You have watched the film and read the reviews. What are your thoughts and reactions? Is this a documentary? Is it fiction? Is this performance art? Is Are we (viewers) part of the artist's performance in the content and manner in which we consider this piece? What questions should we be asking? What do you think?
24 Comments
Haley
12/13/2017 12:11:50 pm
I believe the documentary is just that, a domcumentary. We have no proof that anything has been falsified and we have no proof that everything is true, except the word from the creators. I personally liked the movie, it was entertaining and insightful.
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Braden Buerk
12/13/2017 12:11:51 pm
He has brainwashed himself to believe his propaganda, which has made him authentic. Due to his authenticity, the public (or his specific niche) have been convinced that the art is worth the exorbitant prices. They are not only buying the art, they are buying in to the brand that he has built with his authenticity.
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Ben
12/13/2017 12:12:17 pm
I could see this film being fiction and non-fiction. There isn’t any concrete evidence for either side of the argument... I believe ‘till we have more evidence to base off of, I’m not choosing a side
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Claire Mil
12/13/2017 12:13:27 pm
I think it is a documentary, although I am sure the footage is a bit cherry picked to make Terry and the situation seem more extreme. It poses questions such as: What makes art authentic and/or sincere? Does art have to be authentic to be "great" art? Given Banksy's mysterious nature, it is hard to say for sure what is real and what is not in this film.
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Julia Rehmann
12/13/2017 12:14:31 pm
I don’t think it matters much whether it’s “real” or not. It’s entertaining either way. I’d like to believe it’s nonfiction because that would make it even funnier, but there’s no way to tell and frankly not too much of a point of trying to figure it out. It gets a point and a message across about authenticity and fame that I think is very interesting, regardless of whether or not it’s real.
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Kai Roy
12/13/2017 12:14:45 pm
When I first started watching this I thought it was going to be a documentary about street art. Now it seems like a documentary about Thierry Guetta's evolution into MBW. I think this is real and not staged but in this day and age it is hard to tell.
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Nora
12/13/2017 12:17:45 pm
I thought this movie was overall pretty entertaining and I would say that it was a documentary. However, I believe much of this film was fiction. I think this was made to spread awareness of street art and we as viewers are not part of the performance art.
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Grace
12/13/2017 12:23:42 pm
I agree with kai. I really liked this film in the beginning but then it started to turn into all abt Mr. brainwash and his fame. I liked when it was more abt street art as a whole. I think this film is mostly real and there are probably parts that are staged but because there’s no evidence for it it’s hard to say.
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Charisse Hung
12/13/2017 01:56:40 pm
It's basically impossible to know how truthful this is. It is based on a true story, but it's hard to know if any parts are staged or exaggerated. We should be wondering what Banksy's intentions are in the creation of this film.
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Colter
12/13/2017 02:00:31 pm
I definitely think it is a documentary, the only issue I have with it is that Banksy's personal opinions are easily apparent. I don't think anything was deliberately falsified like the article suggests, but I do believe banksy may have painted himself in more of a positive light, and MBW less so. While it was entertaining, I do think that secondary sources are necessary if you're going to use any information from it.
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Nicholas Paesler
12/13/2017 02:00:57 pm
This ‘documentary’ of Mr. Brainwash overall was an interesting one. For me it seemed to be a bit all over the place and posed questions about who the main artists were. There has always been speculation on Banksy-his Identity and motivations. The team of Banksy and Mr. Brainwash creates speculation on the originality of artwork by both as they are similar. After reading the article, it brought me to realize the things we do not know about this documentary and the artists behind it. Was it all Banksy’s idea? Is Mr. Brainwash a project designed by Banksy? With his secret past, we may never know he wholesome truth of Banksy and Mr. Brainwash.
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Linnea
12/13/2017 02:02:18 pm
I thought Exit Through the Gift Shop was a very entertaining documentary. There are certainty a few questionable aspects to the story that can lead us to think that it was all a work of fiction. I'd like to believe it was a true story, but if it was, I wouldn't be surprised. We have no proof for either side. Given Thierry's sudden fame and odd character, it seems unlikely that this documentary was purely about street art and Thierry's rise as a street artist. So one major thing we should be wondering is: what were Banksy's intentions with this documentary?
