"Punk is the remedy for my sickness" says The Punks are Alright's Dolly.  Douglass Crawford's The Punks are Alright is a punk music documentary that follows three young adults from around the world. The documentary uses Mickey from Canada, Henrike from Brazil and Dolly from Indonesia to demonstrate how punk is used to connect people and how it is used as an emotional outlet.

While each of these three characters comes from a different background, they are all connected by punk music.  Mickey is a part of a band called the Forgotten Rebels.  When Henrike gets a hold of Mickey's album, Henrike's life is changed for good.  Soon after, Henrike receives a letter from Dolly asking for a CD and sure enough, Henrike sends a CD from Brazil to Dolly in Indonesia.  While most music today has a high-fidelity network, punk is spread by word of mouth and therefore adopts a social/participatory network.

Punk music is chaotic, intense, rebellious and aggressive.  It is because of these characteristics that I have never been a fan of punk; however, The Punks are Alright has changed my perception of punk music and those who participate in the making of punk music.

In this documentary, I learned about the backgrounds of punk artists and fans.  Mickey, Henrike and Dolly, although all from different continents, come from similar backgrounds.  They deal with problems of racial differences, poverty and violence.  This is very different from how I grew up and it is difficult to imagine living a life such as the ones depicted in the film.  After viewing this film, my respect for the people living in these communities increased greatly and it makes all of the problems in my life seem so insignificant.  Although our struggles are very different, we are similar in the way that we all need an outlet to express our anger.  For Mickey, Enrique and Dolly, punk music provides that outlet.

This takes me back to Dolly's previously-mentioned quote, "Punk is the remedy for my sickness."  Dolly is a factory worker in Indonesia.  He gets paid $2.66 a day and has a 2 hour commute including 4 bus rides each way.  Punk music offers Dolly an escape from his "sickness", or the oppression and powerlessness in his life.  Further, punk music is essentially a way to say "fuck the system" and in this case, that system is capitalism.  As a form of DIY, punk music is a means of trying to step outside of capitalism.

A young woman interviewed in the film pointed out that, "people in the first world need to think about people in the third world."  Her powerful statements about the first world got me thinking about how the decisions we make in Bloomington affect people around the world.  Buying a pair of Nike shoes, for example, affects factory workers in Indonesia who make the shoes.  Americans demand high quality products at the lowest possible price.  Competition incentivizes companies to lower their prices as much as possible.  Because of this, and because there are no minimum wage laws in Indonesia, those factory workers are paid very little for their work.  On the other hand, if we demand for companies like Nike to be moved to America, those workers won't even have a job.  American consumers have more influence in the lives of others than they might think.  Similarly, American voters have more influence in the laws of other countries than they might think.  The way Americans vote decides who will represent America in the American government and thus, what our government will do to help other countries such as Indonesia with issues such as minimum wage laws.

Upon first impression, punk music may seem violent and angry.  However, upon closer inspection, it is apparent that punk music is a healthy way to express that anger, and it actually keeps kids out of danger.  Henrique points out that if kids are inside playing punk music, they are not outside on the streets getting involved in drugs and violence.  Punk is a confrontational form of concert that is used to rebel against the system and more specifically, capitalism.  And even though people can hear punk music, they might not want to listen.  Nevertheless, punk music is a healthy and effective outlet.  After understanding this, my perception and judgement of punk music will never be the same.