America's Best Idea: Our National Parks (Ken Burns)

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

http://www.nps.gov/puhe/images/NPS_America_Best_Idea.jpg

I thought there was a thread about this, but couldn't find it. I just watched the first episode of this. Might as well have been called "Scotland's Best Export: John Muir" imo! Not that bugged by that, though, because he's a nutjob and I love him.

First two episodes are already extremely repetitive, and I'm fully aware of how Ken Burns operate so just imagine. I don't know how many times the idea that national parks are the ultimate democratic invention has been reiterated. After the 6th interviewee saying something along the lines of 'can you imagine? this is ours! this is beautiful! america!', I started wondering if diving further into this was a good idea. Whining aside, there's plenty of good stories to compensate, especially since I didn't even know who John Muir was until last week.

I am three episodes into this glorious documentary, and completely disagree with the sentiment above. The rich, eloquent poetry that intersperses this story of preservation and American democracy is just incredible to hear, and it feels millions of years ago and a sad, faded contrast to the guttural obscenity that is contemporary politics and the state of our democracy.

Yet the parks are still here, and visited now more than ever (which, alas, has been annoying for me to try and see them of late).

Multiple times I've found myself emotional hearing the passionate exultation of those who established them and built out the park system, and was also quite surprised at how generous the aristocracy of that gilded age at the turn of the century was to push it all forward. It really is such a stark and sad contrast to today's destructive and downright "simple" elite.

During the numerous points in the doc that identify patriotism with these parks, part of me stirs in agreement, only to look out the window now and feel profoundly disturbed that given certain potential changes in government, it wouldn't surprise me if the foundations of their very being could be threatened.

In any case, it's incredibly worth watching, and already one of my favorite Burns docs. The first two eps are not repetitive at all imho. They're brilliantly executed. The whole thing feels like an immense labor of love, like the establishment of the parks themselves.