The Mayor
Our little battles within the RRC website need to be viewed with a grain of salt as many have said. Its the long term affect outside in the overall climbing circles that matter. I realize that there is a f#@% them if they can't take a joke attitude that seems to be the in thing now. And "its just how I am" gets a bit old (like me) after a while. In the end 99% of the climbers I get a chance to hang out with are some of the best people on earth. I can avoid the other 1%
Personally I thought that the sumo wrestler climbing was freaking hilarious. I wonder how "real" sumo wrestlers and their families would feel about that though! Would they be offended? 
Oh yeah Rizzo, I have 2 weeks left on my "deal" for the hangers. It should be a piece of cake since I'm such a nice guy and all...
Oh yeah Rizzo, I have 2 weeks left on my "deal" for the hangers. It should be a piece of cake since I'm such a nice guy and all...
"Those iron spikes you use have shortened the life expectancy of the Totem Pole by 50,000 years."
--A Navaho elder
--A Navaho elder
I laughed my arse off at the Sumo dude and also the slack line falls, firecrackers, assault weapons.....
I watched the video in Bills' "shack".
Darlenes son Jimmy brought it up along with his DVD player.
Darlene runs C&S Carry-out and everyone was excited to see the footage of Donny.
Couldn't really read her reaction as far as a local reacting to footage of other locals, but I can say I think she really liked the exposure it gave her store.
I think if you think too much about something you end up thinking it to death...it's a video made for people to enjoy.
If you don't like it, don't watch it and then you can just get 'yer panties in a wad over the next thing that comes down the pike.
I watched the video in Bills' "shack".
Darlenes son Jimmy brought it up along with his DVD player.
Darlene runs C&S Carry-out and everyone was excited to see the footage of Donny.
Couldn't really read her reaction as far as a local reacting to footage of other locals, but I can say I think she really liked the exposure it gave her store.
I think if you think too much about something you end up thinking it to death...it's a video made for people to enjoy.
If you don't like it, don't watch it and then you can just get 'yer panties in a wad over the next thing that comes down the pike.
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TheWenisPrinkle
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 9:29 pm
Did anyone who is pissed about the portrayal of the mayor, as a stooge, whipping boy and\or rural prop, actually talked to the mayor before his passing? Go up see if he could use a hand maybe a twenty, so what if he doesn't spend it on "lifes necessaties" ( maybe in his life you need a 12 pack and a pint to get through the day) hell that twenty wont even top off your SUV, so why not.
Or was it more like you pointed him out " Hey check out the mayor of Slade." as you drove your friends who had never been to the red before up to Military, or you yelled "Whats up mayor." as you were filling up your belly and your tank at the Shell before heading back to comfy suburbia.
Your desire to save all us hillbillies from a stereotype on a movie who will be seen by fewer people than there were extras on the set of Deliverance, would be better spend helping some soul who is down trodden that you drive by everday on your way to the office not crying on the net about whether or not Spencer did a grave injustice to eastern Ky good name. Not that the other side did anything to help but at least they are consistence with there actions.
As for Spencers intent at the time of the interview or now after the mayors death only he can answer that. But common sence tells us that a two min interview on a climbing video in the AADD world of climbing had better be funny (see mullet man on The Sessions DVD), or a legend talking about the raddest climber on the raddest climb/problem in the world this instant (see any other video ever made). Hind sight is twenty twenty. Knowing now what we all know it was probably a bad idea.
People are always ultimatly responsable for themselves and there actions. The mayor may very well have been used to make a few cheap laughts. But the video only captured what was there to be captured. He made the choice to be "interviewed" for the video as did the beer trailer guy. I cant speculate on why he made that choice.
Thats my take if you dont like it hit me, just dont make me look silly on a video.
Or was it more like you pointed him out " Hey check out the mayor of Slade." as you drove your friends who had never been to the red before up to Military, or you yelled "Whats up mayor." as you were filling up your belly and your tank at the Shell before heading back to comfy suburbia.
Your desire to save all us hillbillies from a stereotype on a movie who will be seen by fewer people than there were extras on the set of Deliverance, would be better spend helping some soul who is down trodden that you drive by everday on your way to the office not crying on the net about whether or not Spencer did a grave injustice to eastern Ky good name. Not that the other side did anything to help but at least they are consistence with there actions.
As for Spencers intent at the time of the interview or now after the mayors death only he can answer that. But common sence tells us that a two min interview on a climbing video in the AADD world of climbing had better be funny (see mullet man on The Sessions DVD), or a legend talking about the raddest climber on the raddest climb/problem in the world this instant (see any other video ever made). Hind sight is twenty twenty. Knowing now what we all know it was probably a bad idea.
People are always ultimatly responsable for themselves and there actions. The mayor may very well have been used to make a few cheap laughts. But the video only captured what was there to be captured. He made the choice to be "interviewed" for the video as did the beer trailer guy. I cant speculate on why he made that choice.
Thats my take if you dont like it hit me, just dont make me look silly on a video.
The act of kicking a dog contains a certain amount of therapeutic value....
Sumo does have a long tradition and is taken very, very seriously by a lot of people - but I'm pretty sure that sumo-folks are a lot more annoyed with the use of really bad fake sumo wrestlers in crap like commercials.J-Rock wrote:Personally I thought that the sumo wrestler climbing was freaking hilarious. I wonder how "real" sumo wrestlers and their families would feel about that though! Would they be offended?
