MovieChat Forums > JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America (2009) Discussion > The start of modern america

The start of modern america

posted 13 years ago by beatlenut8
5 replies | jump to latest

This is a very good dvd. If anything it leans toward conspiracy belief though it just reports the news with no commentry. It's got two parts. The first part is an hour by hour timeline of Kennedy's visit to Texas starting with Fort Worth on Nov.21 and ends on the 24th with Oswald's execution in the Dallas police basement. In fact it pretty well shows the beginnings of modern saturating reporting. The media went beserk reporting this case. It's an obsession that will never go away and continues to become more mytholgical as each year passes by.

The second part I found kind of sad. It pretty much documents the downturn of modern america as the 60';s utopian dream goes horribly sour. I found it sad that such a tumultous event ended up such a sideshow - A circus exhibit where conspiracy lowlives make their living. Everyone from Saturday night Live to Seinfeld lampooning the murder of a president. A sad indictment of America is JFK's legacy seems not to be in his presidency but in which direction his brains went...

[–] puirt-a-beul 13 years ago

Great post, beatlenut8. Thanks for making it.

I'm not American, but I'm old enough to remember the newspapers here in Australia when Kennedy was murdered. I was very young, but I still clearly remember the feeling even at that age of gazing at the photo on the front of the paper and sensing that it was the end of an era, and probably of something good. I remember my parents and their friends being very shocked by it. There'd been political murders before that, of course, but there was something about Kennedy's murder that seemed especially outrageous.

A sad indictment of America is JFK's legacy seems not to be in his presidency but in which direction his brains went...

Very nicely put, mate, for something that's a very sobering thought.

p.s. Here's a bit of boasting that might appeal, if my assumption about your screen name is correct: I'm also old enough -- just! -- to remember the Beatles' tour of Australia in the early 60s. I wasn't old enough to go to one of their concerts, but my dad was a cop, and part of the local security contingent for the band; on one of their days off my dad, my sister and myself went on a private picnic with two of them -- Paul and George -- because they wanted to get away and just be normal people for a little while. They seemed to enjoy it, and we sure did. (My sister was convinced she was in love with Paul, so she was an emotional wreck all day.) I've still got their autographs, on a serviette (napkin) from the hotel where we stopped for lunch. I never met John -- he reportedly locked himself in the bathroom for the day!! -- and it was during a slight hiatus of the tour when Ringo had to go to hospital, I think to have his appendix out, so I didn't get to meet him either. But, being just a wee kid, I was most impressed that Paul and George looked just like their characters on the cartoon show on TV!

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] beatlenut8 13 years ago

Wow that is amazing. Lucky bugger!

[–] mimosa_mirabella 13 years ago

Excellent analysis, Beatlenut. The SNL intro sketch was disgusting. Anybody who wanted to be successful in media and entertainment knew which 'side' to support.

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[–] Fatal_When_Swallowed 13 years ago

The SNL intro sketch was disgusting.

The SNL sketch was a satirical reaction to the government panel investigating the possibility of a conspiracy to kill Kennedy. Current events have always been lampooned on SNL; there are no sacred cows on that show, which is why it became such a phenomenal success in the 1970s. When SNL first went on the air in 1975, the FCC had just implemented "The Family Viewing Hour" to "protect" viewers from watching anything controversial or profane. SNL was the antidote to media censorship brought on by the religious right. If you were old enough to remember those days, you wouldn't call SNL's take on the Kennedy assassination "disgusting."

[–] Panamint 11 years ago

"which direction his brain went" is itself a commentary on the randomness of America that started that day. A piece of his skull ended up beside the street and was found later by a bystander. The investigation was that random and that sloppy.

Some random, sloppy years started for America that day.