Some suggest that Banksy and Mister Brainwash are the same person. This is cannot be true. While it seems that MBW is smart enough to try to delude his audience into believing that he is crazy, there is no way that the man we see on screen bumbling around has the same mind as the person who came up with these incredible masterpieces above.
While I do not think Terry Guetta is anywhere near as brilliant as Banksy is, I believe that he is not as stupid as he leads us on to be. I think he has the Paris Hilton way of life: he became famous for not really doing anything. I think Paris is a very smart girl. She wanted to be famous, but had no real talent that could lead her to the stardom that she wanted. So, she relied on her personality and outgoing ways to make her way to the top. I believe that she pretends to be stupid because she was smart enough to realize that being an intelligent, wholesome woman would not get her the same attention that being a woman who says or does things that don’t jive well in society would. This is the same for Terry Guetta. Except, it was not Terry who realized how acting as a crazy man could work to his advantage. Banksy did.
By molding Terry into someone who made his way into stardom by acting the opposite of how any normal person acts, Banksy insured that MWB would make himself talked about in the world of street art. Because I believe that it was not Terry that came up with this idea at all. Terry is just the man smart enough to know when to follow a good plan. He can act, yes. He’s smart enough to see the potential a stunt like this could have, yes. He’s smart enough to understand the message Banksy is trying to convey, yes. He has a few screws loose? …Most likely yes.
The thing that strikes me as the biggest piece of evidence that Terry was acting crazier than he actually is in this documentary was his wife. I don’t know any women that would stay with a man who not only obsessively and creepily filmed every part of their life, but also gave up his business to go run around at night doing illegal activity. Where did they come up with the money to survive? When did he have time for his family? Did she do it all? Most women would have a problem with this, but in the ending credits it said that she just took up his abandoned hobby of filming. I don’t see how a woman could stay with a man after going through that type of ordeal.
I think Banksy was using Terry for a message to the public. He’s showing that our society gets too wrapped up in the personas of those presenting us with their arts, and not thinking about the meaning of the art. Stars like Sandra Bullock can be phenonmenal actresses, but their private antivs will always be more talked about than their work. MBW has no message behind his “art”. He throws colors and patterns together in ways that make his designs interesting to look at and appeasing to our superficial minds, but Banksy strives for something deeper. While his art is beautiful, it also carries value. There is something to be said about each and every one of his graphics. I think this documentary became a social experiment for Banksy, because he’s looking to find out if MBW’s antics can get him on the same level that Banksy already resides on. While Banksy remains so private that nobody can get a chance to talk about anything besides his talent, MBW is so out there that his talent is never as talked about as his behavior is. Is this type of a person really what our society wants to have represent us as a true artist?
Banksy makes remarks on the corruptions of the world. MBW makes pretty pictures that he needs a team to help him make. And yet somehow, some of MBW’s works are selling for the same prices if not higher than Banksy’s are. If this isn’t a remark about corruption, I don’t know what is.
I think that the illegality and publicity of this art is what draws people to it so much. I think it only makes the message stronger, because it shows the artist is willing to get arrested in order to get their ideas out in the public. It shows that they feel so strongly about a particular subject that they just want any chance they have at it maybe getting seen for only one day. It also has to happen at night, which means the dedication to the art is great because the day is spent creating the art, and the night is spent figuring out where to canvas it. These artists have to know that there is a good chance that their graphic will be taken down before people really even get a chance to see it. Understanding that this is a constantly revolving expression is something that has to be accepted before one gets into this way of life. A street artist must really have to love what they do, while knowing the downsides that come with this illegal art form.
I had never heard of Banksy before this movie, but ever since seeing it I haven’t been able to get him out of my head. Right now, the background to my laptop is a Banksy graphic. I think he is an astonishing man. For someone to be able to maintain anonymity after all this time and for being one of the most sought after street artists ever, the man has to be ridiculously intelligent. Which is why I have to stress again that this all must be another one of his messages. I can’t imagine someone like the character that Terry plays would be able to have such a hold over someone who is this smart so easily.
Banksy’s art is real because it speaks about real issues, not just random things thrown on one canvas the way other artists have done. I respect Banksy for doing what he does because he does it to discuss things like anti-war, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, and existentialism. These are issues that are faced every day and need to be discussed more often. Banksy throws them in our faces and makes us discuss them, even if we aren’t even realizing that we are.
