Borkowski Weekly Media Trends 7-10-22
Campaign Music | Universal's Box Office Flop | Kanye West | Cheating Scandals
MOVIN ON UP: THE DIFFICULTY OF PICKING WALK-ON MUSIC FOR RIGHT-WINGERS
Over the past 25 years, choosing the music to accompany political broadcasts and speeches has become a communications artform in itself.
As with much of modern political communications, a good example of someone doing it successfully is Tony Blair. ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ was a positive, of-its-time earworm of a campaign tune, and the unlikely emergence of the band’s former keyboardist (who didn’t play on the track) as national treasure Professor Brian Cox. Of course even Blair was not immune to criticism, angering the likes of Fatboy Slim and Sham69 by using their music at subsequent conferences.
Since then political music choices in the UK and beyond have been more notable for their gaffes; from Johnny Marr censuring David Cameron for his alleged Smiths’ fandom, to Yes Scotland using Bryan Ferry’s Let’s Stick Together for a Party Political broadcast ahead of a referendum in which they were appealing to voters to do the precise opposite, to Donald Trump’s infamous struggle to get anyone to perform at his inauguration (after the Rolling Stones fought tooth-and-nail to deny him use of their music at his rallies), to Theresa May’s infamously awkward and mercilessly meme-d Dancing Queen moment.
It's a problem particularly associated with the political right because, to put it simply, most artists, including most musicians, lean to the left and don’t want to be associated with the Tories or Republicans of the world. But beyond that it’s hard for any public figure to strike that balance between inoffensive ubiquity and unimaginative dirge.
This was the problem facing an already-embattled Liz Truss ahead of her conference speech. The results were reliably awkward: her choice of M People’s Movin on Up briskly derided by its founder and adding yet more negative headlines to a pretty wretched start to the job.
The safest option for Truss would have been something safe, generic, background-y and recognisably British – plus, Edward Elgar’s been dead for too long to care if Liz is besmirching his tunes…
Hollywood’s ‘Bros’ Flopped. Gay rights aren’t over.
In what some have seen as a repudiation of ‘equal representation’ driven productions, Universal’s same-sex rom-com ‘Bros’ flopped at the Box Office, selling just $4.8 million in tickets.
A confirmation of the ‘go woke, get broke’ mantra put forward by some commentators? Or just another box office flop? Frustrated by the poor opening, lead-actor Billy Eichner confused matters by blaming audiences’ bigotry for the film’s poor performance. Many found these comments to be protesting too much, as Eichner wrote on Twitter ‘straight people… just didn’t show up’ and ’Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see Bros tonight.’ The Hollywood Reporter describes Eichner’s reply well: ‘moralistic confrontation’ is probably equally pernicious to the equal rights movement as it is to getting people to, er, see the film.
Twitter commentators, especially on the right, have seized the moment to suggest that Americans have had enough of equal representation. Forbes outlines at least five other reasons, the movie flopped—including scheduling and casting mistakes—that go beyond the belief that that coastal elites are producing material that American audiences fundamentally reject. In Eichner’s defensive accusations, there is the same overblown logic as those who think that ‘Bros’ sounds the death-knell of the gay rights movement. The Onion nailed it.
All the case of ‘Bros’ demonstrates that queer representations have to be good to be interesting. It’s not historic or shocking enough to generate buzz off the back of a same-sex narrative, and that’s probably a good thing, reflecting the normalisation of these relationships in society.
That said, it is likely that the failure of Bros will sound the death knell of media execs thinking that, as Forbes puts it, “diversity… can be the whole pitch”. Marketing and publicity for the film sold importance rather than entertainment. Pulling back from the rhetoric of Twitter, ‘Bros’ looks reasonably funny, something you might watch on a streaming service on a lazy weekday evening, but not something to go out to the cinema for.
Kanye West and the fine art of controversy
True or false, all publicity is good publicity? If you were answering on behalf of Kanye West, the answer would be true. If you were answering on behalf of the public who are forced to consume all things Kanye, the answer would be false.
West’s latest stunt saw the rapper once again deploy far-right-influenced shock-factor on one of the biggest fashion stages of the year, Paris Fashion Week. West held a secret show at PFW where he wore a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt.
