Would you consider being in my documentary?

[AlexJohnson]

Hello RevLeft, me and others are currently in the planning stages of producing a documentary on the major countercultures of America. For the section on leftist counterculture we would come to you, have you participate in an interview, and perhaps film activities you are involved in.

If anyone would be remotely interested please tell me, and if you have more questions about the production please ask.

[piet11111]

im not an american but i do have qestions.

- how do we know this is not a trap by facists to beat up our comrades ?
- what guarantees do we have that the participating comrades will remain anonymous ?
- who ordered this documentary ?

and probably the most important qestion will we be able to download this documentary from the internet (free of charge) when its done ;)

[rioters bloc]

sounds dodgy.

but i don't live in america anyway so my input is irrelevant :)

[Matty_UK]

Personally I think working on a "documentary" is a bad idea; most televised documentaries of people are just cheap entertainment, and you'll be there to be portrayed as a freakshow to give the American Public what they're comfortable with seeing.

You say you want us for the leftist section; what other "countercultures" are there? Who are we being compared to?

[BattleOfTheCowshed]

Could you give us a bit more information? I think people would like to be clear on what their getting themselves into before they volunteer to do something like this. At the moment it does sound like your documentary will only serve to further portray the Left as marginalized and as some kind of amusing cultural novelty.

[piet11111]

indeed if its just another of those "reality" shows i doubt anyone would bother and rightfully so.

hence my qestion about who ordered this documentary if its say MTV then it should be avoided like the plague.
national geoghraphic is better but it would be best if it was an independant documentary.

if leftists are not represented fairly then its simply a waste of time.
also this
perhaps film activities you are involved in.
sounds a lot like they want to see you going to a protest or something and see how the leftists get beat up by the pigs afterall stuff like that sells.

AlexJohnson should explain his ideas further before anyone can make a fair decission.
especially how they wish to have the participating comrades in this documentary its obvious no leftist should be recognisable in any way.

i have seen to many fights to simply ignore risks my comrades might take if they are not properly informed.

[AlexJohnson]

Okay I'm going to try and answer all the questions, please tell me if I left anything out.

1. This is going to be an entirely independent documentary, upon completion we will try and get it played at various independent/documentary festivals (Sundance, Tribecca, Amnesty International)

2. Before the interview, you will be able to sign a contract that legally guarantees anonymity if you so please.

3. Other counter/subcultures will be the white nationalists, "hippies", homosexuals, fundamentalist christians, new agers, anarchists and possibly more.

4. You will not be shown as a "freakshow". If anything, this film is pro-counterculture. We will have a section of mainstream culture and why people choose to reject it.

5. I myself am a social democrat, which is why the section of leftists is the most important to me.

6. We are not targeting stereotypical leftists, homosexuals, anarchists....we are trying to find intelligent voices for each counter/subculture to they are presented in the most fair and favorable way.

[violencia.Proletariat]

3. Other counter/subcultures will be the white nationalists, "hippies", homosexuals, fundamentalist christians, new agers, anarchists and possibly more.

Just don't interview someone from crimethinc or the like ;)

[BattleOfTheCowshed]

So your movie promotes countercultures but includes White Nationalism and Religious Fundamentalists among those countercultures? :-/

[DrFreeman09]

Originally posted by [email protected] 12 2006, 12:11 AM
So your movie promotes countercultures but includes White Nationalism and Religious Fundamentalists among those countercultures? :-/
In any good documentary, voicing the opposing side's opinion is almost a necessity. If more people did it, their papers/documentaries would be more credible, as giving the other side's view and then shooting it down adds body to the story and makes it more acceptble; e.g. if you want to bash Bush, you can simply say rotten things about him, but to make your arguments really stick, you can take a right-winger's argument and find absolutely everything wrong with it. Then, if you have your facts straight, your opponent has no argument left to counter your own, since you have just shot it down.

Also, it seems as though whenever creates anything new, there is always a horde of people who jump on the opportunity to criticize it before knowing anything about it.

Personally, I will be a little more open-minded and say that I may be interested in helping.

[BattleOfTheCowshed]

I wasnt needlessly criticizing it, I was just asking questions to find out more info.

[AlexJohnson]

Originally posted by [email protected] 12 2006, 12:11 AM
So your movie promotes countercultures but includes White Nationalism and Religious Fundamentalists among those countercultures? :-/
It doesn't necessarily actively promote them, the films purpose is to give people in all cultures a better understanding of people in different cultures from their own.

Nobody will be shown in a good or bad light, our aim is to make is as nonbiased and nonjudgemental as we can.

[Brekisonphilous]

Awesome Idea. I would volunteer, but I feel there are better members on this board that can really present you with what communism really is, and what we at rev. left are all about. To show the audience that all of us far leftists are not just Stalin and Mao.
Do you plan on interviewing both the Libertarian and Authoritative sides?

[AlexJohnson]

Originally posted by [email protected] 12 2006, 02:19 AM
Awesome Idea. I would volunteer, but I feel there are better members on this board that can really present you with what communism really is, and what we at rev. left are all about. To show the audience that all of us far leftists are not just Stalin and Mao.
Do you plan on interviewing both the Libertarian and Authoritative sides?
Concerning the different types of communism, we originally wanted to interview distinct groups for the sake of clarity. But for leftism it's probably only right to interview supporters from some of the different branches. So yes, that's what we will probably end up doing.

[Bored77]

I live in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the more liberal cities in the country and would be glad to welcome you to our town and introduce you to some of my brothers but, I'm afraid all you'll find here is dumb soldiers like myself and 50 year old pot smoking hippies. I think you might have a hard time trying to find any activists doing anything productive or worthwhile around here, but more brains and writers and Im afraid that would make for a terribly boring story.

[The Beat]

Actually, AJ, the problem with the left is just that ........ no organization. You can try ActionLA, or A.N.S.W.E.R., for some organized viewpoints from the left, but when you say, "activists", you leave out the vast majority of the left. Most would be content to take your camera and film their computer monitor, I know I would.

The left today is very akin to the left in, say, 1965. I'm speaking about the US here. There are underground coffee shops, er cybercafes, but that only reunites the locals. The serious grass roots uprising didn't take place until 1968. And no, it wasn't all about the "summer of love," that year. The SDS were popular, there were protests across the country that year, especially during both national conventions, and the subsequent trials were headline news. In 1972, I remember reading a note scrawled in one of the bathroom stalls at college which read, "If you voted for Nixon you can't shit here, because your ass is in the White House."

You might want to think about the riots in France as well from 1968. They were tied to our protests against government interventions.

[coda]

You'd probably find a lot of action and get a lot of good footage and interviews of the left at an FTAA or even an anti-war protest. Most all strands of leftists show up converge there.