French productions have become a platform for narcissistic self-promotion by co-producing television channels. Journalists from the TV station that’s producing the show interview the characters, and quote or comment on what they do. This whole thing where TV is sneaking into French films has become a bit of a problem. This way of thinking about movies is having an impact on the relationship between the author, producer, and viewer of a film.
Why do co-producing television stations pollute French films?
Filmmakers reference existing media in their films to place the story in chronological context, stick to reality, create an impressive twist with a media name, or incorporate elements of the main character’s past into the narrative using press clippings, TV reports, and internet articles.
When a hero’s actions appear in news and interviews on real TV and internet channels during the film, it formalizes and legitimizes a fact, supports the demonstration, or creates a mirror with our reality to give it more depth…
But isn’t that a bit silly? These reasons might seem plausible to a writer and producer who want to impress a bunch of simpletons who have never seen anything before. Obviously, the goal of featuring a television station in a film is not the search for quality screenwriting.
Clearly, the film crew is promoting the media in the hope that they will produce and sponsor the film, discuss it on their programs, and give it favorable reviews. Conversely, television stations that co-produce these films want to be featured in order to promote their channels.
It remains to be seen how the narcissistic and silly appearance of the media in French cinema will affect the quality and longevity of films.
Media intrusion in a movie is in poor taste, and it is something that should be avoided.
Media intrusion is distasteful for a variety of reasons.
The introduction of fictional media is common in American comics, literature, and cinema. Filmmakers wanted to anchor their characters in a reality that suddenly took an interest in them, for better or worse. Sometimes, they created an antagonism between the main character and the media by starting with a trial or police investigation. In other cases, fake media were shown on screen with the obvious intention of mocking them (e.g., John Carpenter’s They Live or the RoboCop film series).
While it might seem a bit old-fashioned and out of place for a book, it’s even more of a no-no in a movie. When you’ve got sound and image — basically, the voice and face of the journalist, who doesn’t really matter to us — in the feature film, filmed head-on or from behind, in the foreground, it messes up the flow of the movie.
More generally, fictional or real employees of a real media outlet repeat and comment on information that the viewer already knows from a previous scene. The arrival of the media, announcing what the viewer already knows, slows down the action, breaking the rhythm of the film like a speed bump in the middle of a highway during a car chase. It’s never a climax or a plot twist, just a mandatory media break that, after a hilarious scene, ruins the good vibes of a comedy or breaks the suspense of a thriller or action movie.
The articulate voice of a journalist, a pedantic voiceover, an interviewer sent to the scene to question one of the main characters, another speaking in front of a camera to explain the facts, clash with the musical intensity and the voices of the characters. It is just the painful explanation of the situation by a noisy third party who is out of place.
This removes some of the mystery and uncertainty, exposing a banal reality that holds no mystery for us: militant journalists closely associated with political power. Manichean journalists who prioritize information. Representatives of a society stuck in its conformism, preconceived ideas, and compromises. At best, we lose some of the interest that the story had sparked in us. At worst, viewers are manipulated and lectured by co-producers, a director, and a writer who treat them like sheep passing through a movie theater.
A comedy recently set a new record. It featured a real 15-minute news channel broadcast during a total of 105 minutes. It also included heavy and useless quotes from newspapers. The tendency for both sides to weigh down media advertising scripts is only getting worse. We are dealing with interference that is gradually spreading to the entire Seventh Art.
While French comedies were the first films to show signs of this TV intrusion pandemic, the disease has now spread to other genres, such as thrillers, action films, and fantasy films.
For most people, going to the movies is a way to escape for a little while and feel free. It’s like a break from everyday life. When writers and producers bombard us with media journalists and even French political figures, they break the contract between cinema and viewer. This makes a magical screening into a political and media clumsiness.
Cinema operators are concerned about attendance at their theatres. Television channels that co-produce films should stop stealing part of the value of people’s cinema tickets. When a television journalist and the channel’s logo burst onto the screen in the middle of a film, they distort what is a voluntary act on the part of the viewer – going to the cinema – into an infringement of their freedom, a violation of their consent.
Conclusion
This kind of polluting self-promotion by co-producing channels in French cinema seems to be banking on the gradual desensitisation of an audience of sheep accustomed to advertising. But doesn’t it above all hinder the world of cinema, through a crude mixing of genres?
The intrusion of a co-producing television channel into a director’s work adds no value to the film. It is a form of spectacular idiocy and artistic suicide, where the nightmare of the real world takes hold of you. The increasingly long and frequent journalistic digressions are poisoning the Seventh Art.
We propose that the committees responsible for classifying films and cinema operators inform the public that a film uses media product placement and television self-promotion.
