I’m sorry for Tennessee-based projectionist Jesse Morrison (AICN’s “Memflix”) having been whacked for submitting a negative, embargo-breaking review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but whatever happened to the practice of subterfuge?
Morrison had to know he might run afoul of his bosses (he worked for the Malco theatre chain) if it became common knowledge that he’s been reviewing the same films he’s shown to the occasional test audience, and reviewing for AICN to boot. Morrison can’t be so dumb not to have known that.
If he was willing to risk his job by reviewing Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer a few days early, why didn’t Morrison simply submit it through a friend with a freshly created moniker, so the source couldn’t be traced? (Better yet — an out-of-state or out-of-country friend.) I’ll tell you why. Because he’s a known AICN quantity — he’s the one and only Memflix, a guy with friends and followers who’s enjoyed certain levels of attention and respect — and he didn’t want to write without the glory and the ego-boost, and so he was found out and paid the price.
AICN’s Drew McWeeny got angry at Fox yesterday (or was it Tuesday?) for “tracking Morrison down and getting him fired, threatening to pull their business from the entire chain over that review. Think about that for a minute… this is one megacorporation threatening to blackball another corporation because one guy didn’t like their movie and had the stones to say so. So fuck you, Fox. You have proven over and over that you not only hate your audience, but you don’t want to know what they think. All you care about is the filthy lucre.”
I say again — if you want to be a truth-telling crusader, at least do so with the basic Jack-and-Jill knowledge that there are corporate types out there who get angry when they decide that a certain truth-teller has affected their interests and security, and, being corporate types, will take steps to get you. Why do I feel as if I’m addressing a class of second-graders here? It’s a wild world out there, and the forest is filled with lions, tigers and bears. So be smart, assholes, and learn how to hide under bushes and behind trees.