http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/detroitcityhallinsider/index.php
Category: Life in Detroit Posted by Joel Kurth (The Detroit News) on Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 3:00 PM Brits tune to telly for look at Detroit's 'dytopia' Call it ruin porn or decay worship, but the Euro fascination with Detroit continued Saturday with the debut of director Julien Temple's documentary, 'Requiem for Detroit?' on BBC2. Aging hipsters no doubt recall Temple from numerous documentaries of the Sex Pistols, Joe Strummer, music videos for Whitney Houston and David Bowie and forays into Hollywood including "Earth Girls Are Easy." The movie isn't yet available in the states, but judging by the few clips that have trickled out on YouTube and elsewhere, it looks like a familiar tale: Bloody 'ell. The city that invented the working class sure is dodgy, all right? The film is getting good buzz on the Internet, but Temple may not have done himself any favors with an op-ed last week in The Guardian that the Independent Film Channel dismissed as 'shockingly naive.'. The piece reveals that Temple didn't know of Detroit's decline until he visited the city and he relies on language that some might consider purple prose: "Detroit is an Alice-like journey into a severely dystopian future. the giant rubber tyre that dwarfs the nonexistent traffic in ironic testament to the busted hubris of Motown's auto-makers, the city's ripped backside begins to glide past outside the windows." Temple draws pat conculsions to complex issues. He blames racial problems on the "greed-fuelled willingness of the auto barons" who "siphoned" black workers and "treat(ed) them like subhuman citizens." Some might quibble with that description, arguing the Great Migration saved African-Americans from economic despair, Jim Crow and the boll weevil and helped create a new middle class. Judging from the article, it's also unclear whether Temple set foot in the Renaissance Center or MGM Grand Casino. If he had, he could have sipped a Venti Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte and avoided this sentence: "People have virtually nowhere to buy fresh produce. Starbucks? Forget it." City Hall and the Census may also take issue with his claim that "The population of Detroit ... is almost two-thirds down on its overall peak in the early 50s. The city .. cannot afford to cut the grass or light its streets, let alone educate or feed its citizens." Really? In fairness, Temple is known as a far better better director than writer, and the early clips indicate the documentary includes a Who's Who of Detroiters, including activist Grace Lee Boggs, Heidelberg Project maestro Tyree Guyton, hippie agitator John Sinclair, Detroityes guru Lowell Boileau and ex-Councilwoman Martha Reeves. Here's a few quick peeks that have emerged online: >From The Detroit News: http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/detroitcityhallinsider/index.php#ixzz0jlzk6dMA _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
