Ephemera: Woodstock '99

Wait, what??!

Pick cherries much?

Imagine my surprise last night. During the Netflix documentary about Woodstock 1999, the movie Fight Club got cited as an indicator of the troubled times. I wish. In reality the film wasn’t released until two months after the ill-fated music festival. And the ticket sales were so tepid that most theaters dropped the film after a few days’ run. Fincher’s wonderful work didn’t find an audience until a couple years later.

In regard to 1999, it was the height of “lad culture” with markers such as Maxim magazine and the MTV Jackass series (debut 2000).

I love it when social scientists talk about self-mythologizing and the quests and challenges young peer groups attempt. Those Do you remember the time we all… adventures. The Netflix show depicted the horizontal of the event, but not much of the vertical: the purpose of creating chaos, the catharsis, the rejection of “managed commodified fun.”

Oh, well, it’s nice to get the mention.