“We’re so used to hyperreality and the production value of media, that reality doesn’t seem so real anymore,” says Adrian Grenier, making a powerful point about the tabloidization of entertainment media, and the blurring between reality and fiction in a society of simulacra.
Grenier portrays a movie star on a show about celebrities, and he started his career as part of another entourage, on Woody Allen’s Celebrity. Through Teenage Paparazzo, he deconstructs the phenomenon of celebrity culture, from its creation, to proliferation, to consumption – driven by our fascination with the icons, images, and narratives manufactured by the Hollywood dream factory and sustained by the media machine. The film follows 14 year-old Austin Visschedyk, a precocious paparazzo lured by Hollywood’s aura of fame and excitement into running breathlessly to catch a glimpse of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and the likes. We see him roaming the streets, standing out in the pack of paparazzi stationed outside celebrity hot spots, wildly snapping away, learning what makes a shot that sells.
Austin’s coming-of-age tale was set in motion the moment he captured his first celebrity photo, of Grenier. The encounter inspired the actor/filmmaker to turn the camera on the paparazzi, and through the eyes of this teenager, to understand what drives them and how they operate to fuel and create demand for celebrity media.
As the movie unfolds, Grenier immerses himself in Visschedyk’s life, interacts with his family, and builds a meaningful bond with the teenager. Grenier then goes from observing to guiding and mentoring his subject, attempting to steer him towards a more socially significant form of photojournalism – but the media attention surrounding Austin is building up, the roles are reversed, and teenager gets a taste of the celebrity lifestyle he had been shadowing, with Adrian vying for his attention.
Grenier conveys a compelling mix of investigation and opinions, in a refreshing, non-judgmental manner, curious and open to learn about the people behind the cameras. Highly engaging, revealing and insightful, the film is firmly grounded in media theory, from Baudrillard, to Mulvey and Metz, to Henry Jenkins, balanced by an ethnographic approach, including candid interviews with celebrities (such as Alec Baldwin offering his uncensored take on the issue); critics, bloggers, photo editors, and tabloid reporters also share their perspectives.
In an ironic twist, the paparazzi share their concerns as the filmmaker follows them around: "There we have Adrian Grenier's crew, who's exploting what we do." Austin adds: "They're scared you're going to portray us as bad people."
Teenage Paparazzo is just as much about Austin and Adrian's relationship, as it is about the process of documentary filmmaking, and about the blurring between observed and observer in a hypermediated society: frames, mirrors, camera lenses, shots of paparazzi with cameras hiding their faces, a whole scene devoted to capturing Austin's reaction as he watches the documentary for the first time -- all reinforce the film's fascination with reflecting on its own meta dimension.
The democratization of celebrity access is thematic of the film, as author and Teenage Paparazzo co-writer Thomas de Zengotita pointed out in a discussion of the film. This idea becomes even more significant when considering the role of social media in reshaping our relationship to celebrity icons, adding immediacy, a sense of proximity, and the potential for reciprocation, while offering celebrities the chance to take control of their images/messages.
Most importantly, Grenier urges audiences to participate, share, post, comment, shape their own news and images. In another meta-twist, the film, which offers a critical look at the state of entertainment media, has been covered by most entertainment media outlets: as Grenier mentioned in a previous interview, "I want to start a revolution against media and use media to do it."
Our review is based on an advance screening and discussion with Grenier, held on September 17 at the P.C Richard & Son Theater in New York City, and organized by iheartradio.com. During the event, Grenier introduced the now-viral SlebSuit.com and MyFrontPageScandal.com.
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