We all want to change the world
Last night, I'm watching this documentary on VH1 Classic called "Imagine: John Lennon." (John was always my favorite Beatle, I sheepishly admit, but not because he was the smart one, but because we shared a name. My only explanation for this superficiality is that I was only 11 when the Beatles played Ed Sullivan. He has remained my favorite.)
Anyway, I'm struck by the journalists on camera. During the famous bagism news conference in 1969, he and Yoko are in bed, half surrounded by reporters, all of whom are in suits. A few are wearing fedoras!
I can understand the discussion about the seemingly archaic times of newspapers in the 70s as shown in "All the President's Men." One great scene is the afternoon budget meeting in a room filled with editors, all of whom are white and male and wearing white shirts and ties and smoking. They're dressed like that, I thought, because they are in Washington, DC, bringing down the president.
The guys -- yes, still, all male -- assigned to cover John and Yoko in 1969 had every reason to dress the part in jeans and workshirts. After all, the famous couple was the epitome of the counterculture. Journalists, out of touch with those they write about. Welcome the rise of Rolling Stone.
Sigh. Maybe we have always been 10 years behind the revolution.
Comments (3)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
I get the sense that being a journalist used to be a sort of counter-culture thing to do going all the way back to Mark Twain. But I also get the sense that it used to be even worse in terms of feeling as though you had to LOOK like you were pretty square in order to succeed.
Ben Bradlee writes in his autobiography about wearing three button suits and hats because he was on the job as a young reporter and had to look the part to be taken seriously, even before he was big time --- meanwhile the guy's got his own initials tattooed on his buttock. Maybe it was ever thus.
Even today, even in our newsroom, there aren't a lot of people who dress REALLY casually.
Posted on August 2, 2007 12:05 PM
You mean, other than you and Amy wearing Chucks?
Posted on August 2, 2007 12:08 PM
I usually wear Chucks on days I'm going to be doing a lot of walking outside the office -- but even on days when I wear actual shoes, I keep a pair of sneakers in the car.
Posted on August 2, 2007 9:45 PM