We live in an age where the line between celebrities and influencers blurs in one thanks to social media platforms, making it easier for anyone to reach the status fame quo. For some who want to have a voice and change the world, it is a great way to do so, but for others it may be a dangerous slope to "Villainhood Ville."
In the three-part series, director Karam Gill (Ice Cold, G-Funk) examines manufactured celebrity through the lens of 6ix9ine’s controversial artistry, personal demons and mastery of social media, as a reflection of our times and the complicity of culture today. It traces how New York City deli clerk Daniel Hernandez manufactured himself into viral hip hop sensation Tekashi 6ix9ine, the ruthless, tattooed face of Gen Z and hip hop’s prince of trolls. Based on Witt’s Rolling Stone feature, “Tekashi 6ix9ine: The Rise and Fall of a Hip-Hop Supervillain,” the series features an exclusive post-prison interview with 6ix9ine following his release last year. Through the narrative spine of Tekashi 6ix9ine’s controversial artistry and personal demons, this complicated story is in many ways the truest reflection of current times as it unpacks the life-shattering results of influence, impact of social media and the disturbing possibilities of a deeply connected world.
SUPERVILLAIN is produced by Imagine Documentaries, Rolling Stone and Lightbox. Brian Grazer executive produces with Justin Wilkes and Sara Bernstein of Imagine Documentaries, Gus Wenner of Rolling Stone, Jonathan Chinn and Simon Chinn of Lightbox, journalist Stephen Witt and Peter J. Scalettar. The series is narrated by Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul, The Mandalorian).
In my phone conversation with Keram Gill, he had a lot to say about his new film:
They were looking for someone with a unique point of view but I originally turned down the project. I was apprehensive about making a film on someone who plays such a toxic part in our culture. Then I saw a lot of things happening around our culture, celebrity and pop. A lot of the figures were manufacturing themselves. A lot of these personas were toxic and created alternative realities for themselves. Tekashi is a symptom of our culture. I was interested to propel a larger conversation. It is a cultural film that takes a look how this society manufactures people and causes damage.
As long as we have known, fame has been highly debated and talked about. People are doing crazy things for fame. The difference with this project is for the first time in human history we live in a time where there are no gatekeepers to ascending to fame in these industries. That is the larger thing I’m talking about - a society that is democratized people to create celebrities and also to create monsters. We have seen that in the last four years in American politics.
My take as a creative person is to think of something bold and different. There are so many great stories but in today's age you have to take risks. In this story, the character was so bizarre that it lead to а creative style. The approach visually was to take place in a manufactured lab. The action figure is put together with а camera movement and surgical nature. It's meant to take into effect how Tekashi came to be. He was very specific and calculated. If he is a manufactured celebrity, let's manufacture and show you how across the culture we went into popularity in this abstract laboratory of sort.
The idea is that the social media platform democratized fame. Everyone is a celebrity - it is the rule of social media. The social media is now the enabler place where anyone can create what their reality would be. If you want to be an activist and the voice for change and be a hero you can do that; be the instigator. Social media has taken away the gatekeepers and allowed anyone like Tekashi to rise.
I hope what people take away is to realize that we live in this manufactured celebrity culture. Authenticity is beautiful and appreciating that people who are authentic and real is key. Being able to spot that is to appreciate artists and people that are authentic.
There has been a lot of conversation and attention on the project. It's important to remember this is not a project whether Tekashi is a good or a bad person. This is not a debate. The point of this project is to take a look at how someone can transform in today's social media from an innocent little boy to a toxic monster and what it tells us as society.
SUPERVILLAIN: THE MAKING OF TEKASHI 6IX9INE, profiling hip-hop artist Tekashi 6ix9ine’s epic rise to notoriety and spectacular fall to convicted criminal, premiered on February 21 on SHOWTIME. New episodes will debut on-air every Sunday through March 7. The entire series will release for on-demand streaming or download on SHOWTIME and across all SHOWTIME partner platforms on February 21.
No comments:
Post a Comment