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Oscar Campaign for “The Master” Sends out Scientology Parody Magazine

Anonycat

Crusader
Famous for their junk mail!

Oscar Campaign for “The Master” Sends out Scientology Parody Magazine

I almost thought that there was no Oscar campaign for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” But today arrived a parody of a Scientology mailing promoting the film, which should be a Best Picture nominee and have three actor nominations as well. The Weinstein Company sent out a folded magazine on newsprint called “The Cause Footpath.” The Cause, of course, is the cult religion started by Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a performance as good as Daniel Day Lewis’s Lincoln or Denzel Washington’s addicted pilot.

The Footpath is a fictional publication from Dodd– “The Weekly Newspaper for the Enlightened.” It mimics the annoying periodicals published by Scientology or Jehovah’s Witnesses “The Watchtower.” Very clever. Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams are shown on the cover. I’ve reproduced it twice here.

Inside TWC includes mostly the sterling reviews for the movie. The backpage is a long quote from Dodd, from Anderson’s original screenplay. There’s also a very witty fake 1949 article about Dodd and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actress nominee without a doubt).

Full article: http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/12/0...-master-sends-out-scientology-parody-magazine

the.cause_.2.2.jpg
 

TG1

Angelic Poster
I freakin' LOVE this. Scientology is such a fucking joke.

Oh, yeah -- Hollywood's REAL afraid of the Church of Scientology.

:roflmao:

TG1
 

Anonycat

Crusader
I freakin' LOVE this. Scientology is such a fucking joke.

Oh, yeah -- Hollywood's REAL afraid of the Church of Scientology.

:roflmao:

TG1

Yeah, wouldn't want to step on Cruise's or Travolta's toes either! No, they're all in simultaneous free-fall, it's fine to pass them a note on their way to a self-inflicted faceplant.
 
Famous for their junk mail!

Oscar Campaign for “The Master” Sends out Scientology Parody Magazine

I almost thought that there was no Oscar campaign for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” But today arrived a parody of a Scientology mailing promoting the film, which should be a Best Picture nominee and have three actor nominations as well. The Weinstein Company sent out a folded magazine on newsprint called “The Cause Footpath.” The Cause, of course, is the cult religion started by Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a performance as good as Daniel Day Lewis’s Lincoln or Denzel Washington’s addicted pilot.

The Footpath is a fictional publication from Dodd– “The Weekly Newspaper for the Enlightened.” It mimics the annoying periodicals published by Scientology or Jehovah’s Witnesses “The Watchtower.” Very clever. Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams are shown on the cover. I’ve reproduced it twice here.

Inside TWC includes mostly the sterling reviews for the movie. The backpage is a long quote from Dodd, from Anderson’s original screenplay. There’s also a very witty fake 1949 article about Dodd and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actress nominee without a doubt).

Full article: http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/12/0...-master-sends-out-scientology-parody-magazine

the.cause_.2.2.jpg

best director, screenplay, soundtrack, editing, and cinematography might get nods too
 

AnonyMary

Formerly Fooled - Finally Free
I freakin' LOVE this. Scientology is such a fucking joke.

Oh, yeah -- Hollywood's REAL afraid of the Church of Scientology.

:roflmao:

TG1

Well long time critic Roger Friedman has been around the block a few times grappling with Scientology, Travolta and Preston... Kirsty and Cruise. He actually sued Fox News claiming scientology Celebrities got him fired.

Here's a link to google search results for Roger Friedman and Scientology
 
.
.
Nice. I can't help but notice the quiet attempt to mock the scientology cult but avoid their wrath leaning towards The Watchtower as the reference for the imagery and design of the campaign. Just as the film is always pitched as "not really about scientology"
Even if that were the truth in the minds of the makers, it has become a film about scientology by all the denial necessary to convince people.

I would love to have seen a cover with the now iconic (at least to exes) image of the dwarf up on stage at an "event". Perhaps with a bridge in the background? They could even use a real bridge like the Golden Gate etc.

Even so, this "about scientology, but not about scientology" is being deliberately played like a Stradivarius, very artfully. A large Chinese whispering campaign.
 

Freeminds

Bitter defrocked apostate
I daresay some cheeky Anon with Photoshop skillz might subtly alter the publication, and put out a new version with tacky Miscavige-style graphics on the cover? (Call it an "early proof of concept.") If that went fungal on the Internet, well... mission accomplished.
 
The word "ridicule" may be understood in different ways.
In it's most brutal form I suppose it would look like verbal sledgehammers, and that might turn people off. IMO though, ridicule is often done with style and wit. At what stage does it become unacceptable? I have no idea. However, even it it's cruder forms, I wouldn't lose sleep worrying that good citizens will look askance at someone taking pot shots at the sledgehammer-wielding scientology cult. It (ridicule of the cult) has been done in public by TV personalities without turning the world against anti scientologists.


"..Writers have been raising laughs by ridiculing people and human behavior since at least the time of the Greek dramatists.
Here are some terms to describe types of ridicule intended to make us laugh and, maybe, think.
satire (n.) – This broad term applies to literature that blends criticism, wit, and ironic humor with the aim of ridiculing or rebuking someone or something. The target of satire can be person or thing. Jonathan Swift’s savage essay “A Modest Proposal” targets the Irish landowning system. In our own time the government and individual politicians are favorite targets of satire. The verb is satirize...."


http://www.dailywritingtips.com/satire-parody-and-other-forms-of-ridicule/


http://www.essaypride.com/essays.php?free_essay=3997890&title=Aristotle-On-Ridicule
 
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