TRANSITIONS: Land of corn, soybeans and sculpted butter
The creativity of Iowans finally is being recognized across the nation. Unfortunately, the thing that impresses people is the way we sculpt things out of butter.
Norma “Duffy” Lyon, the Iowa State Fair’s longtime “Butter Cow Lady,” passed away this year, and a surprising amount of nostalgia flowed through the national media. That’s fine. It means that sophisticated folks still like to imagine us out here living the simple life, as long as we don’t brush up against them at airports.
But now we learn that a new movie is based on butter-sculpting at the fair, and I’m worried. Some moviegoers might get the impression that manipulating dairy products is the zenith of Iowa culture. “Aren’t those prairie folks clever?” the cultural establishment will say. “Imagine what they’ll do when they hear that you can make metal out of stuff from the ground.”
They’ll assume that we see art only as very literal shapes that would also work well on toast. If we trucked in Michelangelo’s “Pieta,” they would expect the typical fairgoer to say: “Hey, neat. Why isn’t it yellow?” Then it’s off to the weed identification contest.
I’m no sculptor, unless you count rolling Play-Doh on a flat surface until it looks like a snake. (I’ve had offers to lecture at some of the finest art schools, but first I want to find a little twig that looks like a forked tongue.)
However, I think we have to admit that butter is a less challenging medium than Carrara marble, for example. If you mess up, you don’t have to wait for a slow boat from Italy to try again. You just go to the store and look between the yogurt and the cream cheese.
By chance, I saw the Register’s report on the movie “Butter” shortly after I watched “Secretariat,” which had reminded me of moviemakers’ tendency to force reality to the rail.
In “Secretariat,” the delightful Diane Lane plays the lead – at least, the lead among cast members standing less than 16 hands high – as she desperately tries to save her family’s horse farm. In the thrilling and totally unpredictable climactic scene, everything turns out OK.
My habit is to enjoy a movie in the moment, like a Zen master, then look up the reviews afterward on the Internet so I can enjoy the criticism, too. Nothing balances out the Tao Te Ching like the collected works of Roger Ebert. That’s how I learned that things were different in the real story of Secretariat.
His owners had won the previous year’s Kentucky Derby with a horse named Riva Ridge. When you win the Derby, your big concern the next time around is not saving the farm; it’s trying to find your way to the paddock after a year’s worth of mint juleps.
However, nothing irritates a Walt Disney movie producer as much as good fortune coming too early in the story. So no Riva Ridge, and a remarkable tale becomes a slick one. Although the ending was a bit much, where Secretariat is elected president and delivers an emotional plea for horses’ rights.
I suppose it’s inevitable that “real-life” movies give a false impression. Back stories need to be tightened; action needs to be compressed; mildly annoying people need to be transformed into over-the-top villains who remind viewers of Saddam Hussein, or their exes.
But trying to sexy up the Iowa State Fair can only lead to trouble. In the Register story by Dan Finney – who is easily as delightful as Diane Lane, but in a very, very different way – a summary of “Butter” included the phrase “stripper-prostitute-mistress.” Hey, it’s the Iowa State Fair, not the National Basketball Association.
Maybe we were better off being ignored.
Jim Pollock is the managing editor of the Des Moines Business Record. He can be reached by email at jimpollock@bpcdm.com