20 March 2007 Karl Rove, I Love You has a test screening at the American Film Institute in Hollywood.
21 February 2007 Phil records his narration for the forthcoming feature film “Karl Rove, I Love You”
19 February 2007 Phil Leirness and his frequent collaborator, Dean Haglund, complete the first of what will be weekly podcasts (listen HERE)
8 January 2007 PhilLeirness.com returns! Back and better than ever …
1 January 2007 Welcome to ‘007. A good year for BONDing (or BONDage?)!
26 March 2007
Captivity
This past month, if you live in Los Angeles or New York, you doubtless saw the most hideous advertising campaign ever employed on behalf of a feature film. So hideous, in fact, were the billboards (L.A.) and taxi cab ads (NY) for the forthcoming Captivity, that a normally apathetic, sedated, desensitized and insensitive public flooded the distributor, the production company and the advertising firm with complaints. The ads in question were multi-paneled, with each panel depicting a different still shot of a woman having violence committed against her, and accompanying each image were such lovely labels as “Torture” and “Termination”.
The volume of complaints was such that the distributor distanced itself from the campaign and the production company paid to have all the ads and billboards torn down. Victory, right? A sense of relief that there are people – a large number of people, apparently – who care, right?
Well, yes …. AND …
I haven’t seen the film, of course. For all I know, it could be the Citizen Kane of “torture and murder films.” My own inimitable and indefatigable sense of whimsy aside, the director of the film is Roland Joffe, whose feature debut was The Killing Fields, one of the most profoundly affecting anti-violence expressions ever put on celluloid. So, you know, there is actually a chance that film could somehow … not be utterly reprehensible.
In fact, if the film really does utilize violence – and in this specific case, violence against a woman – as entertainment, then one of the most deeply disturbing aspects of this whole situation will be how badly Joffe apparently needed a paycheck (and how furiously the artist he once was must be spinning in his grave of bankrupt creativity).
Moreover, it’s hard for me to view the tearing down of these billboards as a victory.
After all, whether it was their intention or not, the individuals responsible for the advertising campaign have effectively moved the line of what will be deemed acceptable in the future. I guarantee you that a campaign of images that would have been deemed unacceptable two months ago, will now be allowed to stand provided the majority of people shrug their shoulders and say, “Hey, it isn’t as bad as Captivity.”
Again, I don’t know whether it was their intent to push the envelope. Push it they did, however. And though they were rebuffed in this instance, the line has nevertheless been redrawn.
Our standards will again have been lowered.
Could there, perhaps, be a blessing in all this?
Certain groups, like the National Organization of Women, are spearheading letter writing campaigns, using the furor surrounding Captivity’s ad campaign to address the larger issue of violence and sexualized violence against women being used in images that are visible in public spaces.
That’s the kind of campaign that might someday lead to change.
In the meantime, tearing down some billboards is a short-lived victory, at best.
