“I’m still here!”
Joaquin Phoenix, the reclusive and often misunderstood actor, proclaimed in his new and controversial movie.
Renouncing Acting
Five years ago, Joaquin Phoenix, the famous actor, decided to quit his successful acting career to become a rap star. When he announced to the media that he is quitting acting, the media went into a frenzy over the news. Casey Affleck, his brother-in-law, decided to make a documentary about his career change. For two years Affleck followed around Phoenix to document his transformation from an actor to a rapper (Cieply, 2010).
The filmmakers played the movie at the Venice Film Festival when they finished the filming and editing. Affleck announced that the entire film, including Phoenix’s announcement, was all staged, none of it was real (Ebert, 2010). For two years the media had been riding a crazy ride that they did not know they were even on. What everyone believed to be a documentary turned out to be a controversial movie. A movie that showed a well-known actor as a victim of his own fame.
New Career Path
The film starts off with Phoenix walking around outside in the dark. He is talking out loud about how tired he is of being an actor. He also said he is tired of constantly repeating someone else’s words. That he has confined himself into the box of acting. He then decides that he wants to quit acting and be a rapper. Shortly after, they show him at a charity benefit with several other famous actors.
When the event had ended and he walked out onto the red carpet and approached an Extra reporter. He told her “I want to take this opportunity… also to give you the exclusive and just talk a little bit about the fact that this will be my last performance as an actor… I’m not doing films anymore, I’m working on my music. I am done. I’ve been through that”. Virtually all of the popular news media outlets replayed his statement over and over on air. It baffled people everywhere. No one could understand why an actor as good as Joaquin Phoenix would decide to quit acting. Especially to pursue a career he appeared to have very little if any experience in.
The purpose of this film or the reason why the character engaged in his rule-breaking behavior is not immediately clear (Sellnow, p53). At the beginning of the movie, Phoenix goes on a rant about how much he is sick of acting. He begins his rant saying, “I’m stuck inside this fucking self-imposed prison of characterization!” He continues on and expresses how he wants to escape the prison of being an actor. And now he wants to fulfill his long-time dream of becoming a famous rapper.
His Decline
The movie appears to document Phoenix’s two-year decline, showing many of the awkward moments he had in public that the media obsessed over. As the film progresses, it becomes evident that the motive for his actions was victimage. Victimage is an attempt to absolve one’s guilt by placing the blame for one’s actions onto someone or something else (Sellnow, p53). Therefore, when looking at this film, it is evident how Phoenix’s words were portrayed and the inclusion of the news media talking about him, they were placing the blame of his two-year breakdown on fame. His character becomes this egotistical and rude victim as the film moves on. A scene in the movie which depicts him performing his rap songs live went terribly wrong. He fell off the stage and an audience member made rude comments to him that turned into a fistfight.
Afterward, he ran to some bushes and cried, “I’m just gonna be a goddamn joke forever”. During scenes like this, it is hard not to feel sorry for him and see him as a victim. Then they show scenes of him hiring prostitutes, doing cocaine, and treating people with utter disrespect. He portrays himself as our culture’s fame-obsessed victim. When looking at him through that lens it is quite easy to feel sorry for him and justify his actions. The character’s motive for all his debase and maniacal actions in real life and within the film can be defined as victimage.
Joaquin Phoenix The Character
In American culture, people think it’s strange when a person renounces their career or skill where they are considered experts. And especially to pursue what appears to be a career path they know nothing about. People will even often perceive that person as crazy or mentally unstable. Phoenix committed this rule-breaking act on national television for all the world to see.
The film’s principal agent, also known as the character, was Joaquin Phoenix portraying himself as a fake Joaquin Phoenix. Any time Phoenix was in public during the filming of “I’m Still Here,” he never broke character. Phoenix and Affleck left small sound bites and leveraged their fame to manipulate the media. They did this at every opportunity they had. He made appearances on talk shows and award ceremonies, including the Academy Awards. The news continuously aired clips of his strange behavior at various events. Phoenix acted as his fake self every time they were in public. Nobody, except a very few select people, knew that he was in character as a fictional version of himself (Ebert, 2010).
