There is nothing new to say about the exploitation of the dead, it always happens when an artist adored by thousands or millions dies of a tragic death. I am not going to list every single example, from John Lennon to Kurt Cobain, to Tupac, to the never-ending case of Michael Jackson, lots of people benefit from the dead, but I just want to talk about an artist I have written about numerous times, Elliott Smith. As everyone knows he died in 2003 under tragic and unexplained circumstances and since that time, numerous projects have seen the light.
There is a fine line between homage and exploitation and everyone who has had a project about Elliott may be doing one of the two, but especially can be accused of exploiting his death. Every time a photo of Elliott is posted on Facebook or elsewhere, it receives hundreds of ‘likes’ in a few hours, no matter how many times this picture has been seen before, and when it is a rarity, its status reaches the stratosphere. I mean by that it is very easy to please Elliott’s fans, they are always hungry for a sign of life from their adored artist, they are always receiving the smallest piece of info with the appetence of an ogre. Probably because there will never be any Elliott’s news, at least not directly coming from him.
Every time someone is posting a picture, a quote, a song (that any true fan has seen and heard many times before by the way) there is this big tide of love coming from all directions of the internet and the poster feels good. And I am guilty of this too. Thus imagine the reaction when someone posts a rarity, something fresh: And I suspect that, unconsciously, the posting of the rare picture is more due to this self-centered feeling than a generous sharing with the world,… altruism is an illusion and in fact selfishness in disguise, are saying many biologists, sociologists and philosophers. It works the same way when an original work about Elliott is made, necessarily an aura of glory shines on the person who made it, and this person feels good… pleasing all these hungry fans is the best feeling in the world.
Since his death, two books (biographies) and two movies have been made, beside the numerous articles printed in magazines. Before accusing the authors and filmmakers of anything, I just wanted to point out a few things I have noticed which make me cringe, more or less.
Gil Reyes was the director of ‘Searching for Elliott Smith’ which was released in 2009 and is still not available in DVD or anywhere else, because Reyes is still pushing the exclusive-screening-at-independent-theaters game after almost 5 years… I even think he enjoys all the begging from fans on his page. But the worst was this: a meet-and-greet at $40 before the Denver screening in 2012 (the general admission was $20). Because you made a film about Elliott Smith, you think fabs will pay $40 to meet with you? I bet a lot did…. What a joke.
In 2013, W. T. Schultz wrote a book described as a ‘major new biography of musician Elliott Smith’ on his Facebook page, or as ‘the first proper biography of the rock star’ on another site… Ben Nugent who wrote ‘Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing’ in 2005 (also a bio of Elliott) must be probably very happy to read this. Since the release of the book, Schultz has published many articles about Elliott, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ‘Roman Candle’ in Salon, to tell us which of Elliott’s songs are the most poetic in the Huffington Post, to explain us why Elliott’s songs are so addictive in Bookish, or to give us his tour through Elliott Smith’s Portland,… since when did this guy get a PhD on Elliott Smith? He has installed himself as an authority in Elliott’s studies whereas I know he was desperately fishing for information among fans on an Elliott Smith message board a few years ago,…and I am not even talking about his creepy article on Peaches Geldof’s death, who loved Elliott and overdosed on heroine. In his case, I would definitively talk about exploitation, he is milking the cow till it dries, but it never dries because new generations of fans arrive every year.
The movie ‘Heaven Adores You’ is the last Elliott-related thing to date, and I haven’t seen it as there hasn’t been any screening in Los Angeles yet. However, there will be an Australian screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 9th and director Nickolas Rossi would like to attend it. So he is using GoFundMe to raise money for his trip. He is relaying on fans to pay for his trip, and I am not sure I find that totally ethical… let’s see, a review by G. Havrilla was posted on rock nyc a few days ago, and a guy was not happy that the author had called Nickolas Rossi a neophyte (it is his directorial debut). ‘He’s far from some novice’, he said while posting Rossi’s references on IMDb, ‘He even taught documentary for years in Portland. Seems odd that he should be referred to as a “fledgling” when he went to film school in 1992 and travels the world making films.’ In this case, why is raising money for a trip? Raising money to make a movie would be different, but here it’s for the film’s promotion. ‘A man recently raised over $40,000 to make potato salad. We can do this, right?’ Rossi added on his page. Ye,s but the salad was kind of a joke, right? May be I am too critical but I find ‘the raising money for my own promotion’ a bit exploitative, and you can’t have it both ways, being a professional and pay for the trip, or still having the fans pay for it? As I said, it is very easy to get anything from Elliott Smith’s fans, as long as you post, make, or mention anything related to Elliott, they will praise you. And I am guilty of it too.