The other afternoon (Saturday to be more exact, drowsy after a quick visit at the dentist) was yet another Netflix afternoon.
Thank God I made it so because I watched a hell of a good documentary, "Commune".
"Commune" is a documentary about communal living in Northern Cali in the 60s (Black Bear Commune to be exact). Isolated at the end of a 9 miles dirt road, these folks purchased a land and cabin for $22,000 back in early to mid 60s that could host about 20 people.
Banging on doors of rock artists to ask them for money ("they made a hell lot of money after our movement, we deserved to ask for a share of it"), not in a violent way, they had a good amount of people living in their ranch.
I'm not going to summarize the documentary here, it's interesting and you should watch it (for free).
This documentary made me think about the 60s. As most of you know I have always shown a keen interest in the 60s pop culture. I have seen a plethora of movies, fiction or not, that took place in the 1960s, read a good number of books, listened to almost every artist, written essays (heard "open topic"?), listened to radio shows etc. Yes, academically one can say I am well versed on the period. I sure could learn more.
However I never could point out what drove this interest. Hippies bug me to be honest. I am economically on the right wing, socially on the left. I believe that taxes are a good thing (even though I complain about paying them too much) but I hate how the money is misused. I drink coffee that's not fair trade and I don't eat organic, simply because I can't afford it. I wish I could work in an industry that saved the world but I have to pay the bills. I never rebelled against stupid rules, or at least not publicly but will be a very loud mouth if you prevent me from doing something I believe I should have the right to do. I like putting on clean clothes, getting a haircut and I don't fancy walking around in the woods with no clothes on. I am not impressed by these communities, I don't understand what they are trying to achieve when they live like this and I would never do the same. Maybe I'd try, but it would not be for the same reason as they did, it would probably be for the idea of living simply, something I wish I knew how to do. I don't see how people living in communes, smoking tremendous amounts of pot, having more kids they can provide for, playing music all day and - most importantly - being only amongst themselves, could have helped change the world they pretended they hated so much.
I am not saying it's not cool to live in a commune. Sure, for some people it is and I can see that. But I think many did so for the wrong reasons. You don't expel yourself from the society and pretend you're doing so to help the world and you wish politicians were less selfish. Because by doing so, you are the most selfish bastard ever.
However I liked this documentary. I liked it because it made me realize that yes indeed, hippies are not the reasons why I like the 60s. What I like about the 60s are the changes they brought. And changes arrived not thanks to people moving to secluded areas and living by themselves. Change happened through the ones who spoke up, who acted - violently or not - and forced change onto the people who had the power to change.
I like the 60s because I am passionate with people who are trying to change things (for the good reasons, but what does that mean?) and that's what the 60s were full of. That's also why I like rock'n'roll.
Think about it. A time where TV invaded peoples' homes, where news of the world were rapidly available to the widest and where a good portion of the population was young, wild and maybe stupid (read "in their late teens, early 20s") but mostly because they were commonly tired of living by the rules imposed by their parents' generation and that were truly outdated. Take the age of rebellion "by definition" and mix it with unseen before awareness of the world, add it a salt of highly charismatic and slightly older people who had the power to put their thoughts into action. That's what the 60s were and the good things it brought to this world were not the pot you grew outside of your cabin in the middle of the woods.
Long story short, watch the documentary, it's worth it. And recommend me more books to read.
Posted via email from Jay Gee
