13 Ben Elton: Books: Popcorn (1996)
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This article is from the Ben Elton FAQ, by Andrew Wong andrew@theyoungones.com with numerous contributions by others.
13 Ben Elton: Books: Popcorn (1996)
Ben Elton's latest book deals with media violence and its' effects on the
audience.
Death imitates art
Bruce Delamitri makes movies about killers. Great movies, stylish
movies. Not the usual low rent,low brow, slash, shoot and screw
garbage that recoups its' budget with a blood and boobs video
sleeve. Bruce's movies are hip. Post-modern cinematic
milestones, dripping with ironic juxtaposition. His killers are
style icons. They walk cool, they talk cool. Getting shot by
one of them would be a fashion statement.
Wayne and Scout actually are killers. Real ones. Low rent,
low brow, morality-free zones. Appalling, sad, unbalanced
maniacs who kill people they do not know.
One night, one Oscar-winning night, when Bruce has the
world at his feet, Wayne and Scout hijack his life. They
have decided that it is time Bruce faced up to his
responsibilities. Fact confronts fiction in the heart of
Beverley Hills and a terrible siege begins.
Bruce thought his oscar-winning movie was a drama: it
was a documentary. Popcorn is a taut and darkly funny
page-turner of a novel. In a society addicted to murder, is
there such a thing as a responsible person?
The book has won praise from the likes of Mary Whitehouse for his attack on
sex and violence in the movies. Ben Elton has said "I don't think balanced
people can be driven to be any different from what they are ... The
suggestion is that those who are open to anti-social behaviour may be
seduced into believing it is the norm ... I feel slightly exposed here
because I am putting a point I don't entirely believe." (The Daily
Telegraph, July 29th 1996)
Bringing new meaning to 'synergy', the same work is available in hardback, paperback, as an audio book, as a stage play, and perhaps
as a Hollywood film. The book has also been translated into other languages, including
Italian courtesy of Longanesi Publishers, who have put this Web site on the back cover of the book!
You can buy this book from a variety of formats and places including:
Amazon US:
Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312194722/britishcomedylibA
Hardback:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312169655/britishcomedylibA
Amazon UK:
Paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671855670/AUK1
Hardback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684816121/AUK1
Audio book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671856553/AUK1
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