General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRecommend Netflix' 'Knock Down the House' - streaming now
This is great! This could be good for Democrats.
It shows what grassroots progressive political campaigning is all about.
IMO a better title would be 'Build up the House' or 'Rebuild the House'.
loyalsister
(13,390 posts)Good point about the title.... although, I would try to keep the reference to door knocking.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)It looks like Netflix is getting political. Its on Netflix now.
I wonder if its not too soon for such a documentary. The latest progressive grassroots is relatively new and hasnt passed the test of time. Ill watch it and hope that getting my hopes up isnt premature.
bloom
(11,635 posts)about AOC's story - is empowering for anyone who believes (or wants to believe) in Democracy.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I am very interested in her.
pnwmom
(108,959 posts)what a big splash AOC would make.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/movies/knock-down-the-house-netflix.html
She agreed to let a filmmaker tail her even before she filed her paperwork to run even before she had decided to run, really because she wanted to document how to organize an insurgent campaign, she said, especially as a working-class person. That sentiment was echoed by the other candidates: Cori Bush of St. Louis; Amy Vilela of Las Vegas; and Paula Jean Swearengin, from Coal City, W.Va. I felt that we had to stop reinventing the wheel every single time a normal person decided to run for office, Ocasio-Cortez said, and make it accessible, so we can learn and iterate. Our democracy is supposed to belong to everyday people.
For Rachel Lears, who directed and shot the movie, co-written with her husband, Robin Blotnick, who also edited it, it was a boots-on-the-ground investigation of how to change political power. I hope that this story does push people to think about participating in different ways, Lears, 41, said.
She approached the progressive organizations Brand New Congress and, later, Justice Democrats, which were recruiting novice candidates; she interviewed two dozen of them, she said, including some men, before settling on the four women, because she thought that win or lose, theyd be compelling to watch. They all had very personal reasons for what they were doing, she said, catapulting themselves into politics out of family tragedy, economic hardship, environmental anguish or a quest for social justice. Their geographic diversity, gender and race in what became a historic midterm for women and people of color was meant to illustrate a group that would make a national movement, Lears said.
Still, said Blotnick, we were totally prepared for all four candidates to lose.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I have a feeling it will renew my optimism for the future. Im one who has great hope in the younger generation. I suspect they will be as revolutionary as the Boomers were.