2) Exit Through the Gift Shop
It’s a movie that is, in a way, anti-everything, even anti-itself, and so an artistic takedown from an anti-Disney perspective is most certainly in order from street artist-turned-masterful film director Banksy. It’s also certainly one film that must have informed Randy Moore about what sorts of security measures Disney personnel take when they detect undesirable activity occurring at one of their parks. Like most of the films I’ve included on this list, describing Exit Through the Gift Shop as “anti-Disney” per se is admittedly a reduction of a number of different elements at play. There’s a criticism of corporatism in plenty of Banksy’s graffiti works; it’s just that, as in one work that stands out, Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse are brands of equal measure, and equally deserving of satirical representation.
The scene in his 2010 documentary is fascinating and revelatory. It demonstrates the kind of security apparatus Disney has in place at its parks. We see Banksy and co-conspirators enter Disneyland and place a mannequin dressed up as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner over the fence and among the décor of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. Security is alerted quickly, and the ride is shut down, with Banksy’s cameraman being detained and interrogated while Banksy himself is able to hide. You can ponder the intended meaning behind the stunt, but the one message that comes out loud and clear from the whole scene is a great big “eff you, Disney.”
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Published: Nov 1, 2013 06:09 pm