Just because
As I woke up this morning, I was thinking about why we do things. As reenactors, we often justify buying or making some neat new thing, going to a particularly distant event, or even being in the hobby at all because it is "educational", because it "serves the public by teaching them about our nation's heritage" etc etc.
Why don't we just admit to ourselves that we do it because it is fun? Of better yet, "just because". For some reason we feel the need to make an excuse to do something just for the fun of it these days.
Remember George Mallory's famous reason for climbing Mt. Everest? He said he did it "Because it is there". Good enough reason for him, it should be good enough for us too.
I think this need to justify things is fairly new to Americans. It came along in my lifetime. Maybe the hippies of the 60's and 70's poisoned our minds with some kind of guilt trip about having the prosperity to spend thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on stuff like reenacting when there are folks in other parts of the world that are starving. Remember the cliche' line: "Eat your vegetables, people are starving in India and they'd love to have your vegetables, so don't waste them"?
OK, so reenacting dollars feed many people in India who make muskets, bayonets, swords, buttons, buckles, embroidered miter caps, leather gear etc etc, but you get the picture. I'm talking about the cliches' about starving 3rd world folks here, and when most of us were kids it was starvation in India that made the news.
Remember the classic car movie "Vanishing Point"? In the 1971 version of the movie, the hero (Barry Newman) is delivering a supercharged Dodge Challenger from the custom shop in Colorado to San Francisco to deliver it. He makes a bet with some dude that he can make the trip in 15 hours. If you haven't seen the movie, shame on you, it's classic Americana. So as not to give away the ending, all I'll say here is that there are some cool car chases and an interesting look at the counter-culture of the era. The hero is on a quest to make the run in 15 hours to see if he can. No bigger reason, no real justification. He was a mysterious person and we are left to speculate his motives with the exception of some flashback scenes. I could go on for hours about the symbolism in this movie, but it would get away from the point I'm trying to make.
Jump ahead to 1997. 20th Century Fox did a remake of it. In a single generation, the classic car flick had been emasculated. The hero had been tamed and now had to have a reason to drive the Challenger so fast. Now he has to get home to his wife who has lupus and is going into labor. This time the hero is an ex-Army Ranger and retired race car driver. Apparantly, the studio felt we wouldn't accept a hero who did the driving to prove something to himself, or "just because it is there".
I wonder if any of the classic car movies would make it today? Or better yet, the must-see Easy Rider? "Gone in 60 Seconds" was remade a few years ago, in a similarly emasculated way as Vanishing Point. In the remake, the gang of car thieves who starred in the original movie (not to glamorize car thieves here, I'm talking about MOVIES) are forced into coming out of retirement to steal a list of cars in order to ransom the ringleader's little brother from a "real" bad guy. Even car thieves need to justify their actions in today's Hollywood! In the name of political correctness, they also added a woman and "good guy" car theives of various ethnic backgrounds.
In Easy Rider, the heros are a pair of bikers who saddle up and go to New Orleans for Madi Gras. Again, without leaking too much of the plot, they have run-ins with the law, rednecks, hippies, and various representatives of Americana along the way. Again, i could go on for hours about the symoblism. I bet if it were to be remade today, the biker duo would have to have some bigger purpose in the trip than just to go to Madi Gras. They'd have to have a female companion and be multicultural as well.
Sometimes I get worried that the need to only act when it is justified has gotten it's claws into me. Once upon a time, I would drive to Maine for breakfast because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Once upon a time I had tried to set up an illegal 500-mile road race from Massachusetts to Washington DC (everyone else backed out, so I guess I won by default). These days my "just because" habits involve collecting stuff, which can actually be justified as "investing" as pretty much all of the stuff I collect appreciates in value in time.
It's quarter past one in the morning, I just finished up setting up a few muskets for Michael W. in Australia, and I suppose I'll settle down for dinner soon. Maybe tonight I'll think up some whacked-out new idea that I'll set out to do "just because". Maybe it won't be driving a supercharged hemi Challenger from Colorado to Frisco, but the spirit will be there!
