I finally broke down this week and watched the video that
apparently 3 billion people had watched last week. In case you have managed to avoid the tsunami
of media manipulation, I have decided to break down the video into much smaller
pieces:
THIS IS AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME
Really cool music that makes you think something important
is about to happen.
Introduction of Gavin, the filmmaker’s son. It’s not clear why this kid is in this video
except for middle aged mothers to say, “damn, I wish my son was that cute”.
Cut to brutal interview of scared African teenager wishing
he were dead. This is serious
folks. YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION so get off
your damn playstation for two seconds (actually 30 minutes) and listen up! But the cute blonde SoCal kid will be coming
back in a minute so don’t fret.
Cute kid is back! Dad
says that Kony is a very bad man. Kinda
like Darth Vader from Star Wars. When
dad asks him what cute kid should do about the situation, cute kid replies, “we
should stop him”. This is the
implication; if a seven year old can figure it out (even though he was probably
coached by daddy to say everything), then all you morons watching this video
can figure it out too. KONY MUST BE
STOPPED!
The details of how, when, why
and all that crap will be explained later—all in vague but exciting terms. The point is to keep the message simple for
easier ADD teenage digestion.
Lots of cheering.
Young people. Ra Ra Ra. Kinda like a cheerleading squad on Capitol
Hill. If we are going to do something,
we must make a lot of noise and do it together.
A bunch of littles can make a big difference! And it worked (kinda). Special forces were sent to help the Ugandan
Army (with their own questionable history) in an attempt to find world criminal
#1.
At this point, the filmmakers should have inserted some
porn. Because I’m pretty sure that some
of the 14 year olds stopped watching, clicked the share button and went back to their playstations.
But for those still watching…this isn’t enough. We are going to “target” (a word which seems
strangely inappropriate considering the subject) celebrities and policy
makers. Really important celebrities like Rhianna who sings
about rough sex and Angelina Jolie whose name is always mentioned when the
international community needs help. This
will bring AWARENESS and make KONY a CELEBRITY –even though the actual victims
of Kony desire no such thing.
More young people running around and cheering. An introduction to the awesomely cool ACTION
KIT that was funded from all those heartfelt donations. It includes STICKERS and POSTERS and a cheap
bracelet that probably cost 5 cents for you AND a friend so you can pass it
on. Because this is all about passing it
on. And then on April 20th,
all these do-gooding 14 year olds are going to blanket their cities in KONY
2012 posters (God help us all) so that everyone can be even more aware that
KONY exists.
Cut back to cute kid.
“ I’m gonna be like you dad.”
“In what way son?”
“I’m gonna make millions by asking teenage kids for their
lunch money while travelling the world AND making use of my USC film degree.”
“Dare to dream, son.”
I think we can all agree that Kony is a very bad person and
has done some very evil deeds and deserves to be punished. The problem I have is that the filmmakers are
building awareness and raising some SERIOUS cash so that they can raise more
awareness and raise more cash and raise more awareness … and well, at least
they are consistent with their mission statement. But as a CEO of a third world foundation, it
makes me a little sick to see that so much money is squandered on making films
and paying salaries and transportation costs and building “ACTION KITS” and
making people aware without any real consequence. It all just seems like a slick Hollywood
machine and the people who really need help—the victims of Kony’s atrocities—are
given a disproportionate percentage of money and support. And after watching the video, I couldn’t help
but get the feeling that the film was as much about smugfaced Jason Russell and
his cloying kid as it was about the plight in Africa.
I have watched
several of the interviews with the filmmakers over the past week and they are
in a very intense spotlight. To answer
their critics, they have even made another film but quite frankly, I think they
are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. I’m sure they didn’t expect THIS much attention
and I’m curious to find out whether the momentum will carry through and make
their “Cover the night” party a success.
Will Kony be caught because of this?
I’m not sure it really matters.
There will always be evil people in the world. The focus should be on helping the good.