Nine documentaries that actually changed things

[Magical Realist]

"While non-fiction films didn’t always have a political agenda, the form has long been associated with concerned filmmakers attempting to have a concrete effect on the world, and since the 1960s, progressive social change has become almost synonymous with the word documentary. For the most part this has largely happened through revealing new information and points of view to audiences, but every now and then documentaries have gone beyond that and have left an easily seen, indelible mark on the world. To everyone who says that documentaries are irrelevant because of their niche audience and small box-office returns, we offer these in response."

https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/list...world.html

I include here the film "Blackfish" as number 10 which was released in 2013, exposed cruel conditions in Seaworld in their use of orcas, and by 2014 caused Seaworld to cease using orcas in shows and to end their breeding program.

[C C]

4. Gimme Shelter
Kopple’s friends and mentors the Maysles Brothers managed to prevent the wrongful conviction of another man with their film *Gimme Shelter*. A recording and debriefing of the infamous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, the event turned into a riot as concertgoers fought with the Hells Angels who were brought on as security. This resulted in the stabbing of Meredith Hunter by a member of the group who was later brought to trial. Footage in the film, though, proved that Hunter had actually drawn a gun and was attacked in self-defense.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" was the first song they played.

Lead singer Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones (who had been punched by a concertgoer within seconds of emerging from the Stones' helicopter) urged the audience to "just be cool down in the front there, don't push around." Within a minute of starting their third song, "Sympathy for the Devil," a fight erupted in the front of the crowd at the foot of the stage. (The Rolling Stones et al. (1970) (DVD released 2000). Gimme Shelter. Criterion.)

-Don Mclean-
Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
‘Cause fire is the devil’s only friend

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan’s spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singin’ bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
And singin’ “This’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die”

Mick Jagger: "After the concert itself, when it became apparent that somebody got killed, how did you feel? Well, awful. I mean, just awful. You feel a responsibility. How could it all have been so silly and wrong? But I didn't think of these things that you guys thought of, you in the press: this great loss of innocence, this cathartic end of the era ... I didn't think of any of that. That particular burden didn't weigh on my mind. It was more how awful it was to have had this experience and how awful it was for someone to get killed...

Courtroom trial mentioned here in this earlier verse section of AP (along with rollin' stone), but too temporally out of context to be referring to the later Alan Passaro verdict (the Hell's Angel arrested for killing Hunter). Plus the obvious "no verdict returned" being inapplicable.

Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone
But that’s not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me

Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned

--a side issue--

Bob Dylan --> "jester", "coat borrowed from James Dean" (1963, second album)

Elvis Presley --> "the king", "stole [...] his crown" (transition of Dylan influence ascending over the music scene songwriting-wise)

Dylan's own words from "All Along The Watchtower" (1967), after his 1966 motorcycle accident: "There must be some way out of here / Said the joker to the thief" (joker --> jester)

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