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'What Would Jesus Buy?' Film Asks

Los Angeles (AP, Nov. 23) -- Buy Nothing Day is getting a Jesus jolt.

	New York-based performance artist Bill Talen assumes the persona of  
Reverend Billy, often accompanied by a gospel choir, to use the  
histrionics and cadences of a televangelist (think Jimmy Swaggart) in  
an anti-consumerism effort to convert people to his Church of Stop  
Shopping.

	And for this year's Black Friday shopping frenzy, Talen is upping  
his profile with a colorful campaign promoting a new documentary film  
about his efforts, 'What Would Jesus Buy?'

	It will feature "Four Horsemen of the Shopocalypse" riding down  
Madison Avenue in New York and "elves on strike" at the Grove outdoor  
mall in Los Angeles, said Morgan Spurlock, who produced the film.

	Spurlock, known for placing himself in uncomfortable situations in  
2004's 'Super Size Me' and his '30 Days' TV series, isn't going with  
the immersion technique for this project. "I've unplugged, man,"  
Spurlock said this week. "I've started to walk away from this idea of  
getting credit card after credit card to get people more gifts."

	Spurlock says the campaign and film should appeal to conservative  
Christians as well as to those on the political left. "People on both  
sides of the fence can agree on one thing, and that's that the  
holiday's gotten out of control," he said.

	"We've been convinced that the way to show your love for someone is  
by what you buy them, by what the price tag is, by what is  
represented on the receipt. And that's the wrong message to send  
out," he added.

	A review of 'What Would Jesus Buy?' in 'Christianity Today'  
questioned whether Talen's act, poking fun at both religion and  
consumerism, went too far. "Yes, it's condescending. Yes, it cheapens  
Christianity," the magazine said. "But the whole argument of the film  
is that our commodity culture has already cheapened Christianity."

	Buy Nothing Day was conceived 1992 by artist Ted Dave of Vancouver,  
British Columbia, and since then has been championed by Adbusters  
magazine, said Adbusters campaign manager Paul Cooper.

	"It started off as a bit of a joke," said Adbusters editor-in-chief  
Kalle Lasn. "Environmentalists are really the core base of this  
movement. But after that there were religious people that came on  
board."

	Cooper calls the day an "open source" event for all types of  
performance artists and activists. Any effort that generates thought  
about shopping and consumption is encouraged. Last year, one group  
wandered into stores wearing shirts that advertised 50 percent off  
everything in the store.

	"There are a lot of people who don't like this weird tradition of  
hectic shopping and frenzied and angry crowds the day after  
Thanksgiving," Cooper said.

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        Organizers of the 2008 Anti-Corporate Film Festival
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