Global Metal (film)

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/0C8Ybq__3Rg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0
Review by Cosmo Lee

I finally got around to seeing Global Metal. It was a pleasant surprise — I’d call it essential — as I found Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, the previous documentary by directors Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen, enjoyable but soft. That film was an overview of metal, an over-large task. Because its target audience was the general populace, it was uncritical (with the small exception of a segment on black metal).

With Global Metal, however, Dunn can dig a little deeper and put his anthropology degree to use. That’s because he’s asking a question that isn’t metal-specific: what happens when an artform gets globalized? This documentary could have been about hip-hop, techno, or any other pop music.

Unlike hip-hop or techno, however, and despite its blues influences, metal has decidedly white male roots. Thus, it’s a thrill to see so many skin colors here. The filmmakers travel to Brazil, Japan, India, China, Indonesia, and the Middle East. As expected, there’s travelogue content: look, white man out of place! But beyond the requisite footage of culture clash, Dunn pursues two substantive lines of inquiry: how does metal get to a non-Western country; and, once it’s there, what do the locals do with it?

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/I_9DRe4BFFI&hl=en_US&fs=1&
This footage of Rock in Rio ’85 is insane

The answers vary for each locale, but they’re all interesting. The Japan segment is particularly eye-opening. One commentator states that, unlike Western fans, Japanese fans don’t get into metal to express anger or rebellion. He doesn’t answer the question begged of what the draw is, but it’s something to chew on. In contrast, another commentator states that Chinese metal fans are totally in it for anger and rebellion. Like with other aspects of life, it’s impossible to paint Asia with one brush.

This film’s coup is showing that that’s true now for metal as well. Having spread far and wide over time, it’s gone from being an influence to the thing being influenced. Bruce Dickinson hints at this when he talks about Iron Maiden being the first major international metal act to play in India. He uses the phrase “riding the elephant” to illustrate how much bigger India is than Iron Maiden. That’s a reversal of traditional UK-Indian colonial roles.

As one musician in the film points out, this bi-directionality has always been a trait of globalization. Think of the inventions that moved from East to West, like gunpowder, paper, dentistry, and chess. In the film, metallers from oppressed countries credit Internet downloading with allowing them to find out about bands. As I watched the film, I found myself furiously taking notes on bands from those countries. Now the finding out and downloading will go the other way.