Boys State

[Riobard]

This is coming Fri Aug 7th and is apparently very good. 

[Lucky]

Other states also have Boys State programs. I should know, I once participated in one!

[tassojunior]

Bruce Weber would do it better. 

[Riobard]

1 hour ago, Lucky said:

Other states also have Boys State programs. I should know, I once participated in one!

Wasn’t that Boys’ Taint? 

[Riobard]

11 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

Bruce Weber would do it better. 

Isn’t that Boys Date?

[tassojunior]

57 minutes ago, Riobard said:

Isn’t that Boys Date?

Weber always went to the Iowa Boy's State High School Wresting championships to get his beefy models. 

[Lucky]

15 hours ago, tassojunior said:

Weber always went to the Iowa Boy's State High School Wresting championships to get his beefy models. 

As I remember, Boys State is a political education program where boys attend for a week. They have no wrestling events. I think you are referring to the Iowa state championships.

[Pete1111]

Watched it today.   I love a good documentary.

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Edited August 14, 2020 by Pete1111

[Lucky]

The SF Chronicle critic didn't like it! He says:

“Boys State” is the most depressing film about boys since “Lord of the Flies.” If anything, it’s even more bleak, because it’s not fiction and it’s not allegory. No, this is a documentary about actual boys.

Seriously, if these kids are the future, now would be a good time to buy property in a foreign country.

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/review-boys-state-a-good-documentary-that-makes-you-despair-for-humanity

[Riobard]

Hahaha ... now everybody should watch it. I tuned in yesterday and quite enjoyed it. I read the reviews afterwards; 24/25 ‘top critics‘ gave it a fresh tomato.

I was also struck by the open manipulation of some of these wet-behind-the-ears 16-18 year olds, as well as the ‘throw the whatever’ attitude of what I would call ironic sabotage, a trend that seemed to emerge years ago with American Idol (voting for duds). What a strategist that René, though, diving into each pit of vipers with eyes open, an uncanny grasp of adolescent dynamics, and a philosophical attitude of equanimity and self-appraisal.

I attended a private day-only all-boys high school in the sixties. My parents made me pay the tuition and/or excel academically to subsidize with a number of available bursaries. Many of the smartest guys were both nerdy and mean and nasty to vulnerables, to the type you might see bullied these days. However, it was never physical but done for a lark, cruel as it was. Yet you could be just as popular being nice to everyone. 

Such egregiously insensitive behaviours today would land a Boys State participant on his ass, possibly criminally charged. Yet these unkind high school peers became successful highly respected professionals, not the sociopaths you might expect. The antics tend to diminish in post-secondary settings, save perhaps for the microcosm of fraternities.

I thought much of the state of dynamics in the doc was consistent with adolescent male behaviour, without their female peers, and was also intended to send up what they observe in politics overall.

One thing that impressed me as well is that the filmmakers would not have known how the many primary candidates would eventually funnel down to the later vote-offs and final ballots. They would essentially have had to follow a lot of the boys at the beginning, prior to editing down to the major players, eg gubernatorial, in order to weave earlier exposure into the more developed later profiles. 

There is nobody I would have crushed on as teenager.
 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Riobard
Splng

[Pete1111]

Good point.

How the production decided who and when certain candidates were tracked.

That the SF Chronicle was upset by the politics of boys in Texas doesn't make this a bad movie.  

I did wonder if the American Legion has considered a similar event for girls or whether keeping the event for boys only still makes sense.

SPOILER @@@@@@@@@@@

The dirty tricks and the false narrative used by the Federalists against the Nationalists and how the Federalists treated their own chair was a sad reflection of real world politics.

That many of the conservatives boys still supported LGBTQ rights was encouraging.

What gave hope was the Nationalist candidate, that the American dream carried on and also how a candidate can understand the workings of compromise while remaining true to his beliefs and genuine in how he addresses his constituents.  A lot of the boys were inspired by that.

Needed kleenex at the end.