A Soft Segregation?
2006-Mar-7 by Laughcalvin
For those who may have missed Sujewa's post at Self-Reliant Filmmaking or at Filmmaking for the Poor, it deserves to be excerpted here. Sujewa makes an interesting point about the splintering of the rock and indie film scenes that, if integrated, can serve all communities while advancing the goals of DIY Music and Film Distribution:
"One of the weird developments/aspects in liberal independent media/entertainment (both in indie rock & indie film scenes) in America is the kind of soft "racial" segregation that exists there. As far as I can tell, most indie rock shows & indie films, for the moment, draw a predominantly "white" audience while at the same time relatively large non-"white" audiences such as Asian-Americans (tons of Asian American film festivals around, feels like, they certainly made The Debut & Robot Stories successes), African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have created parallel scenes/industries. There are no strong or valuable philosophical justifications for the low level of integration in the liberal independent media scenes. Fuller integration just hasn't been done yet. There are very powerful benefits to developing more integrated scenes: $s (more people, more money), new ideas (or new combinations of ideas resulting from different cultural starting points/group experience starting points), and the wider diffusion of useful & positive ideas (the relatively anti-materialist, pro-D.I.Y. & self-sufficiency, & pro-community activist stances of indie rock & indie film can perhaps be very useful to teens from all backgrounds who may not have those ideas & examples as options in their Hollywood created entertainmentscape). The independent scene in America, in both music & film, stand in relation to the more mainstream scene/industry and is defined to a certain degree by the mainstream industry (Hollywood, basically). We could do the good things that Hollywood is not doing at any given moment. Otherwise being independent may become a relatively useless & redundant thing. That's one good reason for being an independent filmmaker in America: having the ability to do positive things that Hollywood & Indiewood are not doing."
Very well written observation, Sujewa. Pop over and join the discussion.
2006-Mar-7 - Glad those thoughts are being received well Posted by Anonymous
Never know how people will react to the voicing of potentially controversial & very questionable observations, glad you found those thoughts valuable LC. And I am sure some indie scenes in America are more diverse then others. I was basing my positions on observations made in the DC area.
Sujewa
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2006-Mar-7 - Several Factors
Posted by BlogMaster
Well, I think there are several factors involved. One, language and cultural baggage to be sure, but also the cultural asthetic (sic) or the what is "cool to me", hence the term "hipster" which in NYC, DC, LA, CHI, etc. at least, who are folks from a diverse background, a new "tribe" in the Global Village as it were. Regardless, I think it is a noble cause to try to bridge these gaps in the "Class-Bound" Villages with indie art and indie rock.
H-Wood only superficially attempts it and its reasons have more to do with $$$$$ than building bridges and paths.
LC
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2006-Mar-7 - re: checking out the state of the indie scene in America
Posted by Sujewa
As I travel around the country this year I will be able to attend various indie art (film, music, etc.) events & also pay attention to attendance to those events (as far as diversity is concerned) and to my own screenings. And I can talk w/ people, one on one about this & other subjects. That should give me some insight into what can be done, needs to be done. It is cool that various groups have their own festivals, etc. but perhaps there can be events where different groups work together to expose their usual customers to new work, a new scene, etc. All involved will have lots to gain, I think.
Sujewa
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