03.31.08
Interview with Benson Lee (partial transcript)
(** This is a partial transcript of the Fallout Central Interview with Benson Lee.)
William: It’s with great pleasure that we welcome to the Fallout Central Podcast– Benson Lee. How are you doing?
Benson Lee: I’m great! Thank you for having me.
William: Give us a sense of where you’re coming from. I read that you were born in Toronto, raised outside of Philly, you had your undergraduate studies spread out over three different universities– F.I.T., NYU, and the University of Hawaii. At what point in that trajectory did you decide to pursue this project?
Benson Lee: Much later, actually. After I graduated from the University of Hawaii, I went to Europe and I lived there for a little while, and in Paris and in London– trying to get some more life experience as well as film experience out there. I made my first feature film in London, which I was very fortunate to get into Sundance back in 1998. After I came back from the Sundance Film Festival, I was actually watching “Flashdance,” and I liked that film just because of that one scene in the movie that had the Rock-Steady Crew… one of the original B-Boy crews from the 80’s. When I watched it I was just wondering what happened with breakdancing. When I was younger, back in high school during the 80’s and saw that film, I was completely mesmerized by it. I was one of those kids throughout the nation who had to try it right away. Fortunately, I wasn’t very good… I became a film maker, and over a decade later, I re-discovered it online, and I just could not beleive that the culture existed, and that it was actually global.
William: You mentioned in a previous interview that you were randomly googling, and that you just did a keyword search on “breakdancing” one day, and that that’s how you discovered the community that centered around battle of the year. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about that because I would guess that there’s a little bit more to that answer than just “I was randomly googling one day.”
Benson Lee: I [had been] fed by the media what “breakdancing” is, and what I discovered, over a decade later, when I was doing research, is that it wasn’t originally called breakdancing. That was a term that was contrived by the media for people to understand what this dance is. It was originally called “B-Boy-ing.” It was born in the South Bronx in the ’70’s, and it was an element of hip-hop culture. Hip Hop is made up of many different aspects. There’s graffiti, dj’ing, and rapping– all which have really come up. From that point on, when I just rediscovered that it was not only [practiced] around the world, but that there was this event called “Battle of the Year,” I was just shocked. I was more aware of what was going on in the music than I was in B-Boy-ing, and this event, which [has been] held annually in Germany since 1990 was started to get the remaining B-Boys that were left in Europe to have a place to come and celebrate B-Boy-ing. Since then, it hasn’t relented and it’s grown into this humongous event where 10,000 people come out in Germany to watch it, and it really is about celebrating B-Boy-ing. It just blew my mind that nobody else knew about it, because the skill level of these dancers is just unbeleivable. It’s more powerful and more acrobatic than anything you’ve ever seen in terms of hip-hop dancing. That’s really what inspired me to make this documentary.
William: You mentioned on an interview on indiewire.com that “a good documentary helps you see the world differently,” and that you wanted to make a movie “that strikes a chord that everyone can relate to.” How does Planet B-Boy do this?
Benson Lee: It shows that what most people understand about hip-hop culture in general is based on what the media feeds them, which is fed by the music industry. It’s run by people who obviously are more concerned about music sales than authentically representing this culture. We show that there are a lot of people out there in hip-hop around the world who love hip-hop because it provides a form of self expression for them which is an alternative– an option for them– because they don’t subscribe to the more traditional dance forms… maybe the more traditional music genres… or art for that matter. They like hip-hop music. They like hip-hop culture. It’s a street culture. It came out of the Bronx at a time when you had these kids in the South Bronx who were completely ignored by the whole country. These kids came out and said ‘look, we have our own thing, and this is what excites us.” … They find hip hop as a really cool form of self expression. … Most of the hip-hop communities that I’ve experienced … [are] beautiful communities, and really healthy communities because they promote self expression. Battle through dance. Battle through art. Battle through song. … That tradition is being upheld as we speak around the globe. I think that’s the testament to why hip-hop is so powerful.
Jenn: How do you feel about the commercialization of urban dance today. For example we have the show “America’s Best Dance Crew.” Do you feel like these kinds of shows or movies, that glorify and market this kind of dance to a mainstream audience, might be good in a sense because they’re spreading the word or are bringing attention to this form of dance… and are giving a context for people to be able to make a documentary that takes a real authentic look at this culture, or do you feel like it’s not so great because it’s being in-authentic to the culture.
Benson Lee: That’s a great question. Nothing is black and white anymore. I’m not a big fan of reality TV, but when it comes to the dance reality shows, I’m really into it. Dance in our culture seems to come in waves. The last big dance movement was in the 80’s, when we still had “Soul Train” and “Dance Fever” and “American Bandstand,” and then it disappeared. It came back in the 90’s within a “reality context.” The only good thing about reality shows is that they provide somewhat of a documentary insight into the process of dance, and how people learn dance, how much it evolves, and ultimately gives them small doses of the language of dance. What I like about “America’s Best Dance Crew” is that the crew that won this week– Jabbawokeez– they actually have a lot of B-Boys in their crew. The judges are actually looking at the dance and talking about the moves and [are] inspiring an entire generation that this dance is tough, that there’s a language behind it, and it’s good for you. I’m really happy that we’ve got this context for dance in the mainstream right now.
…
Benson Lee: This is a film that the entire family can go and see. The last thing you would think is that hip-hop unites families, but it absolutely does in our film. Any artist can relate to the B-Boys. … There’s always that struggle to express yourself and convince others that what you’re doing is viable, and we definitely explore that issue here, and I think that’s why a lot of people can relate to it.
…
Benson Lee: As an Asian American film maker, I realize that there are a lot of really, really lame roles out there for Asian males, and I’m absolutely proud of that here because I didn’t have to even try… I didn’t have to contrive anything… these guys … have a really good spirit, and it’s all because of dance. I’m very proud of the fact that the Asians definitely have an exceptional amount of rhythm.
Albert: If your film doesn’t get an oscar nomination for best documentary or at least best editing, there’s no justice in this world.
Benson Lee: Thank you very much. I don’t really expect that sort of nomination, because I don’t really think there’s that much justice in the oscar nomination system. For me, at the end of the day, it really is about as many people being able to see this movie, and hopefully feeling the way that you do.