Living in Los Angeles and working in the very insular world of film and entertainment, it is easy to become complacent about the plight of "everyone else" as I heard someone refer to the very large group of men, women and children who live on the "luxury" of minimum wage taking care of the kids, lawns, houses and restaurant tables in this city. The people that we don't see, but can't function without, are just that, people. They work hard to feed their families and struggle to give their children a better life than they had with as much dignity as "we" allow them. End of rant.
Watching and listening to the kids who walked out of their classrooms in protest saying that they were inspired by the film WALKOUT (that is currently airing on HBO) I couldn't help but think about the influence of art, especially film, on life and culture and vice versa. Filmmakers have often been the ones to sound the horn on issues that the people who could actually make real change were afraid or couldn't be bothered to. George Clooney may have had a point. Did people see black maids differently when Hattie McDaniel won her Oscar in 1939? Did they look at Vietnam from a different point of view when they saw Apocalypse Now or think about how AIDS can happen to "them" because Tom Hanks portrayed a lawyer with it and won an Oscar? I would like to think so but I am not sure. All I know is that a temporary spotlight is better than no light at all.
One of my favorite filmmakers of all time, British director Ken Loach, has made a career of making films that put a spotlight on the plight of the oppressed. A social realist who is always concerned with the essential truth of the matter at hand rather than what surrounds it, Loach has always forced his audience to not only look inside the world of outsiders but to live in it. Early films like KES, LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD, and RIFF RAFF focused on the plight of the poor and disenfranchised within British society. Later work, like CARLA'S SONG, BREAD AND ROSES and AE FOND KISS looked at the many issues that face immigrants, like finding a job, keeping a job and what happens when you step outside of what is expected of you. Ironically, BREAD AND ROSES, about immigrants who become union organizers in Los Angeles is the only film by Loach made in the US and starring a very well known actor, Adrien Brody.
I am not sure if any of Loach's films have made a difference legislatively. I do know that they most certainly have made a difference in the way that I think about what it means to be an outsider and how I as an insider can help make positive change.
Keeping it indie,
Julie
PS: Most of Ken Loach's films are available on DVD. Check one or two out and let me know what you think.
Watching and listening to the kids who walked out of their classrooms in protest saying that they were inspired by the film WALKOUT (that is currently airing on HBO) I couldn't help but think about the influence of art, especially film, on life and culture and vice versa. Filmmakers have often been the ones to sound the horn on issues that the people who could actually make real change were afraid or couldn't be bothered to. George Clooney may have had a point. Did people see black maids differently when Hattie McDaniel won her Oscar in 1939? Did they look at Vietnam from a different point of view when they saw Apocalypse Now or think about how AIDS can happen to "them" because Tom Hanks portrayed a lawyer with it and won an Oscar? I would like to think so but I am not sure. All I know is that a temporary spotlight is better than no light at all.
One of my favorite filmmakers of all time, British director Ken Loach, has made a career of making films that put a spotlight on the plight of the oppressed. A social realist who is always concerned with the essential truth of the matter at hand rather than what surrounds it, Loach has always forced his audience to not only look inside the world of outsiders but to live in it. Early films like KES, LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD, and RIFF RAFF focused on the plight of the poor and disenfranchised within British society. Later work, like CARLA'S SONG, BREAD AND ROSES and AE FOND KISS looked at the many issues that face immigrants, like finding a job, keeping a job and what happens when you step outside of what is expected of you. Ironically, BREAD AND ROSES, about immigrants who become union organizers in Los Angeles is the only film by Loach made in the US and starring a very well known actor, Adrien Brody.
I am not sure if any of Loach's films have made a difference legislatively. I do know that they most certainly have made a difference in the way that I think about what it means to be an outsider and how I as an insider can help make positive change.
Keeping it indie,
Julie
PS: Most of Ken Loach's films are available on DVD. Check one or two out and let me know what you think.
posted by indieIN | 5:57 PM
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