This photo is well known, though it’s origin is not. It appears on the cover of the English translation of Guy Debord La Société du Spectacle (The Society of the Spectacle, tr. by Fredy Perlman and Jon Supak, Black & Red, 1970; available online). It was originally taken by Life photographer J.R. Eyerman (1906-1985) at “the premiere screening of film ‘Bwana Devil,’ directed by Arch Oboler, the 1st full-length, color 3D (aka ‘Natural Vision’) motion picture” (Life.com). I don’t know for sure if it ever appeared in Life Magazine itself, though it was later used in 1984 on the cover of the brochure that accompanied an exhibition of photographs from Life Magazine held at the International Center of Photography (New York) and entitled: The Second Decade, 1946-1955 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984; used copies still available online).

Here’s what Thomas Y. Levin has to say about this photo in his essay “Dismantling the Spectacle: The cinema of Guy Debord”

This picture, taken by J.R. Eyerman, has since become a veritable cliché not only for the alienation of late consumer culture but also for the ten years following World War II: it appears, for example, on T-Shirts, bags, and buttons as well as on the cover of the brochure that accompanied an exhibition of photographs from Life magazine held at the International Center of Photography (New York) and entitled: The Second Decade, 1946-1955. Few realize, however, that this depiction of the latest stage in the drive towards cinematic verisimilitude exists in at least two versions: the one, employed for the cover of the Society of the Spectacle (Detroit, Black & Red, 1970, repr. 1977 and 1983), depicts its elegantly attired audience in a virtually trance-like state of absorption, their faces grim, their lips pursed, in the other shot of the same audience, however, the 3-D spectators are laughing, their expressions of hilarity conveying the pleasure of an uproarious, active spectatorship.

(‘Dismantling the spectacle. The Cinema of Guy Debord’, in On the passage of a few people through a rather brief moment in time. The Situationist International 1957-1972, MIT Press : Cambridge 1989, pp. 72-123; available online at the Media Art Net website.

I first found the reference to this photo via Beetle In A Box Tumblr blog, though it needs some correction : the photo did not appeared in any of Life Magazine November issues of 1952.

Director : Romain Gavras
Director of Photography : André Chemetoff
Producer : Mourad Belkeddar
Production company : elnino.tv
Executive Production : Gaetan Rousseau / Paradoxal
Special thanks to Lana & Melissa from The Director’s Bureau. (more)

Romain Gravas is Costa Gravas’ son. He is represented by the production company SOIZAN7E QUIN5E.

UPDATE : “M.I.A. Video for ‘Born Free’ Is Pulled From YouTube” (via The New York Times, April 27, 2010).

We don’t know yet about the intentions behind this music video : it’s a music video, so it’s supposed to be something in between art and entertainment. Since “Representatives for M.I.A. and her label, XL Recordings, did not immediately reply to requests for comment” (according to The New York Times) we can’t know for sure if it’s a political statement and, if so, what’s the statement about. M.I.A. is a self-proclaimed political activist (as well as many other things). She once said that “You can’t separate the world into two parts like that, good and evil.” (Wikipedia) which is interesting in regard to this music video. For all I know, there are much more violent films out there. And I think it’s really hard to evaluate the efficiency of political statements carried by artistic representations (for that instance, I think Costa Gravas’ adaptation of Vassilis Vassilikos’ novel Z is much more interesting, but I have to admit there’s a difference between a full feature film and a music video). The song’s lyrics are easy to find on the Internet. But what’s in them : she got something to say / she was born free. I rather listen to Boris Vian’ The Deserter (give it a try, read the lyrics).

[UPDATE: May 25th, 2010] I wonder how much of this video is ripped from the excellent film by Peter Watkins Punishment Park (1971).