Mel Gibson was speaking to a film class at CSU Northridge last night when he reminded us all what a total prick he is. After the presentation, the crowd asked questions. An associate professor of Central American studies asked Gibson if he had read about the Mayan culture before shooting Apocalypto, and Gibson told her he had. The woman insisted that many of the film’s representations of the Mayans — like their participation in sacrifical ceremonies and the violent tendencies — were incorrect and racist. Gibson’s response: “Lady, fuck off.” Further, when emotional audience members of Mayan descent complained about how the film portrayed their culture, they were escorted out of the room, and Gibson screamed at them to “Make your own movie!”
Gibson’s publicist’s best excuse? “This person was a heckler who was rude and disrupted the event, so much so that the event organizers had to escort her out.” Which is totally, totally reasonable. First off, this woman really sounds like a “heckler.” “Boooo … you suck!!!!” Yeah, that’s exactly what she was all about. And, I mean, people who speak at universities are almost never challenged. Universities are, if nothing else, designed to be bastions of intellectual conformity — ideas and the presentation of ideas are never to be challenged in academic settings, and it’s quite typical for university speakers to cuss out those who dispute their work, rather than engage in a point-by-point discussion of the issue at hand. Hey, it’s pretty much exactly how Ann Coulter rose to the position of respect she holds among our nation’s great thinkers. Completely reasonable, Mel. We all would have done the same.
Well, on the other hand, its a fucking movie, not a documentary. I do get a little sick and tired of every minority interest group coming in and complaining that every tiny scrap of cultural minutiae isn’t literally correct.
Hey, how many movies about Mayan culture exist out there? They should be glad he took on the subject at all. And for the record, I’m Italian-American and I found several inconsistancies in The Godfather and any time FF Coppola deigns to speak to students about film-making I’m going to make it my business to go there and disrupt the thing and make it all about my petty grievances instead of appreciating that the guy bothered to show up and share.
Jesus fuck, the cult of victimhood just never does get fed enough, does it? I’m not saying Gibson couldn’t have handled it more gracefully, but these people are assholes and they thrive on this crap. They started shit with Gibson to get a reaction and that’s what they got. Do they expect him to go recut the film or something? Asking him if he “read about Mayan culture” is troll behaviour, sorry. The guy who asked it is a prick and he was trying to start crap with Gibson. I’m sure 90% of the people who were there to actually hear the lecture wished the guy would just shut the fuck up.
Hello people (especially leftist cultural diversity whores) movies are not exact representations of history.They are dramatic retellings, adapted for maximum dramatic and entertainment purposes. I don’t see anyone giving Spike Lee any crap for his romantic portrait of Malcolm X, which pretty much ignores all the racist hatred and violent dogma Mr. X espoused. Or how about the Motorcycle Diaries love letter to Che?
I wish the type of people who bitch about Gibson’s fudging of exact historical accuracy in what is admittedly a dramatic work of fiction would get as exercised about so-called “documentaries” with blatant falsehoods and distortions like those cartoons Mike “Fatass” Moore makes.
And for that lady who was all upset: none of us lived then. We don’t really know what happened, we only have archeological consensus. Just because she believes it don’t make it so. So go write a book or do a study, don’t hassle the guy who has the guts to get up there and talk about his art for the benefit of students.
You may dislike Gibson or things he’s said, but going to a campus and talking about film-making is a generous thing to do, and I for one would love to hear a truly great film-maker talk about his art and technique, not listen to some whinging minority victimhood whore ask inane questions, or more accurately make statements and grandstand. I’d have told her to fuck off too.
DITTO!!!
Docweasel, you got it exactly right!