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Friday, January 21, 2011
Salt Lake City Punk and D&D
I was watching SLC Punk tonight on Netflix and towards the end (right after the church service for their dead friend who overdosed) there’s a flashback to a scene from the narrator’s childhood where he has minor epiphany and puts away his childish things. Namely, D&D, in favor of punk and partying. I know, it’s a tragedy - why this or that when one could have them all? Anyhow, the movie was pretty bad (we gave it 2 of 5 stars) and my wife promptly gave the TV the finger when it was over and said something like “F#%* everything about that movie” right after my own “Poser!” comment. I grabbed the scene for you (below) if you haven’t seen it. Not much of a point here really, I just thought I’d document the cultural reference for the hell of it...
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gee - when i was in high school inhaling computer cleaner and listening to fast music i thought 7th level wizzards were totally rad...
Lame film.
I'll admit my punk youth ate up a lot of time that I'd previously spent on D&D, definitely more money, but I've kept on playing D&D and punk tunes.
However, I did not marry the rich girl, go Harvard Law School, or become a lawyer...
I saw that movie ten years ago and I remember it was terrible, but I can't remember anything else about it.
I was lucky enough to have been able to juggle playing D&D and play in a punk band. I still play D&D but my guitar playing is limited to showing my son how to play "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Rise Above".
B*ll*cks to that simplistic, one-note bildungsroman view of youthful interests. ("I was into that, now I am into this; behold my character growth!") Lazy crap straight out of the 'Keep It Simple Stupid' chapter of a "How to Write Screenplays the Hollywood Way" handbook.
On the bright side: 0:14 - Mentzer Blue Box + sweet looking maps.
The movie is nothing special as you said
I know the movie is simplistic in it's form and storytelling, but i think it does say something rather true about punk culture. Perhaps it's my European perspective, but here, most of the punks in the 80's and 90's were druggies and alcoholics arguing weather the Ramones were more "true" than Sex Pistols.
Few movies about the punk scene nail it as correctly as SLC Punk. The two things that have defined me as a person over the first 25 years of my life were Punk Rock and D&D. Add in the Army over the last ten years and you can see how I ended up the way I ended up if you know a lot about all three. One thing I can say, it's hard to really be into multiple things. Most people can't find that balance. That's where most of the characters in the movie were wrong. You don't have to be 100% Punk to be a punk. You don't have to spend 100% of your free time in a D&D book to be a gamer.
Who got it right? The kid (who I forget the name of) who went off to Notre Dame to save the trees. Probably the most truly punk rock MF out of the bunch. He followed his heart, not his scene.
*shrug*
The director of that film, James, is a gamer. A guy I play with was his roommate for a few years. When TSR published a 25th anniversary book about D&D, they invited people (directors, writers, etc) to share their game anecdotes. James' story was published and I actually own his comped copy. He left it behind in L.A. when he moved to New York and his roomie gave it to me. I really like that movie and was given a bunch of production stills from it.
Small world!!!!
@Higgipedia: Yeah, the eco-guy with glasses had it right.
@Squidman: I like to think I floated between the tribes myself, but confess to having had that Pistols vs. Ramones conversation more than once.
@Christian: A small world indeed! Let the record show, I was more forgiving of it then my wife! Chris's comment above sums up my own reaction to the D&D scene nicely.
Wow this does just about nail 1986 for me. I put down the D&D and it was all Minor Threat, Black Flag, and the rest after that.
Funny thing is now I can only play music of that time when really stressed/angry and it's all D&D in my leisure time.
The great circle of life...
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