Punk Rock?

The other day my friend mentioned a movie I had not thought of in a long time, Salt Lake City (SLC) Punk. SLC Punk, directed by James Merendino, captures the pain, confusion, and most importantly the difficulty of maturity. But most of all it captures the spirit of punk rock through two main characters, Stevo, the son of a rich Jewish lawyer/former hippie, and Heroin Bob, a strange character who contrary to his name is scared of any and all pharmaseuticals and is the son of a crazed war veteran. Though a bit dated (1998 release), I feel that this movie contains many elements that are essential, yet lacking in our current society. Also it provides a fairly accurate analytical depiction of today's world. This may seem like complete crazy talk, but once the stage is set it makes a lot more sense.

SLC Punk essentially is about a plan created by Stevo and Bob to fight the system by doing the only thing they can do to fight the system, wasting their newly college grad education by partying, veggging out, and of course participating in some illegal pharmaceuticals/alcoholic beverages. In the world of Salt Lake City that James Merendino creates there are several "tribes" that inhabit the adolescent world of a Salt Lake City teen. There are punks (punk rockers), mods (essentially wannabe British dudes who wear suits and ties), Rednecks (stereotyped blue jeans and flannel, etc), Nazis (white power skinheads), Heavy metal guys (long hair and flannel wearing metal heads), and New Wavers (described as people who dress like the New Romantics and are "the new hippies"). Also within these groups are "posers" who Stevo says are people who are "punk" just for the fashion aspect. The film follows Stevo's and Bob's punk rock ventures which include beating up bouncers at punk rock shows, fighting rednecks and Nazis, debating about anarchy, and eventually climaxes with the death of Heroin Bob. Stevo's best friend's death causes him to rethink his life and drives him to change his self destructive lifestyle to go to Harvard Law School to "fight the system from within the system"

Now you may ask how would a story about two suburban white kids who dress like punk rockers and want anarchy contain any elements that are needed in our current state of society. But by looking past all the "punk" fashion and stereotypical desire to cause chaos, one can see that this state of society contains many needed elements and is, in a sense, a social commentary.

The first element of society we find lacking is the questioning of authority/rebellious attitude. The current state of the youth is relatively depressing. Most focus more on getting into a college than what they really want to do. Our society has become somewhat of a repressive force, which stifles individuality and our voices. One might argue this case and say we have plenty of individuality and rebellion. There are emo kids, punk rockers, artistic indie rockers, etc. However what they fail to take into account is that most of these are not genuine. Like in SLC Punk, the world of today is cluttered with "posers" who do it for fashion, or money, or fame. A great example of this is the "emo" music scene which exploded onto the charts a few years ago. Kids started wearing eye makeup and black hoodies to try to imitate their new emo heroes. Soon everything became "emo", from hooded sweatshirts to even acoustic guitar music. Kids flocked to the scene with Hawthorne Heights' "emo" anthem, "Ohio is for Lovers" and started attempting to hurt themselves because they felt it would make them feel better and fit in. Essentially what I am trying to say is that the current society seems to me at least to be a mere shadow of a few. The few innovators are imitated constantly by others for their own motives.

Now this doesn't mean that no one questions authority or rebels, but the drastic drop in this element is rather sad. No longer do we have the rebels like Jim Morrison who want the world, or even the rebel acoustic rock of the sixties like Buffalo Springfield's "For What Its Worth". Though the current society does have some rebellion in music, such as John Mayer's "Waiting for the World to Change", it is far more subtle and not the Rebel Yell that is needed for this country. This shift that is easily seen in the music represents a change in the social dynamics of the country. In some ways this may be good and represent a sort of stabilization of society; however it also may represent a sort of dumbing down of the American. This time is fairly similar it seems to the time of American isolationism and can be seen starting again. We Americans may be smarter than some media portrays us, such as the video below, but there is an obvious shift towards a more docile common man.


SLC Punk also seems to have a lot to offer on our current state of America. One can look at the different tribes as the different nationalities, religions, social classes, etc. The current America is in a transition period from being a primarily Caucasian nation to truly multi-cultured mixing pot. However at the current time many spend their time fighting the other tribes rather than uniting behind a common background as Americans. Like the tribes, America’s different backgrounds are all linked by commonalities, but are disrupted by the differences that exist amongst the tribes.

There are many different conclusions that can be drawn from this movie, but I will stop there as there is little time for other tasks that need to be done. If interested in the “Poser Speech” from SLC Punk you can YouTube it, but viewer discretion is advised. There is much inappropriate language.