Double Feature Picture Show #2
Bonus Reviews with PBS' The Neutral Ground and HBO's Woodstock 99
The Neutral Ground
Fueled by America’s baffling controversial relationship with Confederate monuments meant to glorify shameful moments of American history, The Daily Show team member CJ Hunt saw a moment with The Neutral Ground.
Hunt examines the former POTUS retelling of “both sides” of an issue while analyzing beyond the cursory discourse and straight into why fellow Southerners are incredibly inclined to excuse the root of the Civil War, which was enslavement.
Bitingly funny and sharp, the documentary features the thorny complexity of the detrimental propaganda campaign, known as ‘The Lost Cause,’ which enables the confederate mythology. The Confederacy post-Civil War was more about freedom than the right to enslavement, an egregious and violent whitewashing of America’s revision of colonized history.
“You can’t name another war where the losers get thousands of monuments,” Hunt recently told The Associated Press in an interview promoting the film.
Rationalizing rather than conciliating racism makes sense as to the bipartisan deadlock we’re in politically with state’s rights and patriotism coming into play.
While both sides have significantly affected American lives, “they want these to be publicly visible, and having it adjacent to a courthouse or a statehouse lets you know who’s in charge here,” history professor Karen L. Cox states to Hunt.
Originally intended for a short film in 2015 quickly galvanized into a much bigger and pivotal story. Using New Orleans as its main background, the documentary amplifies the mythos which continue to muddle the hard bittering pills of truths of America’s colonized aggression. The Neutral Ground is a gripping and thought-provoking documentary and a Tribeca standout currently streaming via PBS.
Music Box: Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage
Coinciding with the anniversary of Woodstock 99, HBO will be kicking it off with MUSIC BOX, a collection of documentary films created by Bill Simmons.
Directed by Garret Price (Love, Antosha) and executive produced by Bill Simmons (HBO’s Andre The Giant), Woodstock ‘99 is an in-depth look at the three-day music festival with Generation X in mind.
Set for an echoing of the original, Woodstock 99 promoted a sense of unity and idealism that’d mirror twenty years prior. Except what the promoters like original Woodstock developer Michael Lang didn’t account for would set his romanticized festival legacy ablaze.
I wasn’t old enough, but I was of the age where MTV became my life; thank you, Britney Spears. Not yet musically obliged to take Korn or Rage Against the Machine’s genius or the killer lineup, but I watched all of its incendiary glory through my tv.
Towards the end of the millennium and three months after the earth-shattering Columbine tragedy but before the mass hysteria of Y2K, there was peace, love, and rage with Woodstock 1999. Gearing for a millennial comeback with the modern American youth culture specifically in mind; instead, what took place was a Lord of the Flies three-day free-for-all.
The documentary captures a collective generation of the angst of more than 200,000 to Griffiss decommissioned Air Force base with artists like The Offspring, DMX, Metallica, Bush, Alanis Morrissette, and more. Woodstock 99 refocuses on a cultural moment when the anger of a male demographic electrically jolted perhaps too casually. Over three scorching days of performances and night raves for the club kids, the festival’s logistical structure capsized like the Titanic over its own hasty goals.
MTV in those days was quite polarizing; you were either on the pop sensation side with Britney and Christina Aguilera or on the rock/nu metal with bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit. Heavily catering to the rock n roll until millennials like myself usurped the network from dudes with a zeal for baggy cargo shorts and backward hats with popular culture, otherwise known as the teen dream acts. With an already growing resentment towards MTV for centering around more pop acts, intense heat, lack of adequate sanitation, and access to free drinking water, the crowd agitation hit its boiling point.
In theory, a debased AirForce base seems clever due to secure gating; however, with so much open space and cement, overheating was overlooked. Also, good-in-theory is charging teenagers and young adults $4 for bottled water in 1999 at a music festival on a decommissioned AirForce base during July. Limited access to free water was their second logistical fail that silently ignited a mass chain reaction. Considering the crowd size, and the one “water station” (essentially dunking booth type of tubs) were being used as bathtubs as queues of people await. The main water system broke down due to anger— yet another logistical failure; having the water station by the festival portapotties, causing a filthy body of waste.
Another horrible fail was the little to no security, who were seemingly amongst the concert-goers, the majority of which were male. Few security volunteers followed through with their job requirements. Not to mention the festival’s shortcuts and cost-cutting, which made promoters defensive and reactive. Revisionary history is a hell of a drug, no matter how hard concert promoters like John Scher try to deny responsibility but archives exist here, here, and here.
Inclusion turned into misogyny with no accountability from festival leaders and promoters, aggressively pushing back when the media or volunteers brought rightful concerns to the air. Any progression manifested into repressed anger, the crowd’s frustration channeled itself into rampant destruction that we now recognize as burgeoning white toxic masculinity.
Mostly white male aggressors with antihero chips on their shoulders eclipsed any desire for unity or musical enjoyment; seriously, that lineup should’ve been the only kindling. What was supposed to reflect the previous ideal Baby Boomer festival of the OG turned into utter chaos, complete with mud and human waste; riots, looting, and a harrowing amount of reported sexual assaults took place. Contrarily, this wasn’t every festival attendee’s experience; many were unscathed and recalled having a great time. The documentary reassesses both accounts while centering on the romanticized mythos of blinded nostalgia during a surge of excessive commercialism marketed at youth culture.
Music Box: Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage debuts this Friday, July 23rd, on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max; it’s a can’t miss pop culture retrospect.
Notably missing from the documentary was this wholesome moment; wait for it, it won’t disappoint.
It’s another bonus Youthquake edition; this week, we’ve got plenty to stay busy. Look out for our upcoming spoiler-free review of Apple Tv+’s Ted Lasso and Mr. Corman, both coming soon. Also, we’ll have our review of the fantastic Swan Song via Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing starring Udo Kier, Michael Urie, and Jennifer Coolidge very soon. Get into it below.