Attraction (4°C)

Before starting to comment on Attraction, the short movie that Studio 4°C made as a PSA for The National Institute for Preventive and Health Education in France, I must say that it freakishly cool!! For those not in the know, the piece is an interactive short meant to teach you the dangers of smoking. It is interactive, yeah, but the cool part is the way you interact with it. I don't want to spoil the experience for anyone, so go to the site and check it yourself.

On a side note, the music was made by the amazing french artist Danger, which I interviewd some time ago and you can read that interview over here. Studio 4°C is also working in the remake of ThunderCats, that's supposed to come out sometime this year.

Strictly speaking, I don't know if I'm more aware now that I watched/played with the short. I don't know if it was patronizing their public in their depiction of smokers. It probably was, by demonizing tobacco companies in a childish way and making everyone less intelligent and more ignorant in the process. But it was so blantantly awesome that I almost find it hard to critique. The tragic irony lies in that they're raising a critique to the "coolness" with which tobacco brands are being marketed. It employs the same strategy as their competitors to get their point across, rather than focusing on raising awareness or educating their public.

So, in the end, it is superficial at best and manipulative at worst, but it certainly manages to be the coolest PSA I've seen in my life. At least it is not this crap.