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Sarah
12/13/2017 02:05:20 pm
I think this documentary might be way over exaggerated. It seems that there’s very little evidence.
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GABE chatkupt
12/13/2017 02:05:20 pm
I enjoyed this movie and thought it was a good insight into the upcoming of world of street art and a good way of representing of representing the changes in style over the years. I think that Banksy is an incredibly talented artist and even if he did make up Mr. Brainwash it doesn’t matter because art was created that the public loved. The only problem I see is with who actually created the art. Overall it was a great movie that was as entertaining and interesting to me.
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Olivia Asher
12/13/2017 02:08:23 pm
Knowing that Banksy was the directer changed my thoughts of this film. Though I would still classify this as a documentary, I question it’s credibility. The director is biased to the situation and we can’t be sure that hos opinions don’t influence the tone of the film. It is possible that Theirry is just as he is portrayed but it is almost inevitable that what he thinks of Thierry influences the way he is seen in the film. In this way, it may not be an accurate documentary but rather a perception of a series of events.
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Saiming
12/13/2017 02:12:23 pm
I think that this film was a documentary, but I do assume that some parts of it was staged. I agree with Kai about liking it at the beginning but than the more the film played I began to not enjoy it as much because it seemed to be more of a promotion about MBW rather than street art. I would like to think that I am not part of the artist performance but I am not sure about that.
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Deirdre Replinger
12/13/2017 02:12:37 pm
I think that this can be considered a documentary, even if it isn’t very insightful. The first part, about street art in general, was interesting. When Thierry created his persona of “Mr. Brainwash”, the movie seemed to become more of a joke. I think that it is possible that Thierry is a real person, but that he wants to be an artist just for the sake of being an artist. It is also possible that Thierry is just a payed actor. Either way, Banksy succeeded in turning Thierry into a joke, which could have been the intention behind the last part of the movie.
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Michael-Ann Scardino-Moore
12/13/2017 02:15:39 pm
I think that my article was correct when hinting at the fact that the documentary was a mockery but still successful, because with the sarcastic comments and the actions that contributed only to making the audience laugh made the documentary comical so the audience is still being sucked in.
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Jasper Whelan
12/13/2017 02:16:16 pm
I believe that this film has elements of both non fiction and fiction. The constant video stream of Thierry’s life provides a substantial amount of evidence that the events were real and not fabricated. However, seeing does not necessarily make it true. Video clips could have been fabricated, distorted, exaggerated, or manipulated in many ways. I would not bet money on whether or not this source is comprised of only real events. the biggest reason for why this film is not real is it’s absurdity. It’d hard to believe that something as crazy as this would happen naturally. In the end, it doesn’t matter to me though, the film was entertaining to me, and the idea of this, even if it is fictional, is creative in itself.
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Ellie Bamer
12/14/2017 10:17:03 pm
I personally think that it doesn't matter whether or not the information is valid because I believe that this piece was made as entertainment, and potentially to spread a message. The article by Peter Bradshaw says that Banksy wanted to do street art justice, and show that it's harder than it looks. And if that was the purpose of the film, then I believe that this film was successful.
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Cleo
12/14/2017 10:24:47 pm
What the documentary made me consider were the similarities between Thierry and Yayoi Kusama (the artist that Haiying talked about in her presentation). If Thierry is truly mentally ill, then perhaps his extreme obsession or immersion into his art can be considered a way of him coping with a mental illness and finding meaning in his life. Yayoi Kusama used art to express her emotions and to cope with her mental illness. Is there a difference between their works, and can one be considered art and the other not? Both make use of repetition, something that Thierry's work is criticized for. On the other hand, Yayoi Kusama's seems very aware of the message she is sending with her work as well as her own mental illness.
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Zara Replinger
12/15/2017 10:57:35 am
Documentary is defined as "a movie or a television or radio program that provides a factual record or report." From what I can see, it looks like this was a real situation not a staged, fictional one. When I think of documentaries I think of more educational content, however, I think that this would still be categorized as a documentary because of how it was filmed. The main purpose is now to entertain and it clearly does a good job of this. It started out as simple videos that evolved into a big production and one of the most successful opening art shows ever. On some level this shows that there was something real and meaningful involved in the film.
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Elsie
12/15/2017 12:11:14 pm
I believe that Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary. Whether it is fiction or not, I still believe that this was made to be a documentary.
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