Friday, September 13, 2013

QftWo 9/9-9/15: Imposters #8 - What Happened to JD Salinger?

I don't know why one would bother to make a film poster like the one below, which does so very little. It does nothing to convey anything about its subject or premise; there's just a release date and a title.

I was en English major and, like most people, I read this novel years earlier - in high school. And, although I'd like to think that The Catcher in the Rye has and will endure over time in US classrooms, I cannot imagine how anyone aside from J.D. Salinger's devoted admirers would be drawn into a movie theater by this advertisement.


Dear heaven, I have to assume that anyone short of a JDS fanatic would still be asking, at the very least, "who's in this?" Is this a work of fiction or is it based on real events?

The only praise I can give to such lackluster execution is that at least it reminds me of a Rothko painting I quite like. Yet, in terms of promoting a motion picture, I cannot imagine that the graphic designer involved was aiming for that effect.

6 comments:

  1. What lazy poster making. As is often the case I am quite certain some fan could create a much more inspired poster for the film.

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    1. Thanks! It’s even worse than “uninspired” – the title of the movie is just “Salinger.” So the poster won't help you find showtimes either! They could've put the last word on a separate line from the rest of the text, but…

      I assume that the designer got weird instructions for this project, or just handed in a 1st draft and it got a thumbs up.

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  2. Apparently, Salinger is a completely craptastic movie. So the shitty, lazy poster is just a kind of truth in advertising.

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    1. Yeah! You should check out a recent blog post by the below commenter, lady t. She adds some another, very interesting perspective on this movie, and biographic pictures in general.

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  3. Other than using the basic red and yellow from the old school editions of Catcher in the Rye,this is pretty minimalist and derivative,two things that Holden Caulfield would hate:)

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    1. =) Good point. Yeah, the color scheme reminded me of my high school copy of the book, as well as a Rothko painting I saw in Chicago.

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