#101
Posted: 1/9/11 at 6:24pm
I'm speechless from reading this thread, really. Some of the opinions said on here are just tacky and catty...but I guess with BWW, that's to be expected, myself being guilty as well on one or two occasions.
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary for multiple reasons. One, I've been in Annie twice, and the second time I was in it, I was once promised BY the director that I would be Daddy Warbucks, and I wasn't cast as said role (presumably because I wasn't right for it, which I can admit - but I don't think the kid who got it was either, but that's another story...), and it made me really, really, REALLY upset. I got over it, but Annie is just one of those shows that is an illusion from top to bottom. It gives such an illusion of being happy and wonderful and that the show is an encapsulation of show business and musical theatre, where it's really just all plastic. It's barely even art, it's just a cheesy moneymaker.
This documentary gave light to a time where unions didn't protect children during shows, and how it was really damaging later on. It gave light to a time where it seemed all these girls were being watched, they were only watched at face value. While some of the parents mentioned were batsh*t crazy and pushed their children into it to live vicariously through them, I truly believe (and some of the interviewers even say) that they were in it and their parents put them through it genuine intentions, but no one was sure what to do with them after the music died. The blame is never directed at one thing, and if it is, it is with much resistance (as one woman recalls she secretly wished she was an orphan, but she didn't want her mother to know). I don't even think it would have been worth it for Andrea to come forward with an interview, because while yes, she probably DID experience hardships, she was able to walk out (seemingly) okay, but why cover up the truth? It wasn't tomorrow for everyone. Would it have been nice to hear her shed a little light? Yes. But it's not like she was completely removed from it entirely, they didn't pretend like she didn't exist. She was mentioned and shown, wasn't she?
While bitterness might've played a factor in this documentary, it was a reminder to us, to bring us to what I said earlier. Sometimes to get a message across, you have to fight for it, and while its said that Julie lost a friendship or two - I think it was important for our nation to see Jesus Camp, and surely filmmakers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing didn't have an easy time in the process.
Just my two cents.
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary for multiple reasons. One, I've been in Annie twice, and the second time I was in it, I was once promised BY the director that I would be Daddy Warbucks, and I wasn't cast as said role (presumably because I wasn't right for it, which I can admit - but I don't think the kid who got it was either, but that's another story...), and it made me really, really, REALLY upset. I got over it, but Annie is just one of those shows that is an illusion from top to bottom. It gives such an illusion of being happy and wonderful and that the show is an encapsulation of show business and musical theatre, where it's really just all plastic. It's barely even art, it's just a cheesy moneymaker.
This documentary gave light to a time where unions didn't protect children during shows, and how it was really damaging later on. It gave light to a time where it seemed all these girls were being watched, they were only watched at face value. While some of the parents mentioned were batsh*t crazy and pushed their children into it to live vicariously through them, I truly believe (and some of the interviewers even say) that they were in it and their parents put them through it genuine intentions, but no one was sure what to do with them after the music died. The blame is never directed at one thing, and if it is, it is with much resistance (as one woman recalls she secretly wished she was an orphan, but she didn't want her mother to know). I don't even think it would have been worth it for Andrea to come forward with an interview, because while yes, she probably DID experience hardships, she was able to walk out (seemingly) okay, but why cover up the truth? It wasn't tomorrow for everyone. Would it have been nice to hear her shed a little light? Yes. But it's not like she was completely removed from it entirely, they didn't pretend like she didn't exist. She was mentioned and shown, wasn't she?
While bitterness might've played a factor in this documentary, it was a reminder to us, to bring us to what I said earlier. Sometimes to get a message across, you have to fight for it, and while its said that Julie lost a friendship or two - I think it was important for our nation to see Jesus Camp, and surely filmmakers Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing didn't have an easy time in the process.
Just my two cents.
Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
