It's Not a Hoax - It's a Lie

That's what I get out of Exit Through the Gift Shop, having watched it a couple of times now.

It starts out as a straightforward, fly-on-the-wall-style street art documentary, as the film that Thierry Guetta was supposedly making (more or less). Rhys Ifans' arch narration occasionally mocks Theirry, casting doubt on his motives, but the first half of the film consists largely of priceless footage apparently shot by Thierry, footage documenting the creation of various pieces of art. The sincere and free-spirited Guetta seems to be on good terms with all involved...

A little over halfway through, however, the tone changes markedly. Theirry delivers his finished film, "Life Remote Control," to the shadowy and all-powerful BanksyCorp, LLC, and the film is rejected flat out. No one likes it (though the brief clips shown do appear at least somewhat interesting). According to Bansky, he then dispatches Thierry back to America with orders to create some street art of his own, but he admits that he really just wants to get Guetta out of the way for a while so that he can do what he wants with the raw footage.

Back in America, Thierry, the happy-go-lucky family and businessman, sinks his entire life and savings into a massive art show/party. Shepard Fairey and Banksy help him promote and organize the event. In the end, against all odds, it's a massive, spectacular success. "Mr. Brainwash" has arrived!

Banksy and Fairey, however, are horrified. They seem deeply bitter about their old friend's overnight success. They consider him a copycat and a fake, no artist at all. But they never truly considered him a "real artist" in the first place, did they? He was always just a dedicated friend with balls, a movie camera and some fast talk. Did they hope his show would fail? I ask because I find it hard to believe that they imagined Guetta would suddenly, magically begin making great art. He was always a hustler, a wheeler-dealer, a marketer of second-hand inspiration, and his show is ultimately one big con job. It's a giant, hilarious art-prank pulled (apparently in complete earnestness) on a bunch of rich fools.

I call Exit Through the Gift Shop a lie because it was made by Banksy and Shepard Fairey, and it goes out of its way in its final act to subversively present Banksy and Fairey as loathsome villains. These rich celebrity artists come across as as jealous, bitter, mean-spirited snobs who'd happily stab a relatively poor but sincere longtime friend in the back without a second thought. I don't buy it. They're conning us. I call their film a lie because it merely pretends to "expose" and attack Mr. Brainwash. Thierry Guetta is clearly the film's true and only hero. Regardless of what the patently ironic narration tells us to think (note: brainwashing), Bansky's film actually intends to celebrate Thierry. He's a little guy, a small-time hustler who plays a high-stakes game with a bunch of rich jerks and wins. Hooray.

Basically, I think that the narrative tone of the last half of the film is complete BS. Banksy and Fairey know perfectly well that they come across badly, and that their film's "stinging attack" on Guetta only makes him seem all the more genuinely heroic. In this sense, the final act of the film is a con, and it's a good one.


You must have been so afraid, Cassie... Then you saw a cop.