"War Is Over" ? -Nah, just keyword hijacking...

by **thurnandtaxis** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:35 am

<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060802/film_nm/lennon_dc_2">news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060...ennon_dc_2</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> "War Is Over" Billboards Promote Lennon Film By Nicole Sperling Wed Aug 2, 11:08 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In an effort to tap into anti-war sentiment, billboards will appear in New York and Los Angeles this month declaring "War Is Over! If You Want It." The statement is not so much political as commercial: independent film distributor Lionsgate is using them to promote its documentary "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," set to open September 15 in both cities. The billboards are a reproduction of those created and posted by Lennon and wife Yoko Ono in 11 cities in 1969 as a protest against the Vietnam War. The documentary from filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld is a chronicle of Lennon's transformation from musician to anti-war activist and how the U.S. government sought to silence him, in the view of the filmmakers. Leaf, Scheinfeld and Lionsgate marketing executives spent a lot of time with Ono preparing the campaign. "It's unfortunate that the world is at war" again, Leaf said. "I think a story about John Lennon, who was fearless in his campaign for peace, is particularly relevant in a time when fear seems to rule." Lionsgate co-president of theatrical marketing Tim Palen said he was so impressed by Lennon and Ono's artistic vision and activism that he decided "the smartest thing we could do would be to borrow their ideas directly for the campaign." That meant reproducing the billboards as close to the original as possible. "We tried to use the same font and same spacing as the originals, so not to take any liberty with their art form," Palen added. "Even though it's white on black and most people see it as generic, the brilliance is in its simplicity, and we wanted it to be as exact as possible in the details." The New York billboard will be unveiled Wednesday on Seventh Avenue at 10th Street in the West Village, and the Los Angeles billboard will bow August 15 on Sunset Boulevard near Cory Avenue in West Hollywood. The one difference to the original billboard is that the Web address www.joinnutopia.com will appear at the bottom. The link is for a site Lionsgate created to highlight the conceptual country Nutopia, which Lennon and Ono created when the government tried to deport him. Nutopia, according to Lennon and Ono, has "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people." Visitors to the site can obtain citizenship and download the official Nutopia flag. Another component to the campaign is the Grudge Report at <a href="http://www.theusversusjohnlennon.com.">www.theusversusjohnlennon.com.</a> A play on the well-read Drudge Report, the Lionsgate site features links to Web sites presenting information relevant to the film.<hr></blockquote> "It's unfortunate that the world is at war" -Well, THAT's a helluva understament! Seems as though this production company is making the best of a bad situation though... Y'know it's stories like this that make me appreciate HMW's unique perspective on mass media "events". Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thurnandtaxis>thurnandtaxis</A> at: 8/3/06 1:38 am

by **professorpan** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:18 am

Ugh. Now Hugh's admirers spread the madness. Isn't it good for the antiwar effort that these billboards are once again making an appearance?

by **thurnandtaxis** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:26 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Isn't it good for the antiwar effort that these billboards are once again making an appearance?<hr></blockquote> Yeah, maybe... but aren't the final results more about nostalgia? And isn't this ultimately a disingenuous form of stealth marketing for a product rather than an actual attempt to stop war? Remember the Nike "Revolution" Ads? Pretty empowering, huh? It seems to me that ad "campaigns" like this divert the public from actually DOING anything. Instead they'll be assuaged into feeling that by going and seeing this movie, and getting all mist-eyed about John and The Sixties, that they've somehow struck a blow against the Empire. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thurnandtaxis>thurnandtaxis</A> at: 8/3/06 1:43 am

by **so buttons** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:06 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Nutopia, according to Lennon and Ono, has "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people." Visitors to the site can obtain citizenship and download the official Nutopia flag.<hr></blockquote> john and yoko were a bit before my time, so i wasn't familiar with the concept of "nutopia" before reading this article, and i have to say that in the context of a studio-sponsored website on a billboard, the idea sounds less like a plug for "utopia" and more like a promo for "nu" world order ('a country with no boundaries, no passports'). this is right up there with woodstock '99.

by **professorpan** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:17 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>It seems to me that ad "campaigns" like this divert the public from actually DOING anything. Instead they'll be assuaged into feeling that by going and seeing this movie, and getting all mist-eyed about John and The Sixties, that they've somehow struck a blow against the Empire.<hr></blockquote> That's one interpretation. Another might be to encourage people to realize that public opinion can be a powerful thorn in the side of the war machine -- and that public sentiment can sometimes halt a stupid war, as it did with Vietnam. I find it odd that a sympathetic film about John Lennon's antiwar activity is seen as a tool of the warmakers by the HMW school of media dissection. Methinks some people tie themselves up in knots to validate their ideas of a vast, micromanaged entertainment PSYOPS industry. Sometimes a movie about John Lennon's antiwar activism is just what it appears to be -- a timely, relevant historical examination of a brilliant artists campaign for peace in a time of war.

by **thurnandtaxis** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:53 pm

My main issue is that marketing concepts take precedent over content. The producers of this movie want to sell a product: their movie. Not an End To War, as such. For them to use John and Yoko's marketing influenced activism as a form of marketing that looks like activism seems to me to be a cynical reversal of cause and effect. There are certainly more effective usages for the monies, time and energy that it took to produce this piece of nostalgia. But that would assume their goal was to espouse the actual message of their advertisement, and not just produce entertainment covered with a veneer of timely concern.

