Pennebaker, who has died aged 94, epitomised the counterculture with his interest in the legends of music as well as the backstage drama of politicsThe revolutionary film-maker Da Pennebaker, with his passion for music and political drama, invented tropes, ideas and procedures which became almost invisibly embedded in pop culture.When Saturday Night Live did a sketch with Hillary Clinton at the door of a state “elector”, mutely begging her to vote for anyone but Donald Trump with a series of flashcards, of course everyone saw the reference to Love Actually.
But the great meme-ancestor of that moment was Bob Dylan standing in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel in London in Pennebaker’s classic 1967 film Dont Look Back and with deadpan aplomb unveiling a succession of flashcards to Subterranean Homesick Blues with key lyrics punningly misspelt (and he did the whole thing in one continuous take – not easy).Continue reading.
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