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[jefflewis]

Thelma gave me a DVD copy of the Marley movie (thanks Thelma!) and I recently got around to seeing it... lots of people told me it was really good.
I did think it was a pretty good documentary, as far as clearly telling the chronological story of his life, and the development of his music.
However there was one thing that struck me particularly, and this was my surprise that he was so apolitical! He's considered such a political "revolutionary" songwriter/musician, but I didn't really see anything in his life that was political, it really seemed like he wasn't any different from the average sex/drugs/rock-n-roll successful guy. Yes, he wrote songs that are inspirational for people all over the world who seek a greater sense of justice and freedom, but he didn't seem to ever stand for a particular political cause, or particular political perspective even.

[misshelenc]

That is interesting. Now I think about it (admittedly I haven't given it any thought up until now) I suppose I never had associated him with any group, but then I would assume he was, just that I didn't know about it. Maybe it's just one of those things that the fans or whoever read into a song that was only ever a part of it, or maybe he just glossed over it...either way it's something new I've learned today...so thank you!
xx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

Well, I don't wanna talk trash about Bob Marley (or at least not talk too much trash, maybe just a little), but seriously - Jamaica is a very small country, and Bob became one of the richest, most influential people in the whole place, he might not have necessarily had the power to change the whole world but he certainly had the power to really make a change in Jamaica and it seemed like he did basically nothing. When there was a huge split in Jamaica regarding a coming election, with a right-wing candidate running for ruler of Jamaica, and a left-wing candidate, and both of them would have gotten a huge groundswell of public support if Marley had publicly supported either of them, Marley didn't get involved. Marley, at least as far as was mentioned in this documentary, never even mentioned any ideas for what might be done to improve conditions in Jamaica - his only "statement" ever seems to be "be a Rastafarian, worship the Emperor of Ethiopia as if he was a living god." What kind of helpful political suggestion is that? Marley could have opened schools for poor kids in Jamaica, or improved housing conditions, or hospitals, or tried to support political candidates who could have fought for better equality, but he really seemed staunchly AGAINST getting involved.
The only actual thing that Marley did, according to this documentary, is that he played a big free concert in Jamaica before the election happened, and at the concert he suddenly called out to both the right wing candidate and the left wing candidate to get on stage and shake hands with each other. In the movie this was treated as a tremendous symbolic victory, a sign of unity and peace for Jamaica. But really this seemed so pointless to me - if I got Mitt Romney and Barack Obama to get on stage and shake hands with each other this week in a gesture of "peace and unity" in the middle of the election campaign, what does that really do? Still one of them is going to win, and then make actual decisions for the whole country about health care, about taxation, about education, about abortion, about drug laws.

Marley had a real opportunity to change things, and it seemed like he did even less than the average person would have done in his position.

Of course, on the other hand, the very fact of his existence made a political impact in the world - it showed that a minority figure from a very small poor country could become one of the most famous and influential cultural figures in the world, which is really an incredible story.

[misshelenc]

Well, we didn't know him, only saying what the documentary said and what's been recorded...
My parents were in Jamaica earlier this year and they said compared to all the other local islands (they were on a cruise) the people have really bad poverty issues and ask all the tourists for money much more, there's a big divide between the rich tourists and luxury hotels etc compared to the way the locals live....it would annoy anyone to see them I'm sure.
I like to think, if I was of that influential position with fame and money and followers, that I would do something positive with it and try and make someone else's life better, but maybe that's a modern idea, I'm not sure really. x
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.