Woody/Joe Strummer?

[ladyd]

Apologies if this has alrady been discussed, but I heard somewhere that the character of Woody was based on Joe Strummer; can anyone confirm this?

For anyone not familiar with Joe, he was the founding member of the Clash, and was previously in a band called the 101res; the former went on to be known as posibly the most political of all the original punk bands, and had an important part to play in seperating the punk/skinhead scene from racism. Prior to his joining the Clash, Strummer had insisted for a time that he be knnown as 'Woody', an homage to UK folk artist, Woody Guthrie.

There are obvious paralells between the two characters; as an outsider looking in, one might have assumed the character of Woody to be quite offensive. However, in contract to the sterotype he provokes in peoples' minds, he turns out to be a normal, gentle soul. It is the older, less obvious Combo that becomes the main negative focus in the film. Like real life racists, he diverts negative attention on account of not immediately appearing to be what he is.

I feel it's an important cpment on both race issues and simply how we judge people on first impresssions.

[GR]

I've wondered about that myself... Those are some interesting observations.

[danrev]

Woody Guthrie was American.


I cant really spot the similarities myself.

[GR]

According to Shane's liner-note essay in the This Is Shane Meadows boxed set (which I finally got my hands on earlier this week), the character of Woody was actually based on a guy whom Shane's older sister was dating in the early '80s, a "nice bloke" who educated young Shane about the origins of skinhead culture.