Based on the True Story of Rocky Dennis, 1999, video, color, sound, total running time 2 minutes and 9 seconds
Based on the True Story of Rocky Dennis extracts, rearranges, and loops scenes from the 1985 Peter Bogdanovich film Mask in order to highlight the acutely manipulative aspects of the film. What becomes evident after successive viewings of Mask and the second filmic ingredient, Deliverance, directed by John Boorman in 1972, is that tender stories and appalling stories are equally as brutal in exploiting audience emotions. Saccharine moments from Mask – an excessively heartfelt story about the struggles of a highly intelligent boy with serious disfiguring cranial enlargements to overcome prejudice – are juxtaposed with the most disturbing scene of depravity from Deliverance – the notoriously violent sodomy of Bobby (Ned Beatty).
Contrasting the endless scenes from Mask that illustrate the noblest aspects of humanity with Deliverance’s wanton violation might seem extremely crude and provoke hasty reactions of disapproval; nevertheless, this deliberate poisoning of the well effectively brings into sharp relief the manner in which audience emotions have been manipulated by maudlin characters and implausible actions from the very beginning. The film equation presented in Based on the True Story of Rocky Dennis might not be liked, but it demands acknowledgement as simply a different product of the same language utilized in the source films. This project is a collaboration with Tom Kehn.
