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Stanley Crouch
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign. Journalist and artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center and author of Considering Genius: Jazz Writings |
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 Some noise is being made about Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff. It takes a rough look at the relationship between the consumption, packaging disposal of trash, all of which are usually hazardous to the environment. Using animation, it has become popular in public school settings and millions have see it on YouTube. Some say, of course, that it depicts corporations as bloodless but blood-spilling enemies of humanity and nature. They might be right, but the defining issue of American capitalism is always about bringing together ethics and the profit motive. That goal is too often forgotten: abolition was not about workers as such; it was about the owning of the people working. This short film is hard, simple, and true. It is an opening salvo of light needed in a time of pervasive darkness. |
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I saw it with great interest, and while I agree with her assertion that we are a throw away consumerist based society (and in the long run that's not good for us), she does not lend support to her film with some of the examples she uses. Her example of checking out the differences between a new computer and an older one with the only difference being that "one little tiny chip" is not only childish but absolutely 100% incorrect. I know from computers, and one can argue the NEED for new computers but one cannot argue that every generation of computer is only slightly different from the one before it. While it may seem like a minor point, if you're going to make a video that slams the US' entire way of life you'd best not look like a biased simpleton with your arguments.
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I was also excited to see this, but didn't turn it off after five minutes based on any political butthurt over the nasty image this paints of wicked corporate America. I watched it, but honestly lost interest because it was just not very accurate - as downbytheriver00 noted - the computer scenario is a perfect example. It loses credibility when it tries to paint such a biased and incomplete picture.
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