For those of you that had a different upbringing from me, were never in my sorority, or did not spend extensive amounts of time with me, this title may be strange. For those of you on the other side, you will know that this movie is a very important part of Americana and one of my favorites. This movie is a funny, coming of age sort of thing set in South Carolina and centered around the regional dance of SC, THE SHAG. There is of course a shag contest and some turmoil, but generally a lovely absence of conflict...which is why I love it so much.
"THE SHAG": This is a dance set to "Beach Music"- which has not been fully explained to me what makes "Beach Music", and is prevalent along the beaches of SC and they are very proud of it. No one here can understand how I could live somewhere that I hadn't already learned all the steps. Then I start talking about the movie and they look at me like I am asking them about life on Mars. I don't think there is one Kansan that has not see the "Wizard of OZ", but I have yet to found a South Carolinian who has seen this movie. Mind you, everyone thinks the movie about Dorothy was shot IN Kansas, and that the tornadoes and flying monkeys are real. The Shag movie is not only about their state, but shot in their state, about their own state's dance. Seriously? We would be showing that thing every two weeks in the schools as part of the curriculum.
The best part is that Greenwood has a large number of British folks that silently giggle when everyone here starts talking about "Shagging" with such bizarre gusto....I giggle with them too.
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