker, is a legacy of the US multi-national working class—a living example
of the best of working class values. He, like his co-workers interviewed in the
film, has an unassuming intellect and unqualified respect for others.
And he and his music
are consummately “political.” Not in any clumsy or preachy sense, but in a way
that speaks to and for the disadvantaged, that resonates with those who seek
change. Early in his career he associated in Detroit with John Sinclair, the
political commissar of the proto-proletarian-punk group, the MC5. Later, when
his music arrived in Australia, he opened in live performances for Australia’s
most widely known politically outspoken rock group, Midnight Oil.
But the greatest
testament to his strong politics is the curious and bizarre impact on South
African youth. After Angolan independence at the end of 1975, South Africa
intensified its military interventions in that country and Namibia. Over the
next decade, conscription of white South Africans into the military met further
and further resistance. For reasons that remain obscure, the music of
Rodriguez, commercially a flop in the US, found a following in South Africa.
Rodriguez became the voice of resistance and change for many young, white South
Africans. His music created the sound track for the anti-conscription movement.
And by the mid-eighties he inspired other musical groups to propel the End
Conscription Campaign. The Kalahari Surfers, Cherry Faced Lurchers, and other
alternative musical groups gave expression to disenchanted white youth (see Forces Favourites, Rounder Records,
1986). The resounding defeat of the South African military by the Angolan
military and its Cuban internationalist ally, the growing militancy of the
African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, and the
disenchantment of white South Africans brought apartheid to its knees and paved
the way to South African liberation.
In a real way, this
modest worker in Detroit helped rock the foundations of the racist, repressive
apartheid system in South Africa-- quite an accomplishment for an artist
without recognition in his homeland. Quite an achievement for a talent
initially crushed by the gears of an industry driven by immediacy and profit.
Where The Queen of Versailles drains the spirit with its celebration of
accumulation and ostentation, Searching
for Sugarman brings joy and inspiration. Both are revealing. Watch them
both, one after the other. Hang your head in embarrassment with the decadence
that the unbridled capitalist system has wrought. Raise your head with hope for
the nobility that people like Rodriguez bring to us.
Zoltan
Zigedy
zoltanzigedy@gmail.com
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