This is funny.
Not quite sure if it's a very effective or positive way to brand the city of Portland. Or an advertisement for mainstreaming bicycle culture - or mainstreaming anything.
"Portlandia" is a spoof, perhaps a "roast" of Portland and the popular conception of it. I don't think it was meant as branding. As they say there, "Keep Portland Weird."
I know, I love it! The bike guy reminds me of me a couple of years ago... *shudder*
Also love the scene where they're asking how organic and local the chicken at a restaurant is. It ends up with them driving to the farm to check up on it before ordering.
There's little Portlands in many cities of course, in Europe too. Here in Malmö it's called Möllevången. Charming and fun but sometimes a little ridiculous :)
Here in Portland we've been doing nothing but talking about this non-stop. I've got to tell you, it is so true! The cool thing too is that a lot of the people in the videos are locals that signed up to be in it. As far as the U.S. goes, it's a really awesome place to live. (Though, if I ever make it across the pond I'd still probably chose to live in Copenhagen.)
Yeah, that pretty much nails it -- this is a satire of the subcultural for the subcultural. The only people who will find this amusing are the white yuppies (in Portland or elsewhere) who already like bikes (at least in theory). I'm one of them, and I've spent some time in Portland, and I knew who Carrie Brownstein was before she did this show -- and even I don't find its satire particularly sharp; it'll probably give some ammunition to the Rob Ford types, though. And they'll take it literally. Whee. Thanks, guys.
Lived in Portland for years, and go back to visit once or twice per annum...a lot of the show rings pretty true, even if it's not always all that funny in execution.
Most of my friends back there are hating hard on it, though. Portlanders can be an overly serious bunch. I think it's the positively Nordic levels of winter gloom, coupled with a kind of citywide inferiority complex toward Seattle & San Francisco.
"You're also a little San Francisco right now..." As a San Franciscan, love it.
Portland being regarded as America's most livable city (and not coincidentally having high cycling rates), it's the closest thing we have to Copenhagen on the North American West Coast: http://www.streetfilms.org/portland-celebrating-americas-most-livable-city/
Though I'd say SF is increasingly coming in close (watch out, we've got the nation's largest bicycle coalition), AND it has the ambition and opportunities that Portland lacks...
I grew up and bicycled in Portland in the 60's and 70's--missed the 90's. Compared with my bicycling experiences here in Syracuse, NY, my home for 25 years, even at that time Portland was comparatively very bicycle-friendly.
Living in Portland now, some of t his definitely does ring true, though of course somewhat exaggerated to be funny :) And they filmed the first part of the trailer in my neighborhood :)
Portland is a great city in a lot of ways, I can't think of anywhere else in North America I would want to live. Surprisingly though, bikes are not an easy political issue here, people seem to get pretty riled up about them from all angles...
Despite people's sometimes over-zealousness, or maybe over-piousness about bikes and food and being "sustainable", I have to say, it's pretty awesome that you can raise chickens and goats in the city, and I could get basically all my food from farms within about 2 hours drive (or less) of the city centre, including meat and raw milk. The amount of good food available in Portland via restaurants is also astounding.
And for the left brain: a recent (University of Zurich) analysis suggests Portland's bike infrastructure will save $900m in health care and fuel costs in the next 30 years.
16 comments:
"Portlandia" is a spoof, perhaps a "roast" of Portland and the popular conception of it. I don't think it was meant as branding. As they say there, "Keep Portland Weird."
How about "Copenhagenia"? (Bikes are vacuum cleaners, etc.)
Wow. This is kind of amazing. I love weird and the first video made me daydream about moving to Portland!
bike bike bike bike!
I know, I love it! The bike guy reminds me of me a couple of years ago... *shudder*
Also love the scene where they're asking how organic and local the chicken at a restaurant is. It ends up with them driving to the farm to check up on it before ordering.
There's little Portlands in many cities of course, in Europe too. Here in Malmö it's called Möllevången. Charming and fun but sometimes a little ridiculous :)
Spoof? Yeah, duh. Even hungover on a Sunday I could figure out that it wasn't a product of the Portland Tourism Bureau.
:-)
We have a mini-Portland here, too. It's called Malmö. ;-)
How can you tell it's a spoof?
Just because it's risible and doesn't make sense doesn't make it a spoof.
George Dubya Bush as US President didn't make sense either (conceptually or verbally), but he wasn't a spoof, he was just a nightmare!
Cars, man, WHY?
if what you guys are saying is true, I better move to Malmö...
Here in Portland we've been doing nothing but talking about this non-stop. I've got to tell you, it is so true! The cool thing too is that a lot of the people in the videos are locals that signed up to be in it. As far as the U.S. goes, it's a really awesome place to live. (Though, if I ever make it across the pond I'd still probably chose to live in Copenhagen.)
or mainstreaming anything.
Yeah, that pretty much nails it -- this is a satire of the subcultural for the subcultural. The only people who will find this amusing are the white yuppies (in Portland or elsewhere) who already like bikes (at least in theory). I'm one of them, and I've spent some time in Portland, and I knew who Carrie Brownstein was before she did this show -- and even I don't find its satire particularly sharp; it'll probably give some ammunition to the Rob Ford types, though. And they'll take it literally. Whee. Thanks, guys.
Only visited Portland once and loved it. Like no place I've ever been. We'd love to live there. Yes, I'd say the 90's are still alive in Portland.
Lived in Portland for years, and go back to visit once or twice per annum...a lot of the show rings pretty true, even if it's not always all that funny in execution.
Most of my friends back there are hating hard on it, though. Portlanders can be an overly serious bunch. I think it's the positively Nordic levels of winter gloom, coupled with a kind of citywide inferiority complex toward Seattle & San Francisco.
"You're also a little San Francisco right now..." As a San Franciscan, love it.
Portland being regarded as America's most livable city (and not coincidentally having high cycling rates), it's the closest thing we have to Copenhagen on the North American West Coast:
http://www.streetfilms.org/portland-celebrating-americas-most-livable-city/
Though I'd say SF is increasingly coming in close (watch out, we've got the nation's largest bicycle coalition), AND it has the ambition and opportunities that Portland lacks...
I grew up and bicycled in Portland in the 60's and 70's--missed the 90's. Compared with my bicycling experiences here in Syracuse, NY, my home for 25 years, even at that time Portland was comparatively very bicycle-friendly.
Living in Portland now, some of t his definitely does ring true, though of course somewhat exaggerated to be funny :) And they filmed the first part of the trailer in my neighborhood :)
Portland is a great city in a lot of ways, I can't think of anywhere else in North America I would want to live. Surprisingly though, bikes are not an easy political issue here, people seem to get pretty riled up about them from all angles...
Despite people's sometimes over-zealousness, or maybe over-piousness about bikes and food and being "sustainable", I have to say, it's pretty awesome that you can raise chickens and goats in the city, and I could get basically all my food from farms within about 2 hours drive (or less) of the city centre, including meat and raw milk. The amount of good food available in Portland via restaurants is also astounding.
And for the left brain: a recent (University of Zurich) analysis suggests Portland's bike infrastructure will save $900m in health care and fuel costs in the next 30 years.
http://bikeportland.org/2011/02/04/research-by-2040-portlands-bikeway-investments-could-save-us-800-million-in-health-care-fuel-costs-47392
Smells just like fresh coffee to me.
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