![]() Penelope Spheeris: I think if I’d been on my own to direct the second film, it would have been a different movie, but it was financed by someone else, so I was getting instructions. Which is really interesting – the sense of ‘DIY’ or anti-capitalist politics seems so absent there compared to the kids in Part III. Penelope Spheeris: Yeah, that one focuses on selling out, definitely. The focus on money is a bit stronger in Part II, compared to Part I and III. “Even though I was older than most of the kids in my movie, it really kind of solidified my identity.to not compromise, not sell out, and not give a shit what other people think” – Penelope Spheeris What it means to me is: to not compromise, not sell out, and not give a shit what other people think. For me, even though I was older than most of the kids in my movie, it really kind of solidified my identity. Early on, in song lyrics, you can see the beginnings of these concepts coming out. there’s so many different areas it touches. To me, it means having a deep sense of values, and integrity and honesty, and treating people equally. Penelope Spheeris: I think what it means to me is different than what it means to most people. People really wanna see it.” Even to this day, she’s trying to convince me to do merchandising – you know, shirts and hats and toilet paper rolls of The Decline of Western Civilization or whatever, but I can’t do it yet for some reason. But she said, “Mom, that’s so ridiculous. I stand by it so solidly that I couldn’t stomach the idea of exploiting the work and trying to make money off of it. I didn’t want to do it, because it went against the punk- rock ethic to me. And I hope I’m able to offer young people a way of understanding what music was like during those decades.īut your daughter had to convince you to release the box set? When I first put it out, everybody was like, “What are you, nuts? Look at these pieces-of-shit people you’re dealing with,” and now it’s in the National Film Registry. ![]() The first Decline was recently inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry. Penelope Spheeris: I was able to film these movements when nobody else was really doing it, and there isn’t much available to be seen, because the technology back then didn’t allow for it. What do you think young people can get from the Decline trilogy? Why is it still valuable? This is a major turn, historically, with popular music.” It wasn’t popular at the time, but I felt an uncontrollable urge to document it. ![]() I had all this equipment sitting around, and when I discovered punk rock, I thought, “This is significant. Penelope Spheeris: I had the first music video company here in Los Angeles in the early ‘70s, doing music videos for record companies. Why did you start making the Decline films? The first film was so controversial and popular when it came out that the Los Angeles Chief of Police wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city.ĭazed spoke with Spheeris about Soundcloud rappers, the importance of home, and the possibility of a fourth Decline. While the first two films spotlight punk and heavy metal artists like Black Flag and Ozzy Osbourne, the third film focuses less on the music and more on the listeners - kids who are quite evidently not alright.ĭisplaying immense ingenuity, empathy, and directorial skill, these films stand as essential documents of key moments in musical history, as vibrant and intriguing today as they were on their release. ![]() ![]() The films (released in 1981, 1988, and 1998) take a look at a range of subcultures that, while differing in many ways, share a love of music, a proclivity for substance abuse, and a habit of shocking anyone old or square. But long before directing the cult comedy, she pioneered the art of the music documentary with her groundbreaking trilogy The Decline of Western Civilization. Penelope Spheeris’ biggest commercial hit, Wayne’s World (1992), gave the world some of the greatest slang and style choices ever committed to celluloid. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |