The Dancing Outlaw

Well, this weekend I finally got to see the famous, or should I say infamous, documentary on Jesco, The Dancing Outlaw. More than any other documentary, this piece on one family in Boone County, West Virginia, has defined Appalachia as a place to the outside world – indeed, with the exception of cartoon portrayals of Appalachians (e.g. The Flintstones) and the film version of Deliverance, this film is arguably the most important work defining how Americans from other regions view Appalachia.

I won’t comment on Jesco at any length. I believe his story, and that of his family is tragic – that they maintain their humor at all, much less an ancient form of dance that has survived, while evolving, a long hiatus from the British Isles, is frankly amazing.

That said, I want to discuss how the film left me feeling a little sick, literally. The filmmaker, at least it seems, intentionally edited his work in such a form as to belittle Jesco and his family, making light of the fact that they are undereducated, part of a cycle of violence, and that Jesco obviously has some variant form of mental illness, probably the result of losing hope given his personal desperation. In other words, the goal of this “documentary” was to publicly embarrass and insult its subjects, not enlighten the world as to the nature of their condition. Humor was not a side note, but the intent of the film. If he had edited a documentary on the ghettos of New Orleans, New York, Boston, or Los Angeles in such a way, public outrage would be astounding – and rightly so. Don’t agree? Imagine a “documentary” in which the intent was to make you laugh at poor, uneducated blacks from New Orleans, with particular emphasis on the one member of the family who could perform an artistic act but was obviously either under grave duress, hopeless, or mentally ill. Now add in the fact that this family was obviously being torn asunder by the anguish of having lost several members very recently, all of them either to murder or automobile accidents.

Yeah, that’d be hilarious.

Now, I want to pause here and note that many of the people who enjoy the film enjoy it by mere virtue of the air of nobility that manages to squeak through the film's editing. Despite all you like Jesco and his family, because they are, in the end, good, decent folks. You like them because they are trying to take advantage of their moment in the sun, like any human being would; they're drawing some pride from being able to tell their stories. And, frankly, you admire them because they draw happiness from the minimum qualities of life - woods, air, food, drink, music, family, and so on - very Taoist.

To say I have mixed feelings is, well, an understatement.

You know what, though? I think everyone should see this film. I do. I think everyone should see these films to see the outcome of the colonial economy that still dominates the coalfields (and, even worse, their wake, once the coal has been mined out). I think everyone should see why our governments damned well have to overhaul the public education systems in impoverished areas, Appalachian and otherwise. And, frankly, I think that everyone, and most especially artists and artistians, should see just how foul a human being can be – and by that I mean the filmmaker responsible for this grotesquery – as a model of what not to do. This film is the kind of documentary published by imperial nations in the early 20^th Century, justifying their continued dominance over children-peoples – it is, in other words, propaganda that justifies exactly the kind of economic oppression which continues in Appalachia, and that is exactly what it deserves to be called. And, frankly, the film is a demonstration of the potential for human beings to endure enormous angst and come out smiling. Sort of. I know in this blog's by-line it explicitly states that we're trying to get over Rousseau's sylvan myths - but damned if Appalachia's endemic fatalism doesn't share a helluva' a lot with Taoism and philsophical Buddhism. Crazy.

All that said, I hope someday I get to see Jesco dance. Because damn, that man can step.

Also see:

The Documentary Channel's biography of Jesco White and review of the movie.

The homepage of Jescofest, which benefits the great Mr. White (we just missed it, I fear - it was this past weekend).

The Austin Chronicle's interview with Jacob Young, the filmmaker who launched Jesco to fame.

A Charleston Daily Mail article on Jesco and Jescofest.

An interview with Hank Williams, III on Midwest Excess in which Jesco was discussed at length.

God Bless Jessie White.