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Socially Conscious Documentaries... About Celebrity?

by Tippi Blevins May 13, 2008 12:02 PM

Adrian Grenier isn't just a pretty face. He wants you to know that his caveman chic beard is hiding a face of concern and consideration. To that end, his Reckless Productions has joined forces with financier John Loar to create what Grenier calls "socially conscious" films and documentaries. According to Variety, Grenier will produce and direct the films, one of which is about the "musical odyssey" of a Los Angeles band as they record an album. The other is a paparazzi-themed film, which at this point is being referred to as "The Untitled Media Culture Documentary." It will examine the "relationship between celebrity and society."

Yeah, those sound so socially conscious that PBS is bound to eventually air them during one of their fifteen annual membership drives. They'll be wedged between documentaries about the strained health care system and a twenty-hour historical essay from Ken Burns.

But maybe such sarcasm isn't warranted. Maybe the trials and travails of celebrities are worthy of being made into documentaries "for the social good." As with the celebs themselves, so much of it has to do with packaging. Picture it:

Sir David Attenborough settles himself into the recording booth, opens his script, waits for his cue, and begins to read in his best "erudite but approachable" narrative voice: "Here we see the celebrity stalking his prey. He is quiet for the moment, looking almost... nonchalant. One would almost believe he isn't on the prowl at all. This is only what he wants others in his pack to believe, lest they try to steal his prize from him. He crouches just outside the Ivy, pauses for what must seem to him like an eternity, and then, seemingly out of nowhere...he springs! He's captured it--the once-elusive "fame"--and he won't let go until he's drained every ounce of life from it."

Television Without Pity

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Socially Conscious Documentaries... About Celebrity?

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