no thread for "country boys"?

xpost.

It's been pretty good. That school of their's sucks though.

i disagree, i think cody's kind of interesting, if only because he exemplifies how different things are culturally now, and how sophisticated even "country" kids can be. i mean, when i was growing up in louisville - aka kentucky's "big city" - in the 1990s, you'd get a lot of shit for not even dressing up as outlandishly as cody does. and that he could just go into town and get his nipples pierced - man, prestonsburg has changed!

unfortunately, i think that school is probably one of the better ones in appalachia.

The school was pretty depressing, though the principal seemed ok (maybe because we don't see her teaching).

My rural Letcher County-raised buddy wasn't hugely impressed by what he saw Monday... something about playing into "poor and stupid" stereotypes.

As an alternative type school for kids like that it really does them an inservice. Those kids need more structure in their lives, not less.

I don't think the movie perpetuates "poor & stupid" stereotypes about rural Kentucky people. If anything it shows that there's a lot of complexity to these people.

I guess there are some interesting aspects of Cody - but I just get the feeling that he's relatively well-adjusted and stable compared to Chris. With the murder/suicide in his family background, I wouldn't doubt that the filmmakers were expecting some emotional pyrotechnics when they selected him as one of their subjects, but it seems like he manages to cope pretty well. Perhaps the contrast with Chris's situation contains some lessons about family life - ie., maybe it's better for your societal adjustment if your crazy dad kills himself and gets out of the picture, than if he sticks around and drinks himself through your childhood.

-They didn't really have grades (more than once the kids said they didn't know what grade they were in)

-Calling teachers by first-name

-random graduations

-the complete lack of adult direction in activities. Chris had no good role models at home for competant leadership how could they expect him to pull off stuff like starting a newspaper or choir? He needed more support with that stuff but instead was set up for failure.

More on the David School here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/readings/greene.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/countryboys/

Overall it's a little slow-moving for me but good. I really identified with a lot of the smalltown life. Her favorite highlights are similar to mine.

I cried when they showed Chris graduating in the previews for part 3.

I'm kind of heartbroken that Chris didn't make it to college though. His narration throughout was just so amazing. Just makes me really sad.

But those were both such good kids. I wish them both lots of luck in life. I feel like I know them!

not sure how the school could be called into question given, at least in chris's case, public schools completely failed him. there's one point where he's going over his progress in part 2 with the principal, and she talks about how he came in to the david school at a 3rd grade reading level, and at that point had progressed to a 12th grade level. that's clearly a success.

but yes, it seemed like there was a lot more going on later.

what's the deal with college for Chris?

Upthread I mentioned how I read on PBS's site about how most of the teachers were volunteers - this would explain the horrible, misinformed lessons we were shown.

NB, I only saw the tail end of part 3 last night.

that was one class session of an entire semester. and in an appalachian studies class, no less. i mean, unless you really think people in that region of the country have been and continue to be potrayed accurately and fairly...

and anyway a show that consisted of like these dudes sitting all day in classes would be fucking boring tv, even if the teachers were great.

Chris definitely benefited at that school but I say he would have gone even farther in a school that had more structure.

that school is probably the best place to go for miles and miles around, i'd bet.

Many of those kids won't do what he did (which is probably why they weren't subjects of the film.) I mean there was a smoking section at school, for underaged kids for crissakes!

kentucky has either the 1st or 2nd highest smoking rate per capita in the nation and is a big tobacco growing state. it was "controversial" that, during my freshman year at a private elite school in louisville, the student smoking section was eliminated.

Upthread I mentioned how I read on PBS's site about how most of the teachers were volunteers - this would explain the horrible, misinformed lessons we were shown.

i don't think we're shown enough actual lessons to tell. there's the appalachian studies class, and a few science classes (that teacher seems horrible, i'll grant you that). but per above, i think a film of the dudes sitting in class all day would be fucking boring. maybe there's other teachers there that were good, it's difficult to know.

I would like to see a "country girls."

definitely.

and the only they showed in the first hour

and in an appalachian studies class, no less.

but, how is share your personal experience part of 'appalachian studies'?

i still think about these kids sometimes, namely chris (the one who didn't have the band and tried to start the newspaper)
this article is the only thing i can find about him http://www.ket.org/kentucky/countryboys_chris.htm

he reminds me so much of someone who would turn up in one of my classes :-/

this is one of my favorite documentaries ever. saw all of it in a week or two, the first week or two i ever had netflix i think. though i can only recall non-school scenes now for some reason - cody and his girlfriend's dad the country singer, chris hanging around outside the doublewide smoking cigarettes in the snow. want to say i remember chris working at a taco bell too, did this happen?

has anyone seen "the farmer's wife," david sutherland's other major documentary? i put it on my queue after liking country boys so much, but i think i let it fall off. just seemed like it might be irredeemably bleak, and kinda boring too.

i haven't, but if it's anywhere as good as country boys, i bet it's not boring at all.

listen to this --

after posting about CB, i went to class yesterday and did my usual chapter on s/v agreement. in the textbook there was an exercise practicing compound subjects with and/or and one of the sentences talks about this movie and uses Chris and Cody as the compound subject.

weird,eh?

Sutherland's new one was recently on Frontline/Independent Lens -- Kind Hearted Woman
Just watching it now, looks super intense, but excellent. As usual.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kind-hearted-woman/

^^ you can watch it streaming there

this movie is extremely difficult to watch, but intimate and personal and respectful at the same time. i had to pause while she was talking to her kids about living with their dad, and when she was talking to her daughter especially. LOVED the scene with the college admissions woman -- i have heard that conversation so many times and it's just an everyday experience to talk to adults about why they want to go back to school, but it struck me that most people are not privy to hearing this conversation so it's valuable for them to have an opportunity to hear it. her brother was also quite a character. i loved watching the different way she talked to him.

anyway, highly recommended but WARNING: THIS MOVIE WILL SQUASH YOUR HEART. maybe i can finish it today.

the audiocast/podcast is available now -- recommended if you like listening to difficult and very personal family conversations

also you can watch parts 1 and 2 in their entirety here
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kind-hearted-woman/

i'm just going to keep posting that link over and over, once every few weeks

hey i'm back! my students are doing their final project on a frontline doc again, and one of them was having trouble choosing because everything seemed so dense and depressing. then she found Kind Hearted Woman and was like "THIS this is the one for me!" I warned her that it was 5 hours long and she said "I guess I'll just have to make time to watch it then." Excellent choice, student!

I wonder what Sutherland is up to these days?

i warned her about the length after praising her selection, obviously