Cut to Ad agency offices: "Hey! Those fat-assed Sumo dudes are funny! So, we need a fat Asian guy - that Polynesian guy doesn't look Japanese, but we'll use him! Hmmm... the real Sumo loin cloth is too revealing, let's use a big diaper instead!" And on and on, as the Ad producers reveal just how ignorant they are of Sumo and how they are too lazy to find anything out about it. I'd bet that that sort of crap pisses off Sumo people a lot more than something as silly as what I'm imagining the video is like.
Here's another factor in the Mayor/video debate, and I guess that more-or-less local folks would be the ones who would need to tell me if I'm on to something. Within any group, there are the straight-laced, making something of themselves types, and then there are the screwing around types. Within Irish-American culture (partially mine) there used to be a huge split between the 'education sobriety and hard work' camp and the 'get drunk and fight/alergic to work' camp. More recently, Chris Rock has updated this exact issue for African Americans. Is there a factor that the Mayor could be seen by some people from the region to be seen as a 'bad example' of locals? If so, I would imagine that an outsider featuring him in a video would make them unhappy or uncomfortable - with the idea that he (the Mayor) is presenting the undesireable side of the community. Am I right in understanding that the Mayor was just fine saying that he was drunk most of the time?
A paralell would be the way that many black Americans today dislike the early 20th century black American artists who put on blackface and did mistrel-type performances for white audiences. They were buying into the the stereotypes that others had of them, and rather than fighting them, just played them up. Is this sort of thing a factor in people's reactions to the video?
Bacon is meat candy.
WHAT!?! And deny all that juicy, delicious moral outrage and righteous indignation? You, are no fun at all, Jeff!Jeff wrote:I think if you think too much about something you end up thinking it to death...it's a video made for people to enjoy.
If you don't like it, don't watch it and then you can just get 'yer panties in a wad over the next thing that comes down the pike.
ZSpider
How many climbers have given much thought the poverty in the counties in which we climb or the social causes of the poverty and the problems that it exacerbates? As climbers, we are largely not local to the counties in which we climb (how many of us call Lee, Powell and Wolfe counties home?) and we need to be respectful of how we portray the area in print, film, etc.
While it may seem fun/campy to liken locals to the "Beverly Hillbillies", what message does that send to local residents who watch the film? It might say “we’re outsiders, and we’re completely ignorant/blind to the oppression that has plagued the Central Appalachian region and we don’t give a damn because it sells videos" or it might just say "hell yeah, that kid got the Mayor on tape!"
I think that the footage was clearly making fun of Mr. Tucker - why else would anyone ask "what qualities do you look for in a woman?" - explain to me how that is relevant to a climbing video. Yes, The Mayor was, in his own way, an icon that many climbers knew/recognized, but he didn't need to be treated like a comic interlude in the film. Too many films - from major cinema to documentary - are attracted to the "romantic" notion of appalachian poverty - cameras drawn to barefoot, dirty children (geez, come to my house, i've got a barefoot dirty child most days...) and I can find you a house with a 'fridge on the front porch or a beat up truck in the front yard... but why focus on these stereotypes of southern poverty when the region is rich with really amazing culture, people, etc. Weber's post captures this.
As you drive through Nada do you laugh? Do you think that the housing is colorful and adds to the local flavor of the Red? Or do you wonder how it must feel to live in substandard housing and poverty? Do you assume that you know why such inequality exists in our society? Generally, we're too busy making a tick list and thinking about the day's adventures. I'm guilty of it too.
I don't profess to have the "correct" opinion on the matter - we are all entitled to our opinions - I just hope that the thread gives people pause. The discussion that it has generated is all very interesting/thoughtful.
While it may seem fun/campy to liken locals to the "Beverly Hillbillies", what message does that send to local residents who watch the film? It might say “we’re outsiders, and we’re completely ignorant/blind to the oppression that has plagued the Central Appalachian region and we don’t give a damn because it sells videos" or it might just say "hell yeah, that kid got the Mayor on tape!"
I think that the footage was clearly making fun of Mr. Tucker - why else would anyone ask "what qualities do you look for in a woman?" - explain to me how that is relevant to a climbing video. Yes, The Mayor was, in his own way, an icon that many climbers knew/recognized, but he didn't need to be treated like a comic interlude in the film. Too many films - from major cinema to documentary - are attracted to the "romantic" notion of appalachian poverty - cameras drawn to barefoot, dirty children (geez, come to my house, i've got a barefoot dirty child most days...) and I can find you a house with a 'fridge on the front porch or a beat up truck in the front yard... but why focus on these stereotypes of southern poverty when the region is rich with really amazing culture, people, etc. Weber's post captures this.
As you drive through Nada do you laugh? Do you think that the housing is colorful and adds to the local flavor of the Red? Or do you wonder how it must feel to live in substandard housing and poverty? Do you assume that you know why such inequality exists in our society? Generally, we're too busy making a tick list and thinking about the day's adventures. I'm guilty of it too.
I don't profess to have the "correct" opinion on the matter - we are all entitled to our opinions - I just hope that the thread gives people pause. The discussion that it has generated is all very interesting/thoughtful.