The New And Improved Fashion Board

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Be glad you didn't watch last night's episode of Sleeper Cell.

I don't watch TV.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Not Bob
You want to make a movie that makes people laugh at this kind of stuff? Hire actors! They act. They get paid to act. A good one can even make you believe that they are regular people. Why is this not the solution?

I think that this is the distinction between the Frey memoir and the Frey novel called "A Thousand Little Pieces." The public was much more interested in the former than they were the latter, though one can make the argument that the deception to the public had a large role in how the made up parts were received. "Real" is important, even if "reality" often feels more manufactured than just holding a casting call.

I am certain that Christopher Guest could have made the "Best in Show" mockumentary as a documentary using real dog show people and come up with something essentially the same. There are enough crazy people out there that he could have followed. But he went with actors instead and came up with something pretty damned funny.

But the audience knows that "Best in Show" isn't real. The audience knows that it's Parker Posey, not some weird yuppie with a Wieneriner problem. And even if the audience hadn't already seen Parker Posey in other indy flicks, they still would have known that the movie Is Not Real.

Borat and the gazillion of "news" clips on the Daily Show that make ordinary people look like baffoons are a different animal. There's an added weirdness and entertainment factor because these people are real. Someone really espouses those views or engages in that behavior, and not only that, that same person generally doesn't have a problem looking like an ass on film. It's only afterwards, when they find that the portrayal is unflattering, that they bitch about it.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan

Borat and the gazillion of "news" clips on the Daily Show that make ordinary people look like baffoons are a different animal. There's an added weirdness and entertainment factor because these people are real. Someone really espouses those views or engages in that behavior, and not only that, that same person generally doesn't have a problem looking like an ass on film. It's only afterwards, when they find that the portrayal is unflattering, that they bitch about it.

thank you. this is what I was trying to say about Ty and them on the PB.

[Fugee]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
I don't watch TV.

On the other extreme, I've spent the last week watching Season 1 of Deadwood. Excellent series. but I have to take a break before diving into Season 2 to prevent "fucking cocksuckers" and "cocksucking fuckers" from becoming part of my regular vocabulary.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Not Bob
You want to make a movie that makes people laugh at this kind of stuff? Hire actors! They act. They get paid to act. A good one can even make you believe that they are regular people. Why is this not the solution?

Michael Moore could have hired an actor to play Roger Smith in Roger & Me. Come to think of it, he could have hired actors to play the people getting evicted from their home. Or he could have hired an actor to play the little old lady on the golf course who said that the unemployed in Flint just needed to go out and get jobs. I'm not sure the impact would have been the same, though.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Fugee
On the other extreme, I've spent the last week watching Season 1 of Deadwood. Excellent series. but I have to take a break before diving into Season 2 to prevent "fucking cocksuckers" and "cocksucking fuckers" from becoming part of my regular vocabulary.

if you ever fall into prostitution, you should know prices have risen since then. Even on the plains.

[patentparanyc]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
if you ever fall into prostitution, you should know prices have risen since then. Even on the plains.

um, like how would you know?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by patentparanyc
um, like how would you know?

I was your mom's pimp.

[patentparanyc]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I was your mom's pimp.

Oh Hank, yo momma jokes?

[Fugee]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Borat and the gazillion of "news" clips on the Daily Show that make ordinary people look like baffoons are a different animal. There's an added weirdness and entertainment factor because these people are real. Someone really espouses those views or engages in that behavior, and not only that, that same person generally doesn't have a problem looking like an ass on film. It's only afterwards, when they find that the portrayal is unflattering, that they bitch about it.

I'm a bit troubled by the deception involved in saying one thing about how and where the footage will be used but giving a broad release and counting on people to accept your word rather than what the release says (or more likely counting on them not reading the release at all).

But it brings up a question -- how does Dateline get the right to broadcast those "To Catch A Predator" guys? It's hard to imagine they sign a release. Or is there an exception for people who are committing a crime?

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Michael Moore could have hired an actor to play Roger Smith in Roger & Me. Come to think of it, he could have hired actors to play the people getting evicted from their home. Or he could have hired an actor to play the little old lady on the golf course who said that the unemployed in Flint just needed to go out and get jobs. I'm not sure the impact would have been the same, though.

Right. Borat and Roger & Me are exactly alike. (This one's for you, TM)--------> I just *loved* that part where Mike hands Roger a bag of his crap at the dinner party in Grosse Point.

If the producers of Borat are so desirous of getting reality, why do they lie in the releases?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Not Bob
Right. Borat and Roger & Me are exactly alike. (This one's for you, TM)--------> I just *loved* that part where Mike hands Roger a bag of his crap at the dinner party in Grosse Point.

If the producers of Borat are so desirous of getting reality, why do they lie in the releases?

Do they lie in the releases?

As to your first paragraph, don't you kinda wish MM had thought of that?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Michael Moore could have hired an actor to play Roger Smith in Roger & Me. Come to think of it, he could have hired actors to play the people getting evicted from their home. Or he could have hired an actor to play the little old lady on the golf course who said that the unemployed in Flint just needed to go out and get jobs. I'm not sure the impact would have been the same, though.

what's weird is Farenheit 9/11 was entirely fictional, but he made it with real people. Meta?

[patentparanyc]

Blech he looks like growing up gotti

http://www.defamer.com/

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Fugee
I'm a bit troubled by the deception involved in saying one thing about how and where the footage will be used but giving a broad release and counting on people to accept your word rather than what the release says (or more likely counting on them not reading the release at all).

I generally have a problem with that sort of thing too. My point was simply that there's a difference to the audience in "real" people and actors, even if the actors are shot in a way to mimic reality.

But it brings up a question -- how does Dateline get the right to broadcast those "To Catch A Predator" guys? It's hard to imagine they sign a release. Or is there an exception for people who are committing a crime?

I sat on a panel about medical privacy authorizations last year for a journalist professional organization . As far as most of the members of that organization were concerned, HIPAA interferes with first amendment rights and is an abomination to news reporting everywhere. If they feel that way about medical information releases, I suppose they feel the same way about releases in general. OTOH, COPS has been pixelating the faces of the perpetrators since inception, so I suppose the power of the "you never got a release" lawsuit is strong.