Grand Rapids and American Pie

It's so easy to want to be cynical about things as cheesy as this video. I've never been one to feel much pride about the places I've lived. I loved growing up in the Harrisburg are and living in Boston and Portland, but I believe that I could go just about anywhere and feel the same way. They all offered me something different, but the overall experience wasn't something I wear on my sleeve (OK, maybe I do talk about Pennsylvania potato chips too much). So when I heard about the video Grand Rapids did after being called a dying city, I ignored it out of that lack of intense attachment. Plus, I'm kind of tired of American Pie at this point (talk to me again when I've been drinking at karaoke).

The only reason I finally checked it out is because an independent director, Josh Becker (who lives in Michigan), commented on it n his Q&A page. Becker is an awfully persnickety man who has very strong, mostly negative, opinions about movies of the past 25-30 years and I find is thoughts intriguing. And aside from the really crappy cover of American Pie, I was hugely impressed by the video.

If you haven't watched it, it's one continuous tracking shot for around nine minutes and features hundreds of extras and many featured "singers." The coordination of the video is pretty amazing, with everyone hitting their cues and seamlessly shifting positions. It's a masterful technical work. I was especially impressed when they hit the word "fire." I can't imagine the amount of planning it took, how much rehearsal went into it, and how many takes they did. Kudos to the city and its citizens.

Even stranger for me was that in spite of the cheesiness, I was very moved. There's something heartwarming about seeing a group of people come together for a cause that's out of sheer joy instead of anger. I occasionally get envious of people who do have an intimate connection with their home town or their ancestry. It's a connection to something that's bigger than their personal bubble of friends and family.

That said, I was a little disappointed that there weren't more featured women singing (I counted 1.5, with the .5 being a woman in a convertible with her husband). Sure, it's a man singing, but since no one in the video is actually singing live, I don't see why that would matter.

Aside from that, a pretty impressive video.