Or maybe I'll just go watch Vanishing Point on VHS while I eat dinner...
Why don't we just admit to ourselves that we do it because it is fun? Of better yet, "just because". For some reason we feel the need to make an excuse to do something just for the fun of it these days.
Remember George Mallory's famous reason for climbing Mt. Everest? He said he did it "Because it is there". Good enough reason for him, it should be good enough for us too.
I think this need to justify things is fairly new to Americans. It came along in my lifetime. Maybe the hippies of the 60's and 70's poisoned our minds with some kind of guilt trip about having the prosperity to spend thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on stuff like reenacting when there are folks in other parts of the world that are starving. Remember the cliche' line: "Eat your vegetables, people are starving in India and they'd love to have your vegetables, so don't waste them"?
OK, so reenacting dollars feed many people in India who make muskets, bayonets, swords, buttons, buckles, embroidered miter caps, leather gear etc etc, but you get the picture. I'm talking about the cliches' about starving 3rd world folks here, and when most of us were kids it was starvation in India that made the news.
Remember the classic car movie "Vanishing Point"? In the 1971 version of the movie, the hero (Barry Newman) is delivering a supercharged Dodge Challenger from the custom shop in Colorado to San Francisco to deliver it. He makes a bet with some dude that he can make the trip in 15 hours. If you haven't seen the movie, shame on you, it's classic Americana. So as not to give away the ending, all I'll say here is that there are some cool car chases and an interesting look at the counter-culture of the era. The hero is on a quest to make the run in 15 hours to see if he can. No bigger reason, no real justification. He was a mysterious person and we are left to speculate his motives with the exception of some flashback scenes. I could go on for hours about the symbolism in this movie, but it would get away from the point I'm trying to make.
Jump ahead to 1997. 20th Century Fox did a remake of it. In a single generation, the classic car flick had been emasculated. The hero had been tamed and now had to have a reason to drive the Challenger so fast. Now he has to get home to his wife who has lupus and is going into labor. This time the hero is an ex-Army Ranger and retired race car driver. Apparantly, the studio felt we wouldn't accept a hero who did the driving to prove something to himself, or "just because it is there".
I wonder if any of the classic car movies would make it today? Or better yet, the must-see Easy Rider? "Gone in 60 Seconds" was remade a few years ago, in a similarly emasculated way as Vanishing Point. In the remake, the gang of car thieves who starred in the original movie (not to glamorize car thieves here, I'm talking about MOVIES) are forced into coming out of retirement to steal a list of cars in order to ransom the ringleader's little brother from a "real" bad guy. Even car thieves need to justify their actions in today's Hollywood! In the name of political correctness, they also added a woman and "good guy" car theives of various ethnic backgrounds.
In Easy Rider, the heros are a pair of bikers who saddle up and go to New Orleans for Madi Gras. Again, without leaking too much of the plot, they have run-ins with the law, rednecks, hippies, and various representatives of Americana along the way. Again, i could go on for hours about the symoblism. I bet if it were to be remade today, the biker duo would have to have some bigger purpose in the trip than just to go to Madi Gras. They'd have to have a female companion and be multicultural as well.
Sometimes I get worried that the need to only act when it is justified has gotten it's claws into me. Once upon a time, I would drive to Maine for breakfast because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Once upon a time I had tried to set up an illegal 500-mile road race from Massachusetts to Washington DC (everyone else backed out, so I guess I won by default). These days my "just because" habits involve collecting stuff, which can actually be justified as "investing" as pretty much all of the stuff I collect appreciates in value in time.
It's quarter past one in the morning, I just finished up setting up a few muskets for Michael W. in Australia, and I suppose I'll settle down for dinner soon. Maybe tonight I'll think up some whacked-out new idea that I'll set out to do "just because". Maybe it won't be driving a supercharged hemi Challenger from Colorado to Frisco, but the spirit will be there!
Or maybe I'll just go watch Vanishing Point on VHS while I eat dinner...
posted by MVTCoPete | 11:30 PM
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