{"id":2141,"date":"2016-11-20T10:01:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T18:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=2141"},"modified":"2016-11-20T10:01:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T18:01:56","slug":"breaking-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/11\/breaking-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"imagine<\/a>Can you remember the movie Breaking Away<\/em><\/a>? From 1979, and set at that time, in my current home town of Bloomington, Indiana. Four lads just out of high school, all lacking a sense of purpose. It’s a terrific movie, highly recommended.<\/p>\n

This week Alex Usher (you should follow him on Twitter @AlexUsherHESA) suggested<\/a>\u00a0we ought to rewatch to understand something about the recent US Presidential election, which to a large degree turned on the Midwestern states going with Trump. So this is a riff on that suggestion, which I think is excellent.<\/p>\n

In the film, our hero Dave is a smart kid, obsessed with cycling (he’s very good), but otherwise lacking identity. His dad used to work as a “cutter”, working in a mill cutting the great pieces of limestone you see all around this region into blocks, for building, but now works selling (or trying to) used cars to the primarily student population of the town. Not a happy life for him. There are town-gown tensions, felt acutely by Dave and his friends, resulting in posturing and the occasional fight.<\/p>\n

In one scene, filmed at night outside Indiana University’s main library, Dave tries to convince his dad that he, Dave, is a “cutter”. But his dad corrects him: he’s not, and he won’t be. There is no future there, and he must make his way on some other path. In the end (this isn’t much of a spoiler) two of the four end up going on in education. For the other two, that’s not going to happen – they are not cut out for it – but we know that already; at that young age, their best years are behind them.<\/p>\n

Check the date of the movie – 1979. The contemporary analysis of the Midwest – the white working class is disconnected from work and opportunity – that’s all here. It’s not new. Outside of urban areas, or for the highly educated, there has not been progress in the chances for those without educational credentials or connections, and for those who might once have had a shot at a job cutting limestone, or any other manual-skills job.<\/p>\n

Candidate Hillary Clinton promised free college – college being the route in these times to getting ahead. But we know<\/em> that can’t work for everyone, or even most people. Donald Trump, as Usher notes, in promising to “make America great again” was to a large degree promising to “bring back jobs that don’t require college again.” He won’t – he can’t<\/em> – but it was a seductive idea, enough to help him win election in this part of the country. But he was tapping into something that didn’t just happen last year.<\/p>\n

So, have another look at this wonderful, and very smart, movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can you remember the movie Breaking Away? From 1979, and set at that time, in my current home town of Bloomington, Indiana. Four lads just out of high school, all lacking a sense of purpose. It’s a terrific movie, highly recommended. This week Alex Usher (you should follow him on Twitter @AlexUsherHESA) suggested\u00a0we ought to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/breaking-away.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-yx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2902,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/06\/what-classic-movie-best-captures-the-usa-right-now-breaking-away-obvs\/","url_meta":{"origin":2141,"position":0},"title":"What classic movie best captures the USA right now? Breaking Away, obvs…","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times asked 17 columnists to choose a single work. Maureen Dowd chose Invasion of the Body Snatchers, David French chose Arrival (great film, though I'm not entirely convinced as an answer to this question. But, and truly this is not hometown bias, the winner is a 1979\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2817,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/02\/can-you-scale-the-house-at-the-movie-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":2141,"position":1},"title":"Can you scale the house at the movie theatre?: Updated (no, you can’t)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"US cinema chain AMC has announced it will start to have differential prices for movie seating: Three pricing tiers will soon be offered. For example, the highest-end \u201cPreferred\u201d tier are in the middle of the theaters and will be priced at a \u201cslight premium\u201d compared to its \u201cStandard\u201d tier, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"At the movies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/03\/what-is-a-movie-star-worth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2141,"position":2},"title":"What is a movie star worth?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Is there pay discrimination against female movie stars? Helaine Olen at Reuters thinks so. She writes: Why should we begrudge [Robert] Downey a $50 million payday for\u00a0The Avengers? The film brought in $1.5 billion globally. Downey\u2019s take was a mere 3 percent of the haul. However ... Hunger Games\u00a0producers first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"don't forget to negotiate a share of foreign box office","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":776,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/05\/on-special-showings-for-seniors\/","url_meta":{"origin":2141,"position":3},"title":"On special showings for seniors","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Freakonomics blog, Daniel Hamermesh reports on pricing at his local cinema in suburban London: Every\u00a0Tuesday they show a recent movie (e.g., Lincoln is showing on\u00a0May 21) and charge only \u00a33 ($4.60). \u00a0Moreover, you get \u201cfree tea, coffee and biscuits!\u201d Such a deal\u2014so how can they make money off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"would you like a cuppa?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Copy_of_ladykill-300x230.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":495,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/voluntary-price-discrimination-is-not-a-new-idea\/","url_meta":{"origin":2141,"position":4},"title":"Voluntary price discrimination is not a new idea","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Alyssa Rosenberg on crowdsourcing new movies: One thing that\u2019s striking about the Veronica Mars Kickstarter is that you have to give at least $35, more than four times the cost of the average American movie ticket in 2012, to get a digital download of the movie. You have to give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"looking for funding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/vm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/06\/event-planning\/","url_meta":{"origin":2141,"position":5},"title":"Event planning","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Freakonomics blog, thinking about how to generate revenues from creative goods when digital copies are so readily available: Products \u2013 especially digital ones \u2013 are often very easy to copy. But experiences can be highly copy-resistant.\u00a0 Just think of music: it\u2019s easy to pirate a song, but it\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Zombies!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/old-skool-3d-cinema-audience-300x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2141"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2146,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions\/2146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}