I watched Hillbilly Elegy last night on Netflix it is one of the best

[doc03]

movies I have seen on Netflix this year. Unlike the other 95% of the offerings on Netflix it is not the same mindless bullshit
about haunting, demons, zombies and survivors from some future destruction of the earth. I grew up the same
my father moved from West Virginia to Ohio to work in the steel mills back in 1928. Every Saturday or Sunday we went to
my Grandmothers farm in West Virginia and same as in the movie the mills have closed here. My younger brother would not
move away from here and bounced from one minimum wage job to another and passed away from drugs and alcoholism at 48.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Like the book, it's gotten poor reviews.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. I'd be more interested if the author hadn't

grown up to be a Republican venture capitalist.

[randr]

2. Mixed reviews generally indicate a sleeper

A challenging subject at the current time.

[Ohiogal]

3. I liked the book

I always prefer to read the book before watching the movie.

[doc03]

4. The movie could have been a story about my own family although we were not quite that

dysfunctional.

[appalachiablue]

5. I can understand how you enjoyed it with the similarities

to your family's experiences in the area. The movie's cast is excellent, Glenn Close, Amy Adams especially and from the trailer it looks interesting.

After the book's release following Trumps' election in 2016, there was praise from both the left and right, and also a backlash from native writers and locals. Elizabeth Catte who is one of the most effective at dispelling myths and narrating exploitation of the region wrote a compelling piece about 'Hillbilly Elegy.' https://www.bookforum.com/print/2405/a-new-book-challenges-the-myth-of-trump-era-appalachia-19146

Many people objected to Vance's portrayal of poor, working class whites as inherently lazy and willing to use their govt. checks to buy steaks and large screen TVs, following the writer's conservative, libertarian views which deem people in poverty as largely responsible for their own fate. The book also helped to promote the fallacy of Appalachians as the reason Trump won the election.

Vance didn't avail himself of any of the academic and popular works written about the area. The book is regarded as a thrown together work that enhanced negative stereotypes about Appalachians popularized by the media for decades, a 'new deliverance' as one said. The reviews for both the book and film that I've read haven't been positive.

[doc03]

8. I live here and I think it is a fairly accurate description of the people in

Appalachia and a reason they support Trump. When I got out of high school back in the sixties your choices were the coal mine, steel mill and if you were smart enough or got a football scholarship you could escape. Myself I worked in the steel mill and made a good living until the mills closed. A lot of the blame for the mills closing was the employees and management goofing off on the job and stealing from the company. But it is a lot easier to blame imports or immigrants rather than yourself. Most everyone that I know from
high school that left the area have done better than us that stayed here. It is even more so today, most of my friend's kids have moved out of the area either to Columbus or down south and are doing well. There are no union jobs anymore, no coal mines and no mills today. The younger people that have stayed here are working low wage service jobs if they even work. They have been brainwashed into the belief Democrats were responsible for the lack of jobs because of NAFTA and immigration. I know NAFTA was a Republican plan that GHWB promoted. I think passing NAFTA has caused more damage to the Democratic party than anything in this area. Back 30 years ago Democrats had a lock on every local office in this county. Today the only way a Democrat can beat a Republican is to run as an independent.

[appalachiablue]

11. The employment picture is abysmal I know, and it's continued

to decline for decades. The impact of offshoring American industry via NAFTA and other free trade agreements- GATT, CAFTA, etc. is major any way you look at it. In the 90s, people were encouraged to pursue degrees in IT, computer science so they could be part of the new 'service economy' or a become a creative self employed technician, an idea that benefited schools with more tuition $ and wasn't a cure all.

I was born and raised in central Appalachia, like 5-6 generations of family before me. The economy then was much healthier for sure, so were the schools which helped foster a strong middle class that I remember well. My grandmother moved to a farm in Ohio which she greatly enjoyed in her later years.

The Democratic Party was quite prominent when I was coming up, especially because of the outreach efforts of FDR and LBJ. My brother saw Johnson speak thanks to our mom's interest in current affairs and politics.

It's well known that coal has been fluctuating and declining since the 1950s, especially with automation and the start of strip mining. My dad and relatives were in the industry for many years and moved on.

Like others I hope something can be found to stimulate economic growth, although what the source for that would be I don't know, esp. with AI and automation in high gear. If the Democratic Party decides to really embrace labor issues again, marginalized communities in Appal and deindustrialized cities like Camden, NJ and Balto. need to be priority.

There are enormous challenges and as author Max Brooks just said on Bill Maher- half the country was impacted by outsourcing and the other half will be effected by automation. In the coming years UBI, universal basic income will be essential.

[MyOwnPeace]

6. I had read part of the book......

and stopped because it was too much like my own background but without any of the dysfunctional family members - but there sure was a big chunk of "poor" in the family!

But then again I remember when I was "student teaching" in an urban high school and went to see the movie "Up the Down Staircase." I left part-way through it because I'd just spent the past week living out the movie in real life!

[USALiberal]

9. Really? 95%? LOL! Nt

[consider_this]

10. Just watched - too much pain

Really, just wrought with pain - painful to witness. Acting was great, but personally just did not like being immersed in that family's tragic world. I know there were upsides, etc, but hard to watch the abusive situations and relationships.

[DURHAM D]

12. Just watched this.

Thought it was awful.

[Auggie]

13. Below Ron Howard's usual standards IMO. Something is missing.

Felt rushed maybe. Acting was excellent, but the tension/drama isn't there.

[Croney]

14. We just watched it tonight and liked it a lot.

Seemed realistic and the acting was great.

[Freedomofspeech]

15. I hated the book...

I will not watch the movie.