The Punks are Alright!

This movie really caught my eye and put me on such a personal level with the people involved in the movie. I have always been pretty aware of the horrible problems that Indonesia and Brazil face everyday but this movie really raised my awareness and made me emotionally connect to Dolly and the problems that he faces. My perception of youth culture in these countries has changed because physically seeing and hearing the disparity in these people's voices made me realize how lucky we are here in the United States and how unlucky the people of Indonesia and Brazil are. These countries are stuck between a rock and a hard place because they don't know if they should modernize their countries or become extremely religious.

Dolly makes $2.65 a day, working or better yet over working and being abused working in a Nike factory. It would take him two months worth of his salary to purchase even one pair of the shoes he is physically exhausting himself to make. The thought of this makes me sick to stomach knowing how hard he works and how much time and effort he puts into this job, where he can't even purchase one pair of those shoes. These kids living in Indonesia do not get the ability to experience, do, and have the things that we have here. They do not receive the same opportunities that we do and therefore as said in the video, never be doctors or lawyers. It is so absurd to me that with all of the money that some companies have that they still do not pay their workers. 

People need to become more aware of the issues that are taking place in these countries. Everyone in this world has a purpose in life and a reason why they are here and none of these people get the chance to figure out what that reason is because of the limitations set on their every day lives. Dolly spoke about how he feels that his life is out of his control which really made me take a step back and realize that here we have the ability to choose the occupation we want. We have the ability to get an education, make money, get a job, and eventually move out of our parent's homes and start lives of our own with our own control over them. Dolly will never be able to experience these things and I just cannot stomach this thought. 

I can indirectly relate to the artists in the movie because they use their music (Punk) as a way to escape the control that they are under and escape the system. Punk music is their outlet, or remedy for their sickness and I can relate to this as well. I use dancing and the music that I dance to to express my feelings or even to just relieve myself of my stress. I express myself through my movement to tell a story or to just present my mood. Dolly uses the punk music to escape the horrible working conditions he works in, his abusive boss, his close to nothing pay, and his four hours of commuting. It is hard to say that I can compare myself to him because of the horrible conditions that he has to face, but I understand his ideas of using (punk) music as a way to express himself and to let go. Although these artists and I don't directly use music the same way, we both use it as some means of release or as an outlet to our thoughts and the things we cannot control.

Punk music is a total DIY type of music because it comes from feelings, personal experiences, and hardships faced in the people that sing/listen to its lives. When I am at dance and I get the chance to improv during a class instead of rehearse for a change, I am ecstatic. Improv, better known as improvisation is the time where my teacher puts on a random song and we have the ability to just "do it ourselves" and let our bodies do the talking to the words or sounds in the music. It is a very DIY activity because you are making up your own steps in relation to how you feel or interpret the music. 

The people of Indonesia and Brazil and I are connected. We are connected in the fact that both of our actions effects the other, in someway or somehow. They get rid of such things as labor/environmental laws as a way to allow huge companies to come and make factories in their countries. This benefits the people of these countries because it does give them jobs, and it benefits us because we get the product that we want, but there are better and less destructive ways of achieving satisfaction for both places. 

Capitalism works for some places and does not work for others. The United States is a very good example of successful capitalism and Indonesia is a very good example of how capitalism does not work and destroys and eliminates opportunities. If we slowly took it upon ourselves to stop contributing and buying products from the companies that have these factories there, solely for the purpose that what they are doing is completely wrong, then they would eventually have to change their ways. This would benefit the people of Indonesia because it would free them of control, and although there would be a large increase in unemployment rate and crime, it would soon be solved by them starting to build up their own country and economy.