For the September 28 premiere in Victoria, British Columbia of his new movie, "Building the Room," a documentary about stand-up comics, Higgins wanted to charge white males $20 while women paid $10 for tickets to the screening.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Director tries to charge white men more, says he got death threats
For the September 28 premiere in Victoria, British Columbia of his new movie, "Building the Room," a documentary about stand-up comics, Higgins wanted to charge white males $20 while women paid $10 for tickets to the screening.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Using social commentary as a publicity stunt is incredibly off-putting to me. And from the content of this article, that is what it seems like this director is doing. However, the death threats from the targeted patrons do get at something about social change, which is that there are many people who present as completely progressive, equality-positive people right up until the moment it directly affects their personal lives. I believe there are many, many straight, white, cis, able-bodied men in this world who would rant and post on facebook about income inequality and the injustice of it, but also be incredibly upset about this pricing. Being willing to follow your words with actions is the only way change ever happens. However, the other question this article brings up is whether or not the intention behind the action matters. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this comment, this feels like more of a publicity stunt and less of a true attempt at starting a conversation, but I can't say for sure if I feel like that is important if this stunt did spark conversations and action in the local community.
I feel very conflicted about this article. On the one hand, I think this sort of publicity stunt/ social commentary is interesting and did get its intended purpose- to get people talking about inequality. On the other hand, I’m not sure it has anything to do with the documentary about comedians. If the documentary were about income (and other) inequality, I would be completely behind this stunt, but as it is, it seems like a random act just to get people talking about the film. I also like the idea of the women only screening of “Wonder Women”. In industries such as super hero movies that are so dominated by one demographic, it’s really nice to have a time where it can just be like-minded people being together. The problem, however, is that if we want equality, I’m not sure it is helpful or responsible to promote inequality for the people who are higher up on the social ladder.
This pricing system seems like much more of a publicity stunt than a commentary on income inequality. Like Sylvi said, if the movie had anything to do with the pay gap then maybe I could see some justification in it. However, this seems much more like a cry for attention and an attempt to stir up controversy. Personally it doesn't seem right to me to charge white men more for the same ticket as a woman, and I think it may have the opposite affect that they intended. The idea of reflecting the pay gap of is interesting, but there may have been a better way to execute it. A lot of people think that feminism is about pushing men down to lift women up, when in reality it is about achieving equality. Stunts like this give people who think that more ways to justify that view. That being said I don't think that the level of outrage the community showed and the death threats were okay at all, and I wish people would respond to things they disagree with in a more rational way.
Wow this is so funny. Regardless of whether the stunt was a parody or an actual effort to raise awareness, it’s still funny to see how upset straight white men can get when someone calls them out on their privilege. It’s no secret that straight white men make significantly more than any other group (although, like climate change, many will contest that indisputable data), and still, they have one small instance where the playing field is leveled and they can’t handle it. I do feel bad for the entire creative team that is getting threats, especially because I know that the ones sending the threats (like in the rest of their lives) will never face any consequences of their actions. Hopefully this at least sparks a conversation about the wage gap, and maybe convinces a few more people to take it seriously. Actually if some larger corporations tried something like this, it might spark a larger conversation that some good could come from.
I go back and forth about this article a lot because I think it's hilarious, and who ever came up with it should feel really proud of themselves because it is a great idea. However, the more that I think about it the more I am a little off put by the use of social inequality for publicity. I get that the theater is standing on the correct side, and is pointing out that white men are treated better and make more money than everyone else but at the same time it makes a mockery of the paralyzing injustice that has caused that salary gap. I think that if more companies did this or if more people drew attention to it it would be really interesting to see what happens to our culture and who is offended and who doesn't care. I have a sinking feeling that most white men wouldn't be too thrilled about it. I am still unsure of how I feel because I like that it is drawing attention to the wage gap, and I think it is very funny but at the same time the last thing I want people to see inequality as is a joke.
While I appreciate this director taking an approach meant to spark controversy and to get people talking, as I often feel as though modern day trolling is really one of the best ways to promote discussion, I think its also incredibly divisive. In modern, socially aware culture, even something not meant to provoke people can and will be interpreted in ways that are likely not intended, which I think is definitely the case here. While it seems the intentions may be positive, a divisive approach can almost do more harm than good by having the voices of criticism come across much louder than the conversations that were meant to be sparked by this move. However, I do somewhat have to commend this director for being able to take an issue that seems almost entirely unrelated to the project itself and getting a ton of free publicity for it. It probably would have been better if the project had anything to do with the pay gap.
I also feel conflicted after reading this article as to how I should feel about this whole thing. On one hand it is really hilarious to see that a mere $5 difference in pricing will offend “white cis-straight able-bodies males” who get paid 125% of what women are earning and almost double of what women of color’s wage, so much so that the production team receive death threats. This is way-out-of-the-line over reaction. On the other hand, the timing the intension seem odd in this particular case, which is probably one of the reason why it got backlash from the publish. Like many mentioned above, the publicity stunt has nothing to do with the content of the movie itself, and Higgins insisted that it was never intended to be a national conversation but a way to spark conversation about income inequality. There are many ways to spark conversations about income inequality and if one should hope so one should be prepared that this will be played into a national conversation, right?
I think this is very interesting especially since the privilege is the opposite of what it normally is. White men usually have the privilege in most situations and the fact that they have a slight disadvantage and they are getting very angry is almost amusing. This is not the first time that men have to pay more than women though. In a lot of clubs women get in for free or a lower price than men do. Clubs do not receive death threats for doing this, so it is interesting that a movie screening is getting attacked like they are the first to put white men at a disadvantage. Yes charging people different prices for the same product is not fair, but there are a lot of things in this world that are not fair to everyone else except white straight men. When white straight men are at the disadvantage they often make a bigger deal about it than when other people are at a disadvantage.
Post a Comment