TO BE DESTROYED (2024)

Recently in the New York Times: ‘Over the past few weeks, new laws or regulations have gone into effect in Utah, Idaho, South Carolina and Tennessee that will make it more difficult for young people to access books and library materials that could be considered obscene or harmful.’*   You couldn’t find a more timely moment to watch this short documentary on the subject from the MSNBC series THE TURNING POINT.  (Stream @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8AECXju6yc)  The story instigated when newly elected  conservative school board members in Rapid City, SD (you know, Mt. Rushmore), where pizza looks surprisingly decent, voted to ban a handful of books with ‘inappropriate’ sexual content (straight or LGBTQ+) from school libraries, but made the tactical error of including a work by bestselling author Dave Eggers who had the contacts, popularity, finances and chutzpah to not only get plenty pissed, but do something about it.  Specifically, offer to have any of the pulled books given away free to students unable to check them out.  Sweet response; sweet revenge.  Visiting Rapid City, Eggers and his small book tour team about as non-threatening & encouraging a group of activists as you could imagine; and without any personal agenda.  So, it’s more than a bit disappointing that this short film (30") is so inadequate to its task of exposing a horrific, growing situation, only a hair’s breath shy of book burning.  And barely a documentary, either; more extended tv news magazine segment.  Hard to imagine it changing anyone’s mind on the subject.  As with never-say-die conservative activists on Creationism, Climate Change, Masks, Pollution, the Gold Standard, you name it, you can’t slay the Dragon with milk & cookies . . . or fairness, for that matter.  You have to do more than report.  Not with goal lines repositioned to their advantage after every play.  Indignation, passion, anger, all gone missing in the final edit.  Hard not to wonder just how many school board elections these busy filmmakers have bothered to voted in.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  Not really a good film, but fascinating to see so many of these same issues addressed (and in the McCarthy Witch Hunt era) in the middling Bette Davis film, STORM CENTER/’56.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/05/storm-center-1956.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  One student manages to diss Shakespeare (ROMEO & JULIET; TAMING OF THE SHREW) for being out of touch compared to contemporary YA titles.  Do they really have SHREW on the curriculum?  Lots of Women’s issues, I guess.

READ ALL ABOUT IT/LINK:  *Find the complete NYTimes article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/books/book-banning-south-carolina-tennesse-idaho-utah.html