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Ginger Says – Corporates have had their honeymoon period, where fear was the guy downstairs’ job. And now they are feeling that fear
By Ginger | November 4, 1999
It’s Blair Witch mania time! And I thank the Devil for it.
Has anyone but me been really, stupefyingly, clinically BORED recently? Big budget Hollywood blockbusters and dull computer generated effects… have you noticed the distinct shift in movie ‘entertainment’ values? Until very recently, the art of entertainment had been renegotiated yet again in favour of bland, faceless, big money, sales-related ‘products’. In other words: CRAP.
Movies and music, though having a much different agenda and long term effect, are very closely related from point of fact that in neglectful hands they can both be controlled by multinational corporates. Big companies whose only directive is to make as much money as possible from people like you. Money is made far easier by pandering to demand, and demand has been shown to be controllable.
Take music, for instance. The buyer likes ‘best of’ albums to safely familiarise themselves with the artist. Big time, money-earning artists are the best bet for this kind of audience / music manipulation. So, regardless of the ‘brand loyalty’ of old, the marketing people now know how fickle today’s buyer is. After all, they programmed the market themselves. The ‘best of’ will then feature a new song, unavailable anywhere else. This will reluctantly pull in any ‘older’ fans still left out of the picture, that wouldn’t mind shelling out for the singles neatly packaged and in a different order from the last one. Everybody forgets the last time they were ripped off, subscribes to the cult of the new product, and everyone is happy again.
“Ever felt like you’ve been cheated?”
Movies act in the very same way. Anyone fucking sick of Ewan McGregor’s face? Or Leo DeCaprio? Not that they are particularly unappealing faces, but c’mon, burgers for breakfast, lunch and supper? While the artist must outstay his welcome or be cast aside for another young hopeful, the audience are once again treated like the monkeys that we statistically, as consumers, have voted ourselves to be.
It goes like this…
1) Crap product, nice packaging, big budget, exposure.
2) Audience buys said product due to the bland nature of shopping and the brainwashing of the advertising campaign.
3) Product ceases advertising overkill to make way for new product.
4) See 1.
This works for music too. There is no secret why the biggest bands / artists are the ones you see on TV. And if Leo DeCaprio or Marilyn Manson is pulling in the biggest audiences due to the above mentioned strategy, then who doesn’t want to be a part of the next big thing? The next big thing is sexy. And the next big thing is already sitting on the desk of some fat mega-bucker’s desk. On paper. Designed. Ready to roll. And you are in there as well. And the beauty of marketing is that you didn’t even know how big a part you played in its success. Much like the artist thinking that he or she did actually have something to do with their superstardom. If you own the latest Marilyn Manson album / Titanic video, it has already worked, and you have not been thanked on the Oscars / Grammys for your involvement. THE CORPORATES CONTROL YOUR NEXT FAVOURITE THING.
Or at least they did until The Blair Witch Project.
No one in Hollywood saw that one coming. And they see everything, right? Wrong! Mike Tyson went down. Princess Diana died. The aliens might even fucking land. We are reaching the greatest stage of paranoia in the history of man. Man has convinced himself, and his loyal legion of followers, that they are right! He is that good. No longer of mere mortal form, he has become the Last Word.
And then history decides that enough is enough and chooses to readdress the picture. And we are back to where we came in. Every generation repeats itself. It is a certainty that only the truly ‘full’ can ignore. Fashion, art, music… it’s all in the hands of the consumer. And eventually the consumer rebels against the system and challenges the boss to the chair. Only this time, they use the ammunition gathered up from the boss’s negligence.
Hollywood cannot copy Blair Witch, and copying is what corporates do. Strategies, proven methods, etc. Blair Witch has fulfilled the consumers’ need for ‘The Exorcist of the Nineties’ where Hollywood has been sleeping on the set of the ‘new Scream for the year 2000’.
Hah! Missed it completely, you fat bastards!
Music is going the same way. The taste-makers, movers and shakers are onto the desire for guitar-based music by the consumer. And, like their computer generated counterparts on the celluloid side, are in the design stages for the new Millennial Star. Leather clad and longhaired, he comes from America via Hell and he’s here to shake your foundations. And, hey, it will probably work too! But in the fight for the seat they’ve forgotten the one main ingredient of rock, which is identical to the main ingredient of horror… the reality.
Everything I regretfully concluded about the shallow nature of consumerism is coming true. But I’ve had a plan for the last year and it’s going really well. And, like Blair Witch, it is going to come from the most unexpected of angles: the blind side that no-one has guarded. Time will prove my theory just as Blair Witch has proven theirs. The person most likely to scare the pants off of you is the person who has the pants scared off of them. They are, statistically, you, after all.
Corporates have had their honeymoon period, where fear was the guy downstairs’ job. And now they are feeling that fear. And it feels like the woods. It feels like, if anything is going to get them through this, it’s going to be primal human reserve. And then the old boss will no doubt become the new boss and Blair Witch will be yesterday’s big news… exactly what was the big fuss about? Remember the Prodigy?
This is the time where anything can happen, and you as fans / consumers / the dissatisfied will make the biggest impact of your lives. And then, of course, it will be back to normal. But for now it’s fucking great. And for now Blair Witch is just about the best, most ‘punk-as-fuck’ movie of all time. Sure, it ain’t The Exorcist, but the Prodigy were never the Sex Pistols either. It could never live up to its own hype.
But Blair Witch is your best friend. This won’t feel like this for long. Blow it at your own risk.
Hey, someone’s got to stand aside and buy this shit!
Ginger
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