Exit Through the Gift Shop

Today in class we viewed a documentary titled Exit Through the Gift Shop. The film from what I gathered was about how one man's fascination for the camera turned into a huge sensation, especially for what he filmed. He started out filming just whatever he saw at all times because people who knew him always saw him attached to the camera. However, unlike just about every other film, there was no true purpose at first and he was just doing it because he loved it. That all changed with his cousin.

His cousin did a type of street art that was illegal like any type of graffiti, but what distinguished them from just plain vandalism was that it had a message or some sort of point. They weren't doing it because they hated something and wanted to destroy, but rather make it more interesting for the rest of us. His cousin accomplished that by placing space invaders wherever he went like on curbs, buildings, bridges, signs, and much more. The man's fascination with this was matched only by that of the camera and started following them everywhere. So now this man's film had a story or a central focal point that would guide the rest of the film.

Eventually the man met his idol, Banksy, who has eluded him and his identity was still kept in check because some lighting techniques were used to make him a silhouette and a voice changer was used whenever he spoke. He told Thierry, the man filming, that he could film him, but only his back and hands, never his face. Eventually it got to the point when Banksy's work was being bought up for enormous amounts of money and everyone had to have a Banksy. People were now thinking he was just doing it for the money which wasn't true. That is when Thierry was told he had to finally sit down and edit the footage into a film so people know the real story. Well this is where he went wrong. When editing, you can't lose the sight of the message behind the story and Thierry's initial attempt did exactly that. Banksy then took over for that and told Thierry he should try street art to better understand it. The basic philosophy of the movie is to never lose sight of what is important and to strive to give the accurate rendition of other's work. It is a fantastic film and I encourage all to go see this movie especially if you love art.