What is the meaning of the movie title 'Taking Woodstock'?

Answer 1

There is a famous phrase, 'Taking Manhattan'. The origin of this phrase is not absolutely established, but it is likely from the phrase 'taking Manhattan by storm'. To 'take [somewhere] by storm' means to succeed there in such a way that 'everybody's talking about it'. There is a sense that Manhattan is the ultimate 'proving ground' in this sense; so, to 'take Manhattan by storm' would be to wildly and popularly succeed in a place that is considered sort of elite or high society; a real coup. It might be said of an actor, a film director, an author, or even a creative work or idea itself ("the new fashion craze that is taking Manhattan by storm").

That phrase has come to be used by nearly anyone who doesn't live there to describe anything done there. A couple of college students who are taking a road trip to New York might tell their friends, 'First we'll be taking Manhattan, then we're flying down to Miami'. In this sense, it generally conveys a sense of personal adventure and optimism, similar to how someone might say when they hear that someone is going to New York (or wherever) "Oh, man, New York won't know what hit them when those two show up" -- an exaggeration of the impact that a couple of ordinary people are going to make on a big city or event (or even a profession or sport or the like).

I think that last sense is closest to how it's being used in the film title. "Taking Woodstock", except that there is an irony there because the whole concept is reversed -- instead of a couple of normal, small-time people "taking" a big city like Manhattan, it's about how a big event "takes" a normal, small-time town. The movie is based on the true story of how the huge Woodstock music festival came to be held in the location that it was, which was a farm in New York owned by a guy named Yasgur.

The event became much larger than was originally planned, and in order to hold the festival in the area they had to overcome opposition from the local conservative, small-town locals, who didn't like the idea of a bunch of 'long-haired, dope smoking hippie types' crawling all over their peaceful town. So the title refers in a literal sense to the way the festival "took over" the town of Woodstock over the objections of many of its inhabitants, and then in an ironic or humourous way by way of the "taking Manhattan" reference.

That's my take, anyway.