Problems with "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey"?

Phantom Maiden

Phantom Maiden

Prowler
I know this is a very popular documentary among Maiden fans, and for the most part I really like it too, but everytime I watch it, parts of it get me really pissed off, and I think Sam Dunn got some things wrong. Anybody else have any problems with this documentary?

From his interview with the 13 yr. old metal "fan" who's wearing a dog collar and looks more like a wannabe goth than a metalhead, to his incomplete and fairly one-sided look at black metal (which even the extra features bit I didn't think it adequately addressed the genre fully) and some of his sweeping generalizations like heavy metal bands are only interested in "who can be the most evil" (which to me just sounds stupid) and his assertation that Metal is some type of international culture that can be studied like an ancient civilization (subculture, maybe, actual culture? really?), I think this film has some areas for improvement and I was wondering if anyone else felt similarly about it.

I know this is film is a few years old now, but after recently rewatching it again, I felt like discussing it.
 
He does skip over some genres, but for the most part I think he gets the important ones. You're not gonna get every subgenre in a 2 hour movie.

The part where he was interviewing that goth girl seemed to be more about how the genre allows self expression and gives an outlet for people who think of themselves as outcasts. He didn't say that Metal bands were "only interested in who can be the most evil", but he did say that in the 90's that became a part of it. And he does have a point there.

As for the culture thing, the guy's an anthropologist, of course he's going to look at it through those lenses. The entire movie looks at the genre as if it was a culture, that was the point. Metal goes beyond just being a style of music for some people.
 
Birgantium, there are plenty of free places to watch it online, including youtube. Check it out, parts of it are really interesting. :)

Mosh, I think those are good points, and I liked your thoughts about Dunn's background as an antropologist influencing his take on the documentary. To me, Dunn trying to link Heavy Metal with anthropology seemed a bit pretentious, I like best the parts where he's just being an ordinary headbanger talking about his fascination with the music and the facts around it. I don't see why he needed to try and elevate his documentary to some other level with all the pseudo-anthropological tie ins. i.e. referencing his previous work with orphans in South America etc.

Thanks for the intelligent and intersting responses.
 
Excellent points, Mosh.

I think that the documentary is a great watch considering that it is the only film (that I know of) that takes a look at metal as a whole, not just one specific band or group of bands.

Have you seen Metal Evolution? It's a 2011 series by Dunn based off the Metal Family Tree that follows heavy metal throughout 12 episodes, each episode focuses on a different genre. It's far better than A Headbanger's Journey, though still quite narrow and limited in scope at times.
 
Metal Evolution was good but there wasn't a lot of new information (for me at least) so I didn't really enjoy it. When Headbanger's Journey came out I was still getting into Metal so there was a ton of stuff/bands that I didn't know about. In some ways, it felt like he was just repeating stuff from the movie, especially in the Glam episode. An episode devoted to grunge was also kind of pointless IMO.
 
The "Power Metal" episode of Metal Evolution was good -- my favorite was the description of the bizarre German metal festivals, where people dress up like vikings, knights, etc. The Blind Guardian guitar player starts describing what he recalls most about the festivals, such as the camaraderie and good feelings, and the singer breaks in and speaks of the "terrible, terrible smell."
 
I'll give you that, it wasn't groundbreaking in any way, but it was certainly more expansive. Definitely a bit repetitive, but still interesting. The glam and grunge episodes were crap, though.
 
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