Critical Theory of Exit Through the Gift Shop

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Essay 3 The film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” has provided people that have engaged in watching it with mixed opinions. The film itself is considered a documentary, which in most cases are meant to be depictions of actual events and people. Although, at some point it has been construed that this isn’t a whole-hearted documentary, and instead that is the product of an artist trying to make a point. The basis of these opinions is among different ideas, such as the authenticity of the film as a whole, its cast, or just validity of some parts included in it. There is also speculation about the film’s meaning and what exactly is trying to be said by Banksy, the director and a contributing street artist of the film. However, it is apparent that Banksy taking the role of director seems to be the main concern of skepticism that the entire thing is just some elaborate hoax. Whether or not the movie is a prank does seem to hold relevance in order to properly assess what message is trying to be conveyed. It seems that if it is a prank, then we are more strongly drawn toward seeking a deeper meaning of the link between art and consumerism, due to consumption of the movie itself and how each of us participates in parallel to the way that the people in the film had done. On the other end of the spectrum, if the film is not a prank, then we are drawn more toward what was trying to be said through the actual storyline of the film, instead of possible motives of those involved in creating it. The ideas proposed in the storyline are things like the significance and meaning of art, how things become canonical or just popular among a mass audience, and even what it is that makes an artist a meaningful creator of art. First looking at street art altogether is in itself a controversial matter. This is because a portion of the population sees this as no art form at all, but instead it
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