It's a cultural issue.
I'm not a snowboarder. Back in the aughts, when it looked like snowboarding might put a stake in the heart of skiing, I said it was a religious issue, kind of like being a Jew, I wouldn't switch because I wanted to preserve skiing. I still do. Although in the interim things have changed. Snowboard sales are down. Then again, do we trust statistics? You certainly won't believe them if you ride the slopes of Mammoth Mountain. In California, it's all about snowboarding, it's a direct descendant of the skateboard culture.
And I could tell you all the way snowboarding sucks. Needing to buckle in after every lift ride, sitting in the snow while you do it, I'm always waiting for these wankers. Yes, I've got a ton of friends who snowboard, maybe more than who are skiers! And we constantly give each other crap, because it's the low level rivalries that help us preserve our identities, which make up this melting pot we call America. You don't want everybody to look and feel the same, you don't want to homogenize the country, but we do all need to get along. Which at this point skiers and snowboarders can do, unlike in the late nineties and early years of this century. You see snowboarders were seen as young upstarts who wreaked havoc. And it's hard to argue with this, especially having been hit by a snowboarder under Chair 15 at Mammoth. Let me set the scene. It was late in the day, on a wide slope. I was all the way on the right, coming down from Chair 9, and on the complete other side was a snowboarder, far away, but this guy aimed right at me, came across the slope and hit me! He didn't stop, and after picking myself up and skiing straight down to the bottom I popped off my skis and ran down to the pickup truck he was trying to escape in. I yelled YOU HIT ME! And this beefy, bearded guy rolled down his window and said...DO YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING OF IT?
Ah, that's life. Especially amongst men. Strength and intimidation. And the funny thing is if you don't stand up to people, they needle you more, take advantage, but that's got nothing to do with Jake Burton.
Who grew up upper middle class, tried to make it on Wall Street, hated it and moved to Vermont to make snowboards.
Oh, everybody lies, everybody says they grew up poor. Don't believe anything anyone says on the surface. Go deeper. They say they were just like you when they weren't, and hope you'll believe it, won't give them a hard time, but Jake Burton is not the only person who did this. Everybody lies. It's a rare person who tells the truth! I remember Daryl Hall saying in "Rolling Stone" he was the best singer out there, the blowback was loud and fierce. Then again, things are different now, everybody's a braggart, that's the hip-hop ethos.
So, Burton moves to Londonderry and tries to perfect the snowboard. And on one hand you can see this film as a business story, his gumption, his drive, his success, but that wasn't that interesting to me. Another guy with a dream who succeeded, how about all the people who didn't? The odds are long, you have to sacrifice everything to make it, and most people don't want to, and most people don't make it, so... Don't look for business lessons in Jake's life, because you're not him, only you, and you've got to find out what is special about you and emphasize that.
So, snowboarding starts to get a bit of traction and Jake blows it up. Hires a guy to go from ski area to ski area to get them to allow snowboards. And then the sport hits critical mass.
This is where the contrasts begin, this is the culture I referenced at the top of this screed. Snowboarding gets to the point where it shares the floor with the ski business at a trade show, and the atmosphere couldn't be more different. On the ski side, it was quiet, everybody was wearing a jacket and tie. On the snowboard side? Shaggy hair and casual clothes. And loud music and beer. It was night and day.
This is what killed rock. This is what allowed Shawn and Sean to revolutionize the music business with Napster. The powers-that-be were asleep, and assumed things would stay the same forever.
Not that Jake's vision doesn't get superseded. He models snowboarding competitions after ski racing. He thinks he's making headway, but then the nation is exposed to the west coast style, with its halfpipe a la skateboarding, and he had to turn on a dime. Don't be too afraid to flip. Then again, everybody's so deep in their position these days. It's like the Republicans who voted for infrastructure, now they're ostracized. Then again, this is the problem the Republicans have at the core, their refusal to change. Turns out most people want change, they want improvement of their lives, and when you shut it down you lose in the long run.
Like the ski industry. The more they battled snowboarding, the more kids wanted to do it. It's the ski industry that forced the choosing of sides. It could have embraced snowboarding, but NO!
Rock was long in the tooth. Even to this day. It's formulaic, with its inane outfits, it's for a small coterie. And this coterie wanted nothing to do with hip-hop, which was new and fresh and had a nascent culture building around it. I mean Guns N' Roses comes back on the VMAs and Axl Rose has had a facelift, he immediately dated himself right then, he was in the rearview mirror, because he was no longer authentic, trying to be Peter Pan when regular citizens don't have that option.
And I won't even bother to retell the story of the music business and file-trading. You sued your customers because they were taking advantage of a better distribution system than you were offering? That's the history of the music business, it was brought into the future by Steve Jobs and Daniel Ek, and if you keep saying how great CDs are you're no different from a Republican.
And why does Jake Burton love snowboarding so much? BECAUSE OF THE FREEDOM! Not the freedom to refrain from being vaccinated, but to be out there cutting your own path in the snow with no one telling you what to do. And Jake's goal was to board a hundred days a year, every year. If it's in your blood, you feel the same way, I certainly do. I used to ski a hundred days a year, now only forty or fifty, and it's not enough, I want that hit of freedom, I want that FUN! I mean you sit at home, inactive, and I feel sorry for you, because when you're out in the mountains you feel so alive.
And the truth is snowboarding might be better for powder than skiing. There's only one plank. But skiing has got it all over snowboarding when it comes to moguls, never mind flats. Then again, snowboard boots are so much more COMFORTABLE!
But I don't want to get into the specifics, if you're a skier or snowboarder you know all this, and have discussed and argued it, and if you're not, you probably don't care. That's the hardest thing to do, to get someone to go skiing or snowboarding. Just like it's hard to get people to listen to your music. But once you get that feeling of sliding on snow...most people can't get enough of it.
So Jake builds and empire and...
Oh, one more cultural thing. A guy gets a patent for the snowboard and afraid of being sued, Burton buys it from him. And then Jake starts charging his competitors a royalty. AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! Doesn't matter if he's gonna give the money to charity, it's opposite the culture of snowboarding, which is about being in it together, not being cutthroat. So, Jake stops charging. It's never too late to do the right thing, even though we live in a culture today where everybody just doubles-down.
So I don't care if you're uninterested in snowboarding, you should watch this documentary. Because the same rules apply in so many walks of life. Oppress people who are a bit different at your peril. And the culture is never static, it's always changing, evolving. To quote the bard from Minnesota, he not busy being born is busy dying.
P.S. Everybody in the movie looked like me! As in nobody wore a tie, looks and dress were secondary to what's inside, what you do. If you're gonna be on camera in L.A., you hire a stylist, you get your look on. Meanwhile, Jake's wife Donna looks like she rolled out of bed not long before and is now testifying. It's the hair. Out of style, not shaped, but to her it doesn't matter. That's what living in Vermont is all about. I'm watching this film and I feel at home, living in Vermont changed me, and I've never recovered. I went to Middlebury with my suburban school clothes and then I stopped wearing leather shoes, only wore jeans, you're affected by your experience, where you live. I think dressing up is b.s. Black tie events? Who are you trying to impress?
P.P.S. Speaking of clothing, snowboarders wore loose clothing, whereas skiers wore tight clothing. End result, EVERYBODY ON THE HILL NOW WEARS BAGGY CLOTHING! If you're wearing tight clothing, form-fitting, stretchy, you're laughed at.
P.P.P.S. Oh, did I mention that Donna went to Barnard? And Jake graduated from NYU? Don't judge a book by its cover, it's what's inside that counts. Believe me, I know, I live in Southern California where image is king, the town of two-dimensional phonies with no portfolio.
P.P.P.P.S. Jake Burton was a beacon, a leader, that's what we lack in America today. People who think different who hew to their path and inspire others to follow them. We've got nobody like this in politics, and when the young people want change, they're told it's too progressive, and they must forgo their interests, move to the center, for the good of... Exactly who? Give the Republicans credit, they went where their voters were and still are. The corporations no longer run the Republican party, rather it's the blue collar that's got all the power. Religion, guns, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant... The politicians give the voters on the right exactly what they want. But on the left, NO! The left has to be Republican lite, as if the voters on the right can be convinced to switch parties. You want to know how to get someone to switch? Just live a life so rich they can no longer sit on the sidelines. You don't need to tell people what to do, they'll jump ship themselves! The original rappers didn't tell white suburbanites they had to become infatuated with hip-hop, rather these old rock fans wanted to go where the excitement was! Yes, that's right, one guy who made snowboards knew more about America than the politicians. Because he was in touch with the experience, he was about purity, not compromise. And these values never go out of style. Want to win? Be singular. Don't care what everybody else says. Do what feels right. Be a leader. But be sure to watch the parking meters!
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