Woodstock: Normal People?
In the Woodstock documentary it was surprising how the audience was portrayed. From far an image of hedonistic white male youths bent on anarchy that is frequently linked to rock and roll they were a mix of ages, races and temperaments. There was normal teenage behavior mixed in with all the talk of love and revolution.
As Walley said, the movement gathered together a broad spectrum of racial, gender and social different people (55). There were males, females, blacks, whites, wealthy and poor all converged in one great mass.
The scenes in the film where the kids were all lined up and calling home really stuck out. It was surprising to see both that they were young enough that a call home was appropriate and that they still observed this traditional subservience to their elders. It was a matter of respect even when they mockingly complained of their parents concerns. They were acknowledging that there was danger in large crowds but reassuring their parents of their safety.
I also found it very refreshing that they included some footage of people wanting to leave. From the male trying to get out of the gridlock to work on time the next morning to the girl freaking out about the large crowds and lack of food, it was good to see that not everyone was blindly submissive to the peace, love and happiness ethos pushed on the crowd. It was surprising to see how quickly the crowd would correct anyone that tried to complain about the lack of food or the rain and mud. Everyone surrounding would point out how important it was that it was happening and what a great time they were having, which I would not expect to see today.
Nyssa Shawstad
Works Cited
Walley, David. “Blame it on the 60’s” in Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Music and
Politics in the Post-Elvis Age (Routledge, 2006) pp. 39-67