Searching for Sugar Man
PROVO, Utah (February 4, 2014)-–Have you ever wondered what happened to the 1970’s musician Rodriguez? Odds are, you haven’t heard of him. Rodriguez wasn’t popular in America, however thanks to some bootleg copies, in South Africa, Rodriguez’s popularity rivaled that of Elvis.
Searching for Sugar Man is a part of International Cinema’s “Magic in Music” series. The film, which was released just two years ago at the Sundance Film festival to rave reviews, has gone on to win many awards, including best documentary at last year’s Academy Awards.
During the weekly International Cinema lecture series, Rob Colson assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, introduced Searching for Sugar Man, a documentary that probes into the curious popularity of the Mexican-American musician in South Africa.
Colson explored how the film acts as a narrative of South African Apartheid, the music industry, the rise of the Internet and globalism. Rodriguez’s music spoke to much of the injustice and cynicism felt by South Africans. Similarly, the film looks at “why the music industry continues to fail artists.” Since the movie follows two fans of Rodriguez and their investigation into his disappearance in the late 1990’s, it also tells the story of the rise of the Internet, which made it possible to find out such facts.
Colson also spoke about the film as an example of globalism, a term that some students may not recognize. Essentially, globalism is a counter movement to globalization, which refers to the spread of unifying factors across the world. In contrast, globalism looks at how information spreads through informal lines, more specifically how information travels outside of global economy and politics.
Searching for Sugar Man will be playing at International Cinema for the remainder of the week.