March 4, 2010: Logorama
Wow. Just wow. Logorama, the final entry I saw in the list of Oscar-nominated animated short films for 2009, won the award and absolutely deserved it, although I’m surprised that it won, considering the sensitive subject matter. A 16-minute film from France, it is densely-packed every second of the way with amazing visuals which really need to be seen on the big screen, and I’m glad I got this opportunity. The film was preceded in the theatre by a title card warning of extreme violence and profanity, and it certainly delivered.
Logorama depicts a cartoonish Los Angeles which is drawn almost entirely in corporate logos. Every building displays or is constructed from a corporate brand logo, every vehicle is sponsored, every moving thing is in a recognizable shape and even half of the people are famous commercial mascots such as the Pringles chips guys and Ronald McDonald and the Michelin man. Even at this point, setting the stage for the action, it really has to be seen to be believed and I’m not doing it justice with these words.
And then it gets crazy. A shooting rampage and a police chase erupt through the city, with blood and gore and unthinkable violence and foul language spouting from cleanly drawn and extremely familiar faces, names and mascots. An earthquake causes further chaos, profanity and subject-appropriate logos to spew forth, as Los Angeles breaks off and falls into the ocean. A final extreme zoom-out throws dozens of space-related logos our way in the space of a mere few seconds, and we’re left wondering just what the hell happened here.
As a viewing experience, Logorama is a breathtaking roller-coaster ride, and even better if you’re in a venue in which you can see the depth of detail and care that went into the design. As a statement and a quote-unquote “movie” it struck me as inconclusive, and I won’t go into any great analysis although it’s quite possible that the point was missed. It doesn’t seem to be trying to tell us that all this corporate sponsorship is necessarily a bad thing. Sure, that’s a fair interpretation when L.A, the epicentre of shallowness, falls into the sea, but I don’t think that statement is overt and it’s certainly not the only interpretation one can take. What’s more fascinating than all of that, in my mind, is the balls it takes to put together and release something like this, in today’s over-litigious society. That may be why the film comes out of France, since an American film of this nature would be buried in nuisance lawsuits within days, and possibly not without reason. Fair use and satire are reasonably well-established if still contested areas in US law, and it seems to me that for some of these brands, the action goes beyond satire to besmirching of the brands and characters themselves. Time will tell whether anything comes of it – there has been online discussion of the legal issues possibly faced by the film, but it seems that the likely outcomes of such action are not clear, based on existing case law. It should be fun to watch.
Take a look at this one. Logorama is an original and bold statement, taking real chances and bringing us a real experience.
Corporate shill or brazen anti-commercial statement?
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