The reporting left me in a quandary because I really felt like the article left out an important point: What is Lindsay Jaeger's documentary actually about and what is it adding to the current discussion about Everett Ruess's enduring mystery and evolving legacy?
Everett Ruess fans can only gather so much from the Wilderness Song youtube trailer.
As a result, Everett Ruess Disciples like me are largely left to media accounts of Everett's life and influence. However, as a journalist, I am increasingly aware of how news reports that act as the "first rough draft of history" are only as good as an article's credible feedback.
One of the things, I also noticed in this article about Wilderness Song is that the reporter didn't put this movie in context with other Ruess-related media -- including last year's two books about Everett. And more importantly, the reporter should have done enough reporting to know that other documentaries have been made about Everett.
News is supposed to be new.
And if Everett Ruess is a Utah icon, as the article's headline suggests, then it should tell people what "new" information is being shown by the creation of this movie. This article only gets to a piece of this and spends almost as much time telling Lindsay Jaeger's story as it does Everett's. It has quotes from people saying the movie followed the right path, but it remains unclear what that path looks like.
Some people will say that that is the point: the article create's buzz about the movie so more people will watch it. That's great, if you have the wherewithal and ability to watch it.
My other concern is that this movie is in its final stages of being done and I haven't heard from Lindsay about my take on her project. According to the Tribune, Jaeger "hopes her documentary will help to keep the interest alive, not just in Ruess as an icon but also as a conduit to a fascination and respect for wilderness lands. Outside of Utah, it’s rare to find people who know who Ruess was. It’s only once they connect his legacy to the larger canvas of environmental concerns that his appeal clicks into view."
Jaeger is a member of my Everett Ruess Disciples group. She knows I'm one the founders -- connecting the Everett Ruess story online. She should also know that I wrote my master's thesis about how the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance "connect(ed) his legacy" to their environmental concerns.
So why hasn't she called? I think maybe that's my fault.
I should have told Jaeger to call me. I guess I just figured anyone who is doing sophisticated research about Everett Ruess would figure out some of her research was already done in 2003.
Philip Fradkin and David Robert's figured this out for their books (even though the fomer left out that fact in his book). Steve Robert's figured it out for his Everett Ruess Arts Festival in Escalante. So why hasn't Jaeger?
I posed these points on the Everett Ruess Disciples Facebook group and an interesting discussion continues to unfold.
I'll leave some of my other issues for those postings but I will end by saying that if Jaeger thinks, according to the Tribune article, that very few people know about Everett Ruess she is mistaken.
I believe the Everett Ruess Disciples, named and unnamed, and the large amount of mass media about Everett Ruess -- including the book "Into the Wild" reaching the New York Times best seller list -- prove otherwise.
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p.s. One thing that has emerged from the online discussion about this article on Facebook is the news to me that another Everett Ruess movie, "Nemo 1934" is coming out this fall. Information about that project can be viewed here.
One last thought: The Diane Orr said she had tons of footage that didn't make it into her film "Lost Forever." That, to me, is the important stuff Jaeger needs in her movie, along with quotes from the same types of people I interviewed about Everett's connection to the Souther Utah Wilderness Alliance.
I've got the audio and transcripts, she just needs to add the pictures. Those details found here ...