by **professorpan** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:59 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>There are certainly more effective usages for the monies, time and energy that it took to produce this piece of nostalgia. But that would assume their goal was to espouse the actual message of their advertisement, and not just produce entertainment covered with a veneer of timely concern.<hr></blockquote> Well, you're assuming they don't care about the message. However, it is sometimes possible to a). care abou the message, and b). hope to make money.

by **thurnandtaxis** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:26 pm

Rather, Media seems to be The Massage, a calming stroking of individual and collective egos. When confronted with the lies of the State and its devotion to the War Machine at the expense of the People vast amounts of Mexican citizens take to the streets, occupy public spaces in massive numbers and seize control of media outlets. They're not waiting to watch a new Che Gueverra documentary. Here in Amerika however its all about the buck. When you hope to make money off a product your goal becomes implicit in that product's manufacturing and distribution, i.e. to recoup expenditure and hopefully accrue profit. If your content holds the appearance of liberal values then it can be a pallative to your consciousness, but it can never replace the fact that time and money have been spent on a capital gains system that is strictly about attracting consumers and the "color" provided by any apparant political bias is merely an inconsequential decoration that is meant to draw a "target" audience. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thurnandtaxis>thurnandtaxis</A> at: 8/3/06 1:32 pm

by **orz** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:56 pm

Guys, by all means post about strange/sinister messages in advertising, but please let's not let Hugh's horrible neologism "Keyword Hijacking" fall into common use! <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tired.gif ALT="|I"> Conspiracy fandom jargon doesn't do anyone any good... if you want to communicate ideas then it's better to do so in plain english without using newspeak. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/indifferent.gif ALT=":|">

by **professorpan** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:07 pm

I second Orz's comment. And the entertainment industry is a mixture of many agendas. Artists want to tell good stories, documentarians want to deliver a message or facilitate social change, and studios want to make money. It's a big, messy, often combative process to make a film. Those who keep pushing simplistic theories just don't get it (and those who pontificate the loudest have the least firsthand knowledge of how it all works).

by **thurnandtaxis** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:50 pm

Yeah, I must say that my usage of "keyword hijacking" was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, yet I found it a good analogy to describe my aversion to the back-handed message appropriation employed by marketing strategies. I am also not positing any over-arching psyops plan, but am simply stating a FAR more jaded opinion of the efficacity of mass-media myth-making towards doing anything other than sapping people of their time and money. If you want to learn about John Lennon there are plenty of printed materials to spend your money on that will serve a far greater purpose in spreading information both with a greater depth of context and a permanence of usage not reliant on electricity. I spent the entire 1990's on "media strike" seeing perhaps 10 movies and watching less than 100 hours of television for an entire decade. With the money I saved on ephemeral experiences I created a solid archive of printed materials and had the time to read them-in addition to creating my own artworks and installations that were enjoyed by myself and my community. One such example being helping start-up and run a local micro-radio network. I made the switch from consumer to producer, but also with the caveat that everyone needs to do the same in order for any social change or progress to occur with regards to media in general and the worth of our own daily lives in specific. Having since moved to New York City I have been reimmersed into a hyper-mediated culture, and as some one who is involved in both media-art and activism I have a pretty strict set of standards for how such technology and content is disseminated and recieved. Too much is taken for granted and looked at as merely harmless entertainment, or worse, entertainment that is somehow informative or enriching. The mechanisms of the operating ideologies remain largely unexamined, perhaps because the end products of electronic art, such as film, video, and recorded music are so completely seductive to the senses. Unless these precepts as well are dissected and viewed in new ways that do not replicate the old unquestioned assumptions of their function and worth, then the veiwer/consumer is merely a manipulated recipient of an electronic soma that taps both the wallet and spirit. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thurnandtaxis>thurnandtaxis</A> at: 8/3/06 4:59 pm

by **professorpan** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:55 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>If you want to learn about John Lennon there are plenty of printed materials to spend your money on that will serve a far greater purpose in spreading information both with a greater depth of context and a permanence of usage not reliant on electricity.<hr></blockquote> Well, that may be the case for you. I read much more than I watch movies and TV -- by a longshot. But sometimes a film or an image can be incredibly effective at spreading information. Look at how powerful "Loose Change" has been at getting people to think outside of the mainstream 9/11 box. Or how "An Inconvenient Truth" has brought the issue of climate change to the megaplexes. Films can move people in a visceral way that is unequaled in any other medium. As an example, I'm a huge fan of the film "Imagine" about the life of John Lennon. I've read hundreds of thousands of words about the man, but listening to his son Sean reminesce about his father brings me to tears every time I see it. And a scene in which John and Yoko invite a freaked-out, schizophrenic guy into their house for breakfast is something that wouldn't have the same power in a book or magazine article. The world could use a well-constructed film about Lennon's antiwar activities right now. It remains to be seen how good the film is, but if it is a vehicle for Lennon to espouse his views about peace, that can only be a good thing. I commend your strict rationing of media. But that's your recipe -- and it may not be the ideal for others.

by **Et in Arcadia ego** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:23 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>I second Orz's comment.<hr></blockquote> Thirded. Down with Newspeak! I thunk it sux0rz.. ____________________ Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.

"War Is Over" ? -Nah, just keyword hijacking...

"War Is Over" ? -Nah, just keyword hijacking...

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