“It’s really easy to settle for something that you don’t like. Because, if you never admit you’re unhappy with something, then you never have to change anything. Most of us don’t speak up when we’re dissatisfied and then things just accumulate until you can’t really imagine an alternative.” ~ John Wilson in Scaffolding (Episode 2 of ‘How to with John Wilson’1)
The quote above and so many such hard-truths and reflections about life is what makes watching the documentary ‘How to with John Wilson’, an experience worth having. I would say that his brilliance was in the shots that he captured to make his points. When he is voicing over the above statement about “we don’t speak up when we’re dissatisfied”, he shows a man having a haircut (hinting that he is unhappy but sitting there and letting the hairstylist do his job with the machine) and then, as he is saying “things just accumulate”, he shows footage of a woman covered almost fully in pigeons! She probably meant to feed a couple of them and then so many birds swoop in!
It is as though he casually stumbles into footages of interesting storefronts, overflowing garbage bins, people arguing, animals pooping, etc. as he wanders around New York City, talking to himself loudly. But I’m sure he has picked the right footage to say the right thing. His dry humor is something that cannot be explained. One has to see and hear.
The series as a whole is a bit depressing to watch, sometimes revolting, but definitely is thought-provoking. It is like having an intelligent friend who makes sarcastic, yet insightful comments about the state of the world and society once in a while as he is talking. Also, it shows a side of New York that most outsiders may never know. Sometimes one wonders if it is part of a city from a third world country!
Now to the topic at hand, Scaffolding. I’ve been to NYC a few times, mostly on business in past jobs. I’ve always wondered why so many places were in perpetual construction. When one sees interlocking aluminum pipes forming a frame to support something, one thinks of something being repaired or built. Through the documentary, I got to know that scaffolding is in place to protect people from objects falling from high rises. Wow, it is a problem that is unique to places which have high rise buildings. I never thought of it that way and it was an ‘aha’ moment.
Wilson says that the death of a person due to something that fell on his/her head back in 1979 spawned this $8 billion a year industry! Scaffoldings look that way (unfinished) because they are supposed to be temporary. But these are in no way temporary and there are many scaffoldings that have been there for over 20 years! And now, many people probably die because of scaffolding breaking and falling on them!
At one point, Wilson says - “You can end a relationship that offers you nothing or.. you can just stay in it indefinitely because it is too hard to move on.” and he shows a lonely lady sitting on a stool and smoking while looking at the pedestrians in the most uninspired manner!
The city’s relationship with scaffolding is not serving its original noble purpose of protecting people but it cannot be removed at all due to all the other forces, especially business interests, at play. So you end up with an ugly looking structure that obscures views, obstructs people walking, doesn’t allow light to get to plants, and also kills people!
There are many other quips of his that made me think later. Especially when he compares different aspects of life with scaffolding. “Money jobs can operate like a kind of scaffolding, providing brief support, but stick with them long enough and they can become central to what you do and who you are.” Yeah, someone could take up a job as an Uber driver or taxi driver temporarily to make ends meet, but get stuck in that.
In another instance, he compares images of buildings like Flatiron building, Plaza Hotel, Tiffany’s, etc. portrayed in the movies where they show the signage at the top and the imposing tall structures but in reality, they look ugly with the scaffolding at the ground level. It is true - Movies tuck away the ugliness in the world and sell beauty that is not there.
Of course, it is one thing to be critical about these structures and wish to have them vanish but I couldn’t help but think if the people at the bottom do need protection from people at the top. Not just literally but from all walks of life. In Greek mythology, gods fought against themselves but in most cases, it was the people below who suffered, In medieval Europe, when kings had differences in opinion, the public ended up starving to support wars that cleaned up the exchequer, In today’s times, when a President wants to quash his predecessor’s medical policy, millions suffer due to lack of medical coverage, When VPs in a company fight and a particular division gets shuttered, normal employees get laid off but the VP might walk away with a huge severance package, and so on. When people at the top fight and throw things or cast their opponents down, everything seems to fall on the hapless pedestrians. So, ugly or not, something is needed. But not too much.
I could go on. But let me end the post with another beautiful quote from the episode that Wilson says towards the end -
You can waste your entire life playing it safe. But the real danger is what you never expect it to be. And if you put up too much scaffolding to protect yourself, you might just end up buried underneath it.
Image Credit - Flickr - https://flic.kr/p/9KtoQY - Scaffolding City by Devyn Caldwell.