Throughout the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys, director and skateboard enthusiast Stacy Peralta unearths the foundations to what is today modern skateboarding. Peralta expresses the art and evolution surrounding the beginning of skateboarding. Allowing the viewer to understand why things are and where they came from. Simple transitions from recollected video from the 70’s to interviews from the people who were their and who made it happen. As well as incorporating the punk rock attitude that set apart the Z Boys from everyone else.
It is important to understand the past to understand the future and in the case of Dogtown and Z Boys you are revealed the place and time as if you were there and had a little piece of the beginning. Peralta assumes you are unaware that there is even such a thing called a skateboard and tells the story. Going in detail the evolution from surfing to skateboarding, how trends of toys come and go but it is really about the culture of Southern California’s Santa Monica. How money and where you live is your status in the world. It is the story of the people who were not the prominent members of society, the people who were not supposed to succeed in life, fulfilling their passions. The documentary takes you from the beginning of the Zephyr surf team to how the lives of everyone separated and the paths they took. Communicating how life is a mystery and how no one could have foretold the outcome.
Bands like Black Sabbath, Neil Young and Jimi Hendrix grip you to each hill topping slop of the film while not being annoying or overpowering. The music chosen was to portray the time and energy of what was going on. Communicating the story was extremely acknowledged while cutting from old film reels of the 70’s would express what the interviewee was stating giving some connection to what was going on. This allowed some internal view of their lives as well to your own. Including ideals like childhood, becoming and developing as a person, and having a career. This is not just a happy go lucky skating the streets film, it speaks to you because it is the truth and the truth is art. The ups and downs of peoples lives, changing their surroundings and the norm is creating art. Peralta perhaps to keep the attention of the viewer, changes cuts from color to black and white and back and forth. Artistic, perhaps, but the change in colors definitely mixes things up.
Directory Stacy Peralta tells the story of The Z Boys. He shins light on the misfortunate and the people who succeeded. To watch how just a group of sub par kids to society could so greatly impact the future. How no one could have seen it coming, but it happened and the story had to be told.
“Two hundred years of American technology has unwittingly created a massive cement playground of unlimited potential. But it was the minds of 11 year olds that could see that potential.” Craig Stecyk 1975
This film sounds like the skateboarding equivalent of Style Wars, the film about graffiti art in NYC. I'm always fascinated by films that help to explain the origins of things. Once something like skateboarding has been around for a while, we tend to think that it's always been around. But someone had to get the skateboard rolling, if you will. Because movements like skateboarding and graffiti art are started outside formal institutions, it's important to get the stories down before the history is lost.
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