NEWS: Chris Gore's Footage Fetishes: YouTube Killed Underground Film

CULTURE: Chris Gore's Footage Fetishes: YouTube Killed Underground Film

There will never be another filmmaker like John Waters. Having started his career as an underground filmmaker, Waters’ eclectic taste has now become mainstream. This summer’s hit Hairspray has clearly cemented his place as one of America’s national treasures. In the John Waters’ documentary This Filthy World, which captures his popular speaking tour, a young fan asks a question. The aspiring underground filmmaker asks advice to pursue his dream to make great underground films. To which Waters responds that underground film is dead. It’s all been done.

Unfortunately, for the most part, I agree. And it’s not only dead. It’s all over the web and it marks the end of an era… the end of the bootleg videotape and underground film as we know it.

Over the years I have amassed a collection of over 3,000 videos cataloged by genre and neatly arranged in alphabetical order. This archive of VHS treasures sits proudly in my dry, cool garage on tidy shelves. Okay, I have to admit that they’re not all that neat. The variety of labels and packages reveal that this assortment was cobbled together from over a decade of collecting. The tape boxes even divulge the story of the evolution of movie packaging for home video. The scribbled labels spanning various eras tell the tale of organizational methods adopted and then abandoned in the hopes of creating the ultimate library of films lost and forgotten. And while my rules for organizing this stockpile of cinema on magnetic tape alter from year to year, one rule has remained constant:
If you can rent it or buy it at the local video store, that movie has no place in my collection.

Todd Haynes’ The Karen Carpenter Story is still unavailable... legally, that is.

The logic is simple – I can go to the video store and rent and/or purchase any mainstream Hollywood movie – anytime. There is no thrill in the purchase of Todd Haynes’ Oscar-nominated film Far From Heaven on DVD since that can be found without much effort. But if you can get your hands on Todd Haynes’ now classic and totally illegal short, the puppet-animated drama The Karen Carpenter Story, you have hit gold. And if you can find a copy of that is as close to first generation as possible, one that hasn’t been copied from one VHS to another countless times, then you have an incredibly rare bootleg.

You can go to any video store, hell, you can go to a grocery store and pick up the latest Disney animated feature churned out from the mouse factory. But there is one that you will never find and that is the controversial family film from 1946, Song of the South. If you happen upon a bootleg DVD, whip out your wallet and add it to your own collection.

Every chain store must carry Star Wars. But you will not find The Turkish Star Wars for sale in any legitimate video establishment. In fact, you won’t find any Turkish films at all. The Turkish Star Wars (in its original Turkish titled Dunyavi Kurturan Adam which loosely translates into “The Man Who Saved the World”) is an exquisite treasure that will open up an entirely new world of films to enjoy from Turkey. Be sure to look for Turkish versions of The Wizard of Oz, Superman, Star Trek and E.T. along your cinematic treasure hunt.

Disney's Song of the South can only be found as a bootleg made from a Japanese laser disc.

The Karen Carpenter Story, Song of the South and The Turkish Star Wars are merely a small sampling from this bizarre world of movies that will never, ever be shown at a theater or available at the video store. These films can only be found by putting forth great effort, and sometimes, unreasonable sums of money. My travels to find these movies have taken me to film festivals, obscure screening events, comic conventions and on the Internet buying videos from the other side of the globe. But these obstacles have never stopped me, nor should they stop any film fanatic in search of cinematic holy grails. In a way, I like to consider myself the Indiana Jones of indie film. It’s the only way my collection of videos will continue to grow. I remain ever vigilant in my efforts to uncover those movies that push the boundaries that make Hollywood movies bland by comparison.

However, recently most of the content I just mentioned can be found, and without much difficulty, on the internet. The shelf space allotted to my proud collection could fit in the palm of my hand on a hard drive. YouTube has clips from all the aforementioned films and many more. While TV studios file lawsuits to get their clips off YouTube, underground film is being pillaged and exposed for all to see.

I could look on this as a good or a bad thing. The thrill of discovery is gone. But the exclusive underground club as I knew it has now become the viral video of the moment. So, maybe that's not a bad thing. I can actually see something positive in this, like underground filmmakers like Damon Packard finally getting exposure for his brilliant work.

Underground filmmaker Damon Packard could be the next John Waters.

I guess it's the same argument I get into when I hear people complain about Hot Topic at the mall. I grew up with punk and music and fashion were hard to find. Better a Hot Topic at the mall and the subversion of young minds on a mass scale than a Banana Republic.

So, while the underground may be dead when it comes to physical medium on VHS or DVD, the influence of these hard-to-find movies will be felt online for years to come. And filmmakers like Damon Packard will offend a whole new audience.

Gore gone.

Chris_Gore is an author, a filmmaker and the creator of Film Threat. Chris cherishes his collection of 100 laser discs, 50 CD-i movies, and over 3,000 VHS tapes. NOTE: The next Footage Fetishes column will feature a Damon Packard story that is guaranteed to both shock and arouse.

