MovieChat Forums > Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) Discussion > Mister Brain Wash, Banksy's Greatest Mas...

Mister Brain Wash, Banksy's Greatest Masterpiece?

posted 13 years ago by joshualamoureux
4 replies | jump to latest

I'm toying with the notion, that MBW was a product of Banksy's creative process. That this 'overnight' artist may have been a new medium for social commentary, targeted at the contemporary & popular art community, masterminded by Banksy himself.

My primary reasons for thinking this are; his endorsement of MBW despite seeing his 'work' in the form of film and the back-up provided to ensure the show opened on time, provided Banksy.

My question for the board is: Do you have inclination to believe the same? Either way, answers accompanied with evidence, or at the very least logical reasoning to support your response, will be seen legitimated and hopefully avoid being 'fire-hosed'.

Thanks in advance, look forward to replies.

ps. I apologize if this has arisen previously in other threads.

[–] Vince_Vega7896 13 years ago

Can't believe no one has posted yet. I just got done watching for the second time and I was getting the same feeling. Banksy is a genius.

[–] LefthandedBabe 13 years ago

Interesting idea. I like it. I don't, however, think that it was an entirely deliberate, planned out thing. To find someone of Mr. Brainwash's unique combinations of enthusiasm, obsession, ego, devil may care attitude, and money would be extremely difficult. Bansky certainly encouraged MBW (although MBW took it to an extreme that I sincerely don't believe Banksy ever intended) and backed out of the way, letting MBW do his own thing, in all his self obsessed glory. I think that Banksy felt some (deserved or not, I think not, for the most part) responsibility for MBW's "unmasking" as not an actual documentary filmmaker and for his over the top embrace of Banksy's advice. I really think the call Banksy made to his friends to ensure the opening would happen came out of his feelings of responsibility for MBW. The fact that it turned out how it did, and Bansky's (really clever) analysis is such a great bonus.

My "reasoning" may seem rather odd, because I'm basing it a lot on Banksy's body language during the interviews. Clearly, tone of voice was really hard to read, and no facial expressions inhibit the reading, as well, but his body language was really strong, with a lot of full body shifts when explaining some of the events.

What's....this....ruckus?

[–] nasdaq311 13 years ago

of course MBW was created by Bansky to make fools of the popular art community.

that is the entire point of the whole movie.

[–] bsharporflat 13 years ago

Right nasdaq. I think we can be reasonably confident the first hour and a half of the movie is a fair depiction of reality. I think Thierry really was a dweeby, low-income guy who has a family and runs a thrift store in the L.A. area. Perhaps he did spend years filming street artists as a hobby. But when asked to create a movie version of his work he was only able to produce an hour of incomprehensible, unwatchable crap. After that, the movie starts to trick us.

This Thierry person was completely incapable of producing the art show we saw in L.A. no less doing it all in a few months. Listen to him talk about the art. He just isn't a very smart guy. Neither did he have the financial resources. But Bansky is very smart and is artistically and financially capable of producing such an art show. He had already done so before in L.A. and was perhaps annoyed with the art community for its criticism. The style of Thierry's art resembles Banksy's quite a bit I think.

What better choice by Banksy to fool the L.A. art crowd and then fool a world movie audience than to pretend the work was all by this dweeby Thierry guy? Heh. Mr. Brainwash indeed.

In the end, Banksy pretends to be jealous and sorry he ever helped Thierry. But if that were true why would he make this movie? Consider the meaning of the title and the significance of the final scene where a seemingly solid wall is pulled down.

I do think it is a brilliant movie with just enough clues to get it, if you are willing to be perceptive. I didn't get it right away. After the movie ended, I was sitting and pondering for a while. Then I had to go check who it was that had directed it. When I found out it was Banksy, the pieces fell into place. A nice "aha' moment.