While I often get frustrated and depressed by many of the political and social processes on display in my home state of Kentucky, I always remind myself that this is the state that produced some of the most radical and uncompromising artists and pop-culture icons of the last century. From Hunter S. Thompson to Muhammad Ali to Warren Oates, Kentucky has given the world some of the most incendiary non-conformists in the world of art, literature, politics and sports. I believe that Milos Forman's stunning The People Vs. Larry Flynt is probably the best film ever made about one of my fellow Kentuckians and it remains one of the definitive and most important films of the nineties.
While I was capturing the stills from Forman's searing film I was reminded of a small group who picketed the video store in Lexington, Kentucky (a city I am happy to say now homes one of just eleven Hustler Hollywood stores) I managed around the time of its release, due to the fact that we had an adult room. I personally don't believe there are too many acts more criminal (or morally corrupt) than the attempt to regulate what other people do, say or watch in the privacy of their own homes. I am sorry that sad little group didn't take me up on my offer to get half off any adult rental or purchase, but I take pleasure in the fact that they are probably still as miserable today as they were on that sunny morning back in 1996 and I dedicate this post to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment