WatchmenComicMovie.com Forum

I don't know if you guys are familiar with Derren Brown, but he's a very popular TV magician/hoaxer here. Larry Fong, DP on Watchmen, is also a magician and is evidently a fan of Brown's. So when the latter tweeted about using Fight Club, Donnie Darko, The Game and Watchmen for his latest show, Larry was very happy. Curious I decided to check out the show and upload the Watchmen-relevant bits for Larry's benefit and yours.

Watching it it's clear he's pretty much replicated those sources. Some might say (some have) that he's ripping them off, but it's pretty cool seeing, for instance, the Fight Club scene in which Tyler holds a man at gunpoint happen in real life.

Anywho, here's a clip. Not for the first time, Alan Moore has grounds to sue. Then again, editing the words may have been the unethical thing to do, since it might be seen as failing to make it clear that the content wasn't original. Still, if ever there was a reason to email Dave Gibbons...

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Oh, yeah. This guy's a hack.

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

It bothers me that this Derren Brown has his own show, something like that should be cancelled on grounds of being blatant bullshit.

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Matthew: You had me at hello.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

huh?

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We're all actors, Laurie. I'm just an actor who read the script.

What?

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

i don't think derren brown is "blatant bullshit"

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We're all actors, Laurie. I'm just an actor who read the script.

Oh yeah. Good point, I guess.

I mean, he doesn't claim that any of his powers are real. He's just a magician.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

he doesn't even claim to be a magician, all he does is use suggestion and psychology and stuff like that. he's actually well known for debunking people who do claim to be psychic and stuff.

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We're all actors, Laurie. I'm just an actor who read the script.

No he isn't, unless you want to take pop-culture psychology as the real deal.

Half of the stuff he said on that video is not possible, you can't suggest stuff to people while they are unconscious with the ease that Mr. Brown did it, some of my teachers from my previous alma mater would be having a parade with the stuff this guy said.

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the guy wasn't unconscious, he was woken at a time his brain was susceptible to suggestion, and he has a suggestible personality to start with, people like that are probably very rare, and brown seeks these people out specifically.

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We're all actors, Laurie. I'm just an actor who read the script.

As I said, pop-culture psychology, there is no proof that people's brains are even susceptible to suggestion when they are woken at one point during their sleep, there is no proof that an unconscious mind even exists, hell, psychologists are bickering about the possibility that the mind may or may not even exist.

There is indeed Hypnosis which can work quite the way Mr. Brown presumes, but you are induced into a state of conciousness while being in a resting position, and it's NOWHERE NEAR what Mr. Brown did with the speakers.

And you certainly don't fucking get up from your bed, get dressed and walk to the yard to meet a strange fellow and allow him to speak any nonsense to you !



And how do you know that ? because Mr. Brown told you ?

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Yeah, I'm on Feliciano's side for this one.

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Say, Doc, did I ever tell you I'm the only metal that's liquid at room temperature?

I'm gonna go with the psychology major and common sense.

Though apparently, I don't know jack because this is my second time switching sides.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

You don't think people sleepwalk to this degree? I had a roommate who found herself sitting on a kitchen counter one night, combing her hair with what turned out to be a steak knife. I had another friend who walked out through his backyard, through the garden, and into another neighbor's yard without waking -- his parents had to track him down and bring him back to the house.

*shrug* I do take Derren Brown's stuff with a grain of salt here and there, but I find this within the realm of possibility (barely, but still).

I do find it hard to believe that Simon Pegg would just collude with him -- he seemed genuinely puzzled, but then, he is an actor -- on that one episode...

My uncle once tried to go to the movies at 2:00 am. Sleepwalking exists, but this isn't sleepwalking, it's "inducing people into dreamlike states through the use of suggestions to the unconscious mind" or "sensasionalist bullshit".

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First of all, if I awoke to some phantom voice in the middle of the night that would scare the shit out of me. Second, he tells the guy he's having a dream. So wouldn't that cause the guy to "wake up" if he were actually dreaming?

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

i think it's hilarious that the knives are out about this.

when the likes of simon pegg and reece shearsmith (both of whom has appeared in brown's programmes) produce their works (i.e. pegg and stevenson/hynes' amazing "spaced" and the equally brilliant "the league of gentlemen"* from shearsmith and co) they are layered with film, tv and sci-fi references. in fact, many episodes of both the series mentioned are effectively pastiches or homages to particular pop-culture narratives.

"shaun of the dead" anyone?

GEORGE A. ROMERO ANYONE?

but, because they work in the world of fiction and storytelling - it's accepted.

what is the real difference between these writers and brown's work? fiction vs. real life effect? well, brown's work is mostly fiction.

yet, well constructed fiction effects us on a deep personal level... and that's why everyone on this forum has written their bit on here. art effects us - and any art can produce a similar effect to what the actual experiences would... if not a greater one.

brown is not a conman - in fact, in "derren brown investigates" frauds exploiting the fragile and ignorant is something he directly tries expose.

all writers and artists use influences from their own backlog of art and culture... and if brown lists these influences, surely this proves he's a genuine artist rather than some other-worldly and original creative genius.

the guy is an intellectual and an artist, but above all a showman... and he doesn't call himself anything different.

is fandom pissed because brown was inspired by moore and palaniuk (ect.)'s work and used their influence in his own piece? because he openly admitted it? or because they hold these works close to their own hearts too and don't like to see it used out of the realms of culture that they (the fans) themselves are comfortable with?

after all, was ditko pissed about "watchmen"?


*yes, it's a similar title to something to do with something that someone may have wrote. a comic series, maybe.

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QFT. I can't really add anything, this is exactly what I was thinking

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@RealSlimCAvery

quantum field theory?

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