I think the more exposure is better. Though a lot of the old bootleg films were just crap and not worth watching. It allows talent to shine though, the only problem being that around each diamond of a film you will find tons on dross. I am currently working on my own short (after working on god knows how many other projects and for TV) Viking zombies 3. It sounds cheap but my so the crew I am working with are professionals, the cast are cheap (they want the exposure) I have plenty of extras willing to work for free for me (It is good knowing people) and the equipment I will be using for proper paying work. So although it sounds cheap and nasty hopefully it will have decent production values. Once it is made the internet is hugely important because getting films distributed is a nightmare, with the only way films used to be see being through festival.

it's not just underground film YouTube is killing...it's film in general...any 17 y.o. dickhead with a MiniDV camera and a Mac and a Tarantino/Rodriguez fetish fancies himself an auteur, a lampoonist, or the Farrelly Bros., and w/YouTube, he can share his masterpiece with the whole fucking world, and it's guys like this that flood the arena with their craptastic 'films' while people with far more talent and knowledge and schooling get knocked to the wayside...it's terrible

there's a bit of oxymoronic logic here. with youtube the value of watching hard to find cult classic material is diminished, yet there is so much crap on youtube it makes the "good" stuff hard to find.

Cassiel mentions that any dickhead can post a movie, but doesn't this just make finding the good stuff still kind of exciting.

also the quality of a youtube file is pretty low, so actually owning dvds or vhs copies still has value.

Old navy, gap, hot topic and banana republic are all the same company.

Youtube killed a lot of things. It was fun for a while when you could watch free Simpsons and Drawn Together episodes; now it's just gay. Another media conglamerate with the apparent sole intention of making people stupid.

Youtube likes to copulate with web sites of the same sex.

Great article. A bit apocalyptic but interesting.
Underground film will never die. It's changing with technology, that's all.
...and I'm sorry Mr. Waters, but no it hasn't all 'been done.'

It was all done before they even invented films. It was all done when Shakespeare was doing it. It's all been done since Aristotle.

I enjoy youtube primarily because it allows me to find weird pieces of cinema history that I missed, or in some cases, was too young to appreciate when I originally stumbled across them.

Stuff like this, though I guess it's hardly "underground" as it's hitting DVD this year...



Though I will admit I do occasionally enjoy some of the stupid bullshit that gets posted on there, there is far too much of it. So unless you're searching for something specific, I can imagine sifting through it all would be a pain in the ass.

I really think that you had to dig hard on you tube to fin anything worth actually watching most of the time, just like you probably had to dig to find good underground film when it was in hard copy. The difference is that there is a lot more crap to sort through from your desk chair than there was to sort through in the...underground film bin (I know there isn't really a bin...just a sort of grape vine.)

Furthermore I think once people start to realize that they can still present their shorts to a live audience then they will be presented with the opportunity to open such a showing up to those who view it on you tube. you could obviously say that Underground Film is dead but I would say Underground Film in its original form is dead and something new has taken its place.

Totally agree.

And nothing can replace seeing a film in front of an audience. As a filmmaker, nothing helps get a read on what works and what doesn't when seeing a film with a packed crowd. Even when they are sitting quietly you can feel the energy in the room. So I hope that YouTube doesn't entice filmmakers to forget completely about the value of live screenings.

Comments on a message board responding to a video posted online is one thing... but nothing can replace the experience of seeing a film you've made when accompanied by applause, laughter or weeping from a live audience.

Never actually got anyone to weep, but you get my point.
CG

Except live theatre.

that's the whole "underground vs. mainstream" arguement summed up very nicely

and i'm of the same mindset that more exposure is better. sure, you may get some cheap knock off shit, but the best stuff will find it's own way to rise above the filler

And the next 17 year old Truffault or Tati or whomever will be able to get their work exposed and to an audience instead of dying in obscurity because they could never hustle past the machine or make the money for the film.

if you truly believe there will be another Truffaut...and there are film festivals, y'know

it's the same with film as it is with any other kind of art that can be made and distributed digitally: the talent pool becomes larger and more diluted, but it becomes easier for someone within that pool to gain recognition for their work and make a living off of it.

the overall effect is excellent for the people who like that art and want more, even better for the artists themselves, and mind-blowingly shitty for the snobs whose quiet corner of the world has now been blown open for everyone to see.

it has even spawned new roles within each industry, such as the people who sort through the mountains of crap to serve the good stuff up (or, say, people who write software that allows other people to do that for themselves).

Reflections of Evil is such a great, great movie.

I understand what you mean. Once upon a time I found an actual bootleg of Within the Woods and cried with glee for a month. It was like finding the Titanic. Now any jerkoff can type in "WIthin the Woods" on YouTube and there it is. It hurts a little. I do still treasure it.

Maybe yes, maybe not so much. YouTube is still very young, so I'm holding my decision on this one. YouTube made video channels that DON'T SHOW VIDEOS (hint, hint) irrelevant over night, though. And they helped (as did MySpace) various underground music scenes grow quite a bit.

it all died with the blair witch project, really.

someone found a cheap ass movie (i personally like it) marketed it, and it made millions.

there will never be another new wave......

people dont want to watch things that make them think, not enough people to pack a theater in the heartland...

Er... Clerks?

What the hell are you talking about? The whole advantage to relatively cheap indie films is that you don't have to sell out a theater in the heartland.

I can't see this as being anything but a good thing for movies in general. Anyone can make a movie, anyone can distribute it on the internet. Getting people to pay attention is hard, but not impossible - look at Lonely Island, which got Andy Samberg and company a job at SNL, followed by Hot Rod. Certainly not the norm, but the point is, it can be done, and there almost certainly will be more stories like that as time goes by. In the meantime, if absolutely nothing else, those of us who don't collect every single bit of underground film can see what we've been missing out on.