He was photographed with right-wing commentator Candace Owen also wearing the same shirt. To top it off, the models who walked the latest Yeezy show were wearing the same slogan that was displayed on the back of the tees.
We know that Kanye likes to walk a thin line when it comes to marketing his brand. He’s one of the most talked about celebrities of this generation – a status he has maintained through a series of increasingly ‘shock jock’ gambits seemingly targeted at becoming the number one trending topic across social media.
Regardless of whether it’s for the right reasons, staying in the conversation never harms his record sales. Something Kanye bleeds for.
There’s also an argument that West’s latest stunt was part of a grand tradition. Paris Fashion Week is increasingly a hotbed of major cultural and political statements. Some of the most talked about shows there ever were the ones that created the most controversy.
In 1998, Alexander McQueen put on a show which he named “The Golden Showers” where models walked through a shower of water under yellow lightning In 2016, Rick Owens debuted his show “Cyclops” which featured models wearing other models as backpacks. The stunt was described as uncomfortable and dehumanising which is most likely what he wanted.
The point is that controversy has always been fashion’s middle name. Kanye is not new to the game, and if his goal here was inclusivity, rather than just scandal for its own sake, then someone should’ve given him a brief on what it means to be inclusive.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement began after police officer George Zimmerman was acquitted for the death of Trayvon Martin. The slogan that started off as hashtag has now been established as a global movement for justice and equality.
Soon after, “White Lives Matter” was then created by white supremacist groups as a reaction which stemmed from their hateful ideology. Some defended West’s antics at Paris Fashion Week, although most were triggered.
Whilst we can all agree that every life matters, the BLM movement stands for much more than that. It carries the weight of history; segregation, slavery, and Jim Crow. BLM wasn’t created to erode the value of other lives whilst the “White Lives Matter” slogan was.
So, the question arises, how far is too far when it comes to publicity stunts? This latest act is once again the talk of the town, which seems to be Kanye’s only goal these days, whatever damage it does to his reputation.
Sporting scandals shocking the world but it's not what you'd expect
Two concurrent, ongoing cheating scandals are thrusting a couple of niche sports into mainstream discourse: poker and chess. Fans have debated each viral scandal's intricacies for weeks, splitting communities apart and fueling fiery debate with several critical unanswered questions. But what do these high-profile scandals mean for each game? Is this a flash in the pan that passersby will soon forget, or is this a growing trend seeing chess and poker garner unprecedented levels of interest?
Each scandal in a nutshell? The chess cheating scandal involves Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed #1 player, who many regards as the greatest-ever losing in a tournament to 19-year-old Hans Niemann for playing near-perfect chess. Those calling for Niemann's head claim a supercomputer was influencing Niemann's decision. Whilst this was an in-person game, many say Niemann used a device that communicated optimal computer-generated tactics with theories ranging from a small device in his ear to vibrating anal beads.
The poker scandal was a high-stakes live-streamed cash game at Hustler Casino in America. The moment that caused a global storm was a $269k hand where amateur poker player Robbi Lew beat professional Garrett Adelstein. The hand was so strange that the only way poker pros and pundits could fathom her actions was if she could see her opponent's cards via comms with a Hustlers employee or if she had a 'live read' that influenced her actions.
Third parties are investigating both incidents as we await final verdicts (if we ever get that far). It's gripped fans and outsiders, similar to the height of each game's popularity in lockdown. The pandemic resurged both chess and poker thanks to popular Netflix shows and boredom, with help from the rise in live streaming's popularity, where famous players and influencers are making more money from content than traditional means like tournaments.
Neither game will sustain this global interest but it could bolster the strong communities surrounding these once-niche sports. These moments can reignite waning interests or catalyse new fans. However, with plenty of toxic masculinity on display, from chess egos that will either cheat to victory or fail to accept defeat when fairly bested. And poker, we have a male-dominated game spotlighting a woman that's either cheating or being harassed for beating a poker 'regular'. Whilst all the attention is gathering eyeballs, the outcome could tarnish the reputations of these games, pigeonholing each as nerdy, male-and-stale strategy games that aren't for the wider public.