i just finished two weeks of watching the entire UP series (7-49), the random documentary series starting with 14 7 year olds in 1963, at the beginging of swinging england... totally fascinating... as a whole, they really are an amazing look at english society and fashions, as well as being a deeper look at the nature of life itself... how set in stone are our personalities? what is going to happen in the next 7 years? there is indeed a voyeuristic tinge to some moments of it, but somehow the true universality of the experience the overshadows the titilation...
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7up
- Thread starter petergunn
- Start date
erinmacleod
Member
i have been preaching the 7up gospel to most of my friends for quite some time now. just recently i had a conversation about it with a bunch of folks and we were talking about how it differs from present day reality programs. it seems like reality shows want to fit as many events and as much action into as little a time as possible. real life doesn't work like that. the utter scope of a series like 7up demonstrates that, although life is eventful (check neil and bruce for evidence), it's much more of a process than the series of "life-changing" moments that wife swap or big brother might want us to believe.
anyhow, i could go on forever about the program...i have made arrangements to watch 42 with a couple of friends who have yet to see it. i'm really excited. i actually stood up and cheered the first time i saw it!
anyhow, i could go on forever about the program...i have made arrangements to watch 42 with a couple of friends who have yet to see it. i'm really excited. i actually stood up and cheered the first time i saw it!
it seems like reality shows want to fit as many events and as much action into as little a time as possible. real life doesn't work like that. the utter scope of a series like 7up demonstrates that, although life is eventful (check neil and bruce for evidence), it's much more of a process than the series of "life-changing" moments that wife swap or big brother might want us to believe.
that was the part about 42 and 49 Up that was great, all the subjects were so media aware...
so many of them talk about the process of the being in the film itself; being recognized, the intrusions into their life every 7 years... Jackie, the East End to Scotland one and the upperclass girl particularly dwell on it... the Oxford/Romanian one compared the movie to Big Brother, which in a way he has a point, in the that they share the same voyeuristic impulses, the difference is that those shows are consciously orchestrated as a spectacle, whereas the UP films capture everyday life... the director said something interesting, that he can never push to much or be too ugly, as they do not have lifetime contracts with any of the subjects, and i believe they actually have final say over the editing...
i don't think that hurts the films, as they aren't really about dramatic revelations, simply about the joy of watching the arc of people's lives... the charectors really do become like friends... it's very strange to think of them all out there living there lives RIGHT NOW...
also funny as the series progresses the issue of class becomes less important...