As the filming progressed, he allowed himself to become more and more unkempt; he grew his beard long, never fixed his hair, and wore what looked like homeless person clothes. He used his unbecoming appearance as one of his primary tools or agencies, to accomplish the convincing portrayal of his character. During this time various talk show hosts invited him on. He appeared on the shows looking like he had been living on the streets. The gradual decline of his appearance reinforced the message he was trying to send to the public. The message that he has renounced his former life and wanted to become someone else, a rapper. Interestingly, the way he looked did not help reinforce his image as a rapper; instead, it reinforced the idea that he was losing his mind. His physical appearance became a subject of controversy and conversation for many.
The Media As A Character And A Location
The chosen locations for the movie were not only physical spaces but also in realms that are hard to enter. The physical locations were primarily at his homes in California and New York and in a variety of hotel rooms. There were also scenes of him pacing back and forth inside some bushes at night in LA. Here he where would express his personal feelings and even get emotional at times.
They made portions of the movie in the non-physical space of the Media. Duping the media and having them play along was an essential role in making the film as realistic as possible. The media was not aware at any point that all of Phoenix’s actions were him acting out a fictional storyline. A character performing in the real world instead of within a studio. There were many shots and film clips that were cut into “I’m Still Here” from newscasts and TV shows. The filmmakers were able to transcend the limitations of filming a movie at only a physical location. They were able to enter into the media realm and use the Media as a whole for a location as well. This was possible due to the fact that Phoenix tricked to media. He made them think he was being himself and made his announcements and performances very public.
A Work Of Art
When taken at face value, it would appear the actions he took from that moment on were to pursue his dream to be a rapper. That is what all the media believed was going on for a couple of years. When Affleck stated that the supposed documentary was not a documentary, but rather a work of art, the purpose of his actions became more clear. Phoenix broke those social rules and norms to act in a movie to play a character that resembled himself.
Beyond the purpose of making a movie, there is his motive for acting in such a way to create that movie. Again, there are two levels to his motives like there are to his purpose. At first glance, his motive, or the justification for his actions, was for him to pursue a personal dream of his. In the movie, this happened to be a rapper. The media and individuals were generally shocked and appalled at Phoenix’s gradual decline right before the public. Comedy skits were made to mock him. Bloggers were writing about him and the news was regularly reporting on his antics (Ebert, 2010). The general consensus seemed to be that Phoenix was in a downward spiral and needed serious help. When it became public that the entire two years was just a stunt for a movie, his true motive became more clear.
Once they revealed that all of Phoenix’s actions in real life were actually performances, the character’s motive completely changes from victimage to transcendence. Transcendence is when a character’s motive follows a higher calling beyond the rules he is supposed to obey (Sellnow, p53). He is no longer a victim as it first appeared, his life is not out of control, it never was. In reality, it was precisely the opposite of that, he and Affleck were in complete control. Media outlets and bloggers had no idea they were being manipulated.
Transcendence
His seemingly foolish and disastrous actions transcended beyond the need to protect his reputation. The character’s transcendent motive was to make a film about the trappings of fame and a celebrity-obsessed culture (Ebert, 2010). After they had revealed the truth, Phoenix’s so-called downward spiral no longer was something mock or even talk about. He was not the stupid rap star wannabe but once again the amazing actor everyone knew him as.
Some people called Casey Affleck’s film a mockumentary because of its documentary-like production with a created storyline and actors as participants (Cieply, 2010). Prior to his film being called a mockumentary, people thought it was a real story about a real person making a real decision to change his real career. Affleck prefers to call his film a movie; his intention was never for it to be some giant hoax as so many people took it as. He said the movie “was made without comment and with Joaquin in character when in public was because the media plays a role in the film and the media would not have played their role as well as they did had it been acknowledged that Joaquin was only performing” (Ebert, 2010).
Affleck and Phonix’s unique approach to making I’m Still Here has created a lot of controversies. Reading the comments on The New York Times’ article, some people seemed to have a hard time believing in Phoenix’s transcendent motivation and have decided to believe his motivation was purely victimage and the transcendent motive was an afterthought to protect his reputation in the long run. Joaquin Phoenix played a very complex character whose motivations were difficult to understand because initially, it was not even clear who the character was and where and when the movie was taking place. On the movie rating website Rottentomatoes.com, the movie has a 52% rating, it appears that audiences either completely understood or misunderstood the movie.
Citations
Cieply, Michael. “Documentary? Better Call It Performance Art.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 16 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/movies/17affleck.html.
Ebert, Roger. “Casey Affleck Levels about “I’m Still Here”” Roger Ebert’s Journal. Ebert Digital LLC, 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/casey-affleck-levels-about-im-still-here.
Sellnow, Deanna. The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. 51-69. Print.