Insomnia combined with a desire to turn off my brain rather than work from home tonight led me to watch an old movie on the VCR (yes, I’m kickin’ it old school) after everyone else went to bed. Pump Up the Volume is the story of a high school malcontent whose pirate radio show becomes the focal point in the clash between a (school) administration that knows What’s Good For You and the kids who just wanna get along.

The movie is a sentimental favorite of mine, despite its many flaws. It came out when I was still young enough to remember high school (and, as my previous post about high school attests, those memories were not of the fond sort); the main character was a cynical loner/outsider who was eloquent in some arenas and had troubles communicating in others (traits with which I identified); the medium of choice for the main character was radio (I was a jockey/news horse at WVBR-FM at the time); the movie’s school administration worked at odds with its mandate, although teachers were generally sympathetic (a la Bennett H.S.); and Samantha Mathis (female lead in the movie) reminded me pleasantly of someone I knew and liked. The fact that she took off her shirt in one scene didn’t hurt, either.

But yes, there were a few flaws. No need to catalog them here; they mostly concern the plot, the script, the editing, some odd directorial choices, etc.

At the end of the movie, there’s a climactic scene where the hero radio pirate is cornered by the FCC and the cops and all them mean nasty suits. Up until this point in the movie, Christian Slater played his role like Christopher Reeve played Superman(tm): as two roles inhabiting one character. There was mild mannered Mark Hunter and his superhero radio jockey alter ego, Hard Harry. In the final scene, Hard Harry is unmasked in public and, as he is being carted away by the Feds, he beseeches his audience to “Steal the air”; to set up their own radio shows on their own pirate radio stations and say whatever it is they have to say.

Even at the time the movie first came out, this didn’t strike me as a particularly stirring call to action. If everyone is spending their time broadcasting, to a very limited range, any old dumb thing that’s on their mind, then who ends up listening?

But tonight as I watch, I can’t help but think that Hard Harry’s dream has been realized. The medium is different: instead of a radio field crowded with pirate stations, we have the Internet. But Harry’s utopian vision of a world where anyone can broadcast whatever is on their mind to whoever might be out there to listen, well… we have that now. It’s called the blogosphere.

So where’s my revolution, man? Huh? Huh? HARRRRRRY!!! TALK HARRRRRD!