Hancock & Publicist Samaritan: a film of archetypal opposites

by jill ~ July 7, 2008

There’s been much written and said about Hancock’s debut this past weekend (see list of reviews below).  With a $107 million take since it opened 5 1/2 days ago, this makes it the #3 July 4^th weekend opener of all time.

The film’s premise is a great one: it takes stereotypes of different characters and turns them on their head.  The superhero as an alcoholic, foul mouth, ne’re-do-well.  The public relations man as a Samaritan with good values and heart.  The demure wife as… well, I won’t give it all away.

While the film has received some bad and mixed reviews, there’s been much discussion of Will Smith’s superhero character, but one of the most fascinating parts of the film for me was the portrayal of Ray Emery (played by Jason Bateman), who is a do-gooder publicist who takes on the image reform case of Hancock after being saved by him.

Bateman’s Emery is - from the very beginning of the film - portrayed as a normal guy, doing his thing, raising his son, loving his wife, and struggling at work trying to convince Corporate America’s executives to buy into his cross-promotional brainchild “All Heart” in an effort to give back to those who need help and change the world.

In the 1910s, 20s and 30s, there were several films about publicity, such as No Publicity (1927), Nothing Like Publicity (1936), The Power of Publicity (1915), Publicity Madness (1927), and Publicity Pays (1924). 

I haven’t seen those, but rarely do we see good characters who are publicists today.  The role is usually reserved for the snake (Jay Mohr in Jerry Maguire), the recovering egomaniac (Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire), the liar (Rob Lowe in Thank You for Smoking), the namedropper (Al Pacino in People I know), and of course the only woman in the bunch is obsessed with sex (Samantha Jones, Sex & the City).

The reality of course is that there are many more women in the field of public relations than men.  But, mostly the public relations women we see in the media are the “PR Girls” - like Lizzie Grubman in her recent reality vehicle - which comes up nauseatingly often in interviews with potential new hires: young women just out of college who think that parties and dresses and drinking are what PR is about. 

And because we have the reputation that lawyers once suffered (the liar, the snake, the fake, etc.), it’s no surprise that the general feelings about publicists are negative, so I am always delighted when I see a positive portrayal of my fellow PR folk.

And by the way, I really liked the film.  It’s gotten some bad press (no pun intended), but hey, that’s not the film publicist’s fault.  They get the press, they don’t make the movie.

Watch an interview with Jason Bateman about his experience working with publicists.

Hancock Reviews:

- Variety review

- New York Times review

- Entertainment Weekly review

 According to one list, here are few recent films about publicity/publicists:

1) Wag the Dog     The president becomes embroiled in a sex scandal in the run up to the election, spin doctor Robert De Niro and producer Dustin Hoffman fake a war to divert media attention. A brilliant film, so long as you don’t work in PR. It was released suspiciously close to the Lewinsky affair (and subsequent military action in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia).  

2) Jerry Maguire   Jerry begins in typical PR film territory (money, press, phones, egos) and then one night has an attack of the conscience and decides that, actually, he has too many clients. He wants to give more attention to fewer clients. He writes a memo saying so, gets fired for it, and ends up with just one client. Any MDs worry about having too many clients? Feel free to share with the blogosphere, I’m we’re here to help you.

3) Absolute Power (TV Series)  Pope Idol, fake diseases, spinning Nazism and working for two clients in direct competition; it’s all great spin-doctor territory in Stephen Fry’s absolute power. It’s hilarious for so many reasons. Yes, we look awful, but we can launch whilst doing it. 

4) Jersey Girl  Ben Affleck tears into his client, Will Smith, before a pack of journalists. Inspiring stuff, until the film missteps into the sappy ‘real meaning of life’ territory. This film also features a scene of useful PR as Ben explain eases concerns of New Jersey citizens concerning construction work.