You Betray the Son of Man With a Ball Gag
David Weigel | September 27, 2007, 11:12am
Now that you've picked your jaw up from the floor and wiped away your pristine tears, tell me: What do you think of that ad? Because the thought of this ad promoting
"the grandaddy of all leather events" is
driving Christian groups to fits of rage.
[Stephen Bennett, president of SBM and a former homosexua] said, "I call upon the homosexual Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, GLSEN, and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force to publicly condemn this blatant mockery of Christians and Christianity by some within their community, and condemn this sick public display of immoral behavior. I call upon the Miller Brewing Company to pull their endorsement of this event. I call for the organizers of this filth to immediately apologize to Christians worldwide and remove this Last Supper mockery. I also call upon every law abiding official and citizen in America who has any morals to do what they can to shut down this Folsom Street 'Filth' Fair once and for all."
Dan Savage
points out the tons and tons of Last Supper parodies already wafting through the culture and wonders what the big deal is. Andrew Sullivan
has a challenge:Next year, guys: do a similar parody on a sacred Muslim scene, if you have the balls. Easy, cheap blasphemy impresses no one.
Hm. How many "sacred Muslim scenes" are there, anyway? I can only think of one, although it would make for a dandy poster.
Just imagine the double dildos and assless chaps.
pinko | September 27, 2007, 11:52am | #
"Pinko, what's brilliant about the ad?"
Randolph, where to start...
First off it's a wicked parody of something that has been so often parodied that one would think that parody in this case had run its course. It clearly hasn't.
Secondly, it makes something that I normally think is creepy, the leather fetish, look like an anaesthetized Romper Room.
Thirdly, all of the models look so earnest in their leather getups, you know, like Rob Halford when he belts out Victim of Changes or Frerddy Mercury. Dress up just cracks me up. Dress up in leather, priceless.
And the whip as a halo behind the black Jesus's head made me chuckle.
There, that wasn't that hard, and we didn't even get to any of the specific props laid out, the composition within the frame, the faux columns on the sheet behind them, etc.
If that all amounts to a sloppy indictment of religion, show me a clean one. And remember, IT IS AN AD, not treatise.
lunchstealer | September 27, 2007, 12:05pm | #
Next year, guys: do a similar parody on a sacred Muslim scene, if you have the balls. Easy, cheap blasphemy impresses no one.
My first response was that if all jokes ever from here on out have to be about Mohamed, the joke/parody world will be a boring monochrome. Art, humor, and parody don't always have to go after the biggest target. Artists should be free to tackle whatever subject strikes their fancy.
I guess if you are going to prove that you have the biggest art-as-blasphemy dick on a global scale, then yeah, you'd go after Mohamed.
But that's a bit like saying "Hey, you just climbed Kilimanjaro, next year, climb Mount Everest, if you have the balls" or "You just wrestled a mountain lion. Don't you know that's only the fourth largest species of big cat? Next year, wrestle a tiger, if you have the balls."
If it's all about the balls, I'd argue that there may be more violent muslims world-wide, but if you look at just the US, there's a big, local contingent with a track record for producing individuals willing to enact violence against homosexuals right here in the US. Eric Rudolph was clearly getting support from locals while he was a fugitive, after all.
Ultimately, of course, I don't think their target was offending religious people. I think their goal was to get people to come have leather fun at the Folsom Street Fair. And the types of folks who will come to a leather parade are probably going to think that this is hilarious, and conveys an irreverent attitude that they want to be a part of. If they'd chosen Mohamed, it wouldn't convey irreverence so much as confrontation. This is just taking
all the other last supper parodies and adding one more absurd last supper parody to the list.
Sweating Through Fog | September 29, 2007, 10:53am | #
The add is just gutless Christian-baiting. I'm struck by all the fuss around this controversy, and it is clear to me that there are many bigots on both sides of the issue. No difference.
But to see the real dynamic at work
1) Take a look at the silly Folsom Street Fair press release here:
http://www.folsomstreetfair.com/fair-press.php?relNum=77
And 2) compare it with my parody:
September 25, 2008
FOLSOM STREET EVENTS™ LAUNCHES POSTER DESIGN FOR 25th ANNUAL FOLSOM STREET FAIR™
Poster image draws inspiration from the annual Islamic Hajj, in a poster entitled: Masjid al-Harem.
Folsom Street Events has released its latest poster design for the 25TH Annual Folsom Street Fair. This year, the official poster, drawn by renowned artist Theo van Gogh, uses well-known community members as players in a strikingly original interpretation of the annual, worldwide pilgrimage to Mecca. The poster is the second in a series that draws from well-known paintings, album covers, movie posters, or other iconic images. Community members celebrate exuberant sexuality by donning their S/M regalia, and dancing around not the Kaaba, but a 10 story phallus.
According to Andy Copper, Board President, “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this poster, and we are looking forward to a particularly inspirational event season. There is no intention to be particularly pro-religion or anti-religion with this poster; the image is intended only to celebrate the sacred roots of raw sexuality. It is a distinctive representation of diversity with women and men, people of all colors and sexual orientations. Just as Mecca draws people of all races throughout the world, we hope people from all continents will come come celebrate with us!”
Folsom Street Events acknowledges that many of the people in the leather and fetish communities are spiritual and that this poster image is a way of expressing that side of the community’s interests and beliefs. This year, Folsom Street Fair is dedicated to “San Francisco Values,” previously used against the San Francisco community for its support of sexual diversity and now used by Folsom Street Events as a way to reclaim power by the fetish community.
Andy Copper, adds “We hope that people will enjoy the artistry for what it is – nothing more or less. Many people choose to speculate on deeper meanings. This is one artist’s imagining of a pilgrimage that is at one both sexual and sacred - all we did was adopt the iconography of Mecca and make it our own. The irony is that homosexuality has a long and wonderful history in Islam. In truth, we are going to produce a series of inspired poster images over the next few years. Next year’s poster ad may take inspiration from American Gothic by Grant Wood, the flag raising at Iwo Jima, or even Raphael's 'The School of Athens' - community members are already preparing for roles in that one!"
When asked about the murder of the poster artist, Theo van Gogh, and the worldwide rioting that has claimed dozens of lives, Copper said: "I guess it wouldn’t be Folsom Street Fair without offending some extreme members of the global community, though.”
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSS
