Eyes on the Prize
Mar. 6th, 2005 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clayhornikToday on Sunday Edition on CBC they did a look back at the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama.
I feel a little guilty saying this, but being inherently entrenched in my status as 'oppressor', the Civil Rights marches were always "history" to me, not History. Events, names, places, dates... they were just facts.
Listening to the primary source material, there's a weight that sort of hits you. That's History. And the one thing I've learned in my old age, is that History is about People. Yes, you've got MLK's in History, but they're blips on the radar screen, the spots, the high points... The march on Washington is remarkable for MLK's presence, yes, but moreso for the People he was speaking to. They are History.
I suppose.
I mean, I'm oppressor boy, so I've viewing all this through my white middle class hindsight contact lenses.
(side note- It's kind of scary that there was no mention of Bloody Sunday on NPR today. Maybe they're saving it for the anniversary day, March 7th, tomorrow. But... it's SUNDAY. You'd think it would get some kind of mention. I had to get it from CBC.)
--
I feel the fool... when "Eyes of the Prize" first aired, I watched it, in bits and pieces, but the impact of the work didn't really hit me, in my youth. Now that I'm older, I wish I'd paid more attention. Now, it's too late. Because Eyes on the Prize was a documentary, a mosaic built upon multilpe sources of footage, there are multiple rights clearences needed. Like singing "Happy Birthday" to MLK- "Happy Birthday" is under copyright. To renew these clearences would be prohibitive. Effectively, one of the most important documentarys in recent history has been removed from the landscape. Sure, there are copies of the video tape in libraries and school, but not enough. VHS is a dinosaur media anyway... Eyes on the Prize needs to be available on DVD, but that ain't happening either.
Now I'm in one of my moral quandries: Knowing the creative people I do, I'm all for copyright protection, but the best way to circulate Eyes on the Prize these days is in the P2P filesharing underground.
So if I want my nephews to see Eyes on the Prize, I have to break copyright law.
Life was easier when I wore blinders.
(Holy crap... The six tape boxed set of Eyes on the Prize is available on amazon.com... the least expensive edition is over five hundred dollars.)
I feel a little guilty saying this, but being inherently entrenched in my status as 'oppressor', the Civil Rights marches were always "history" to me, not History. Events, names, places, dates... they were just facts.
Listening to the primary source material, there's a weight that sort of hits you. That's History. And the one thing I've learned in my old age, is that History is about People. Yes, you've got MLK's in History, but they're blips on the radar screen, the spots, the high points... The march on Washington is remarkable for MLK's presence, yes, but moreso for the People he was speaking to. They are History.
I suppose.
I mean, I'm oppressor boy, so I've viewing all this through my white middle class hindsight contact lenses.
(side note- It's kind of scary that there was no mention of Bloody Sunday on NPR today. Maybe they're saving it for the anniversary day, March 7th, tomorrow. But... it's SUNDAY. You'd think it would get some kind of mention. I had to get it from CBC.)
--
I feel the fool... when "Eyes of the Prize" first aired, I watched it, in bits and pieces, but the impact of the work didn't really hit me, in my youth. Now that I'm older, I wish I'd paid more attention. Now, it's too late. Because Eyes on the Prize was a documentary, a mosaic built upon multilpe sources of footage, there are multiple rights clearences needed. Like singing "Happy Birthday" to MLK- "Happy Birthday" is under copyright. To renew these clearences would be prohibitive. Effectively, one of the most important documentarys in recent history has been removed from the landscape. Sure, there are copies of the video tape in libraries and school, but not enough. VHS is a dinosaur media anyway... Eyes on the Prize needs to be available on DVD, but that ain't happening either.
Now I'm in one of my moral quandries: Knowing the creative people I do, I'm all for copyright protection, but the best way to circulate Eyes on the Prize these days is in the P2P filesharing underground.
So if I want my nephews to see Eyes on the Prize, I have to break copyright law.
Life was easier when I wore blinders.
(Holy crap... The six tape boxed set of Eyes on the Prize is available on amazon.com... the least expensive edition is over five hundred dollars.)
