Tobias Denskus’ post on his blog Aidnography in which he drew attention to this picture, motivated me to share some thoughts about it.
Isn’t this picture a symbol of the present time?
Angelina Jolie stands behind a pulpit on a kind of prophet’s proclamation hill with her back to the people who are the subject of her speech and a fence protects her from these people. Whom does she address?
Furthermore she rather floats behind the desk and is reminiscent of a spirit very widespread in Southeast Asia. This spirit is called Krasue in Thailand, known as Aap in Cambodia and as Kasu in Laos and has more names and natures throughout the region.
This ghost manifests itself as a woman, usually young and beautiful, which moves about by hovering in the air above the ground, for it has no lower body accompanied by a luminescent glow. This spirit either haunts pregnant women, steals children or hypnotises people. There are many different stories about this spirit, depending on the region. Here is a link to a relatively recent ghost story from 2017 in which the Thai police were called to undertake a ghost-busting mission.
If this picture represented Angelina Jolie as the first female prophetess in the history of religion, in which she clears up the misogynistic myths of ghost stories and then kicks down the fence with a strong kick like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider – she would be my heroine forever!
The German translation of the trailer is a little different, it says:
Born rich,
shaped by the elite
and trained to fight
I see the first two lines on the picture at the beginning of the blog. But what about the last one? Admittedly, it is difficult to criticize a person of whom only I only know a media image. So I decided to write a letter to her.
Dear Angelina Jolie,
I don’t think you’ll remember, but I’ve seen you live twice. The first time I edited a trailer for you for the Cinema for Peace Gala 2012, which rang in the part of the evening that honored your film “In the Land of Blood and Honey”. You wanted to see it in person beforehand to make any changes if necessary. Actually, I was supposed to present the trailer to you, because I designed it, but then the bosses wanted to do it. Too bad, because I would have liked to discuss your criticism personally with you. You have drastically twisted the head of both guys and they were still very excited when they came back from the meeting with you. So I didn’t understand the changes they wanted to have. To be honest I still like the contradictions at the end of the trailer.
Bosnien-Trailer-end from Bjela Proßowsky on Vimeo.
Even less did I understand that my ticket to the gala that was supposed to improve the low salary I got for my work was not, as promised, at the entrance and I didn’t get any gala dinner, but was asked to use the back entrance. I was pretty pissed and at that moment you showed up next to me, with your ex-husband Brad Pitt. Your charisma touched me – you seemed much more fragile than I thought. I would have liked to talk to you that evening, but I didn’t want to confront you with my bad mood and you were right next to me in the limelight. I don’t like to be photographed at all and so I made off through the back entrance to the gala. I was impressed by all the glitter and the strange appearance of the stars. I don’t know most of them, because I’m not very interested in stardom but Christopher Lee impressed me very much how he filled the whole hall with his presence. My mood didn’t rise that evening and that was mainly due to the auction at the end of the evening. Do you remember Bob Geldorf’s speech at the beginning of the event:
I was disappointed that hardly anyone wanted to donate and Bob Geldorf didn’t beat anyone up for it as promised. The amounts that were at stake are only as much as I give to beggars in this city three times a day in percentage terms for you rich people… I would have expected more. Probably because it is much more normal to share among poorer people. It is actually much nicer to share than to have. With this I would like to clear up a widespread prejudice of the rich against the poor: most of us are not jealous of your money and don’t want to rob it. I I actually don’t want to be rich at all. I would be satisfied if I wouldn’t have to worry about being able to afford my rent in old age. Unfortunately, this is endangered because rich people in my city have made sure that normal apartments have been transformed into palaces that now stand around uninhabited for most of the year as a monetary investment and the prices for living space have risen as a result. I hope that was not your intention when you bought an apartment in Berlin, but I would be happy if you would do something about it. Back to the gala. Bob Geldorf didn’t live up to his promise, but there was an act of violence that you must have also noticed. An employee of Cinema for Peace stepped onto the stage and grabbed the microphone to tell those present that he had not been paid for his work and felt treated unfairly. That was similar to me and that’s why I was the only one in the big hall who clapped. The man was brutally dragged off the stage by the security forces and there was an embarrassed silence. How can it happen that if you work for the richest stars in the world, you get less money than the standard wage prescribes? Why should we pay for your charity image when we can no longer afford to pay rent in old age? Is that fair? We are educated to blame ourselves. Up to the point of personal responsibility, I think that’s a good thing. Maybe I should have demanded more money right away, so far I would feel responsible for my situation at the gala, but the fact that an agreement is not kept is rip-off. I would have liked to witness more solidarity from people who are honoured at a gala for peace and justice. Solidarity is the key to a more just world. This brings me to the next topic: this evening Aung San Suu Kyi was also honoured that night. A big mistake if you look back today, isn’t it?
The next time I saw you was at your film premiere of “First they killed my Father” in Cambodia, a country we both love very much. It was a great athmosphere on the elephant terrace, you, your children, the king, the ballet and the film. And you can really wave like the Queen.
I still have a lot of questions about the film and a about your attitude and your opinion, maybe we’ll meet a third time… and then I would not be too shy to talk to you. I know you like to eat Vietnamese and I can make the best glass noodle salad in the world – you are cordially invited if I could ask you lots of questions in return.
Sometimes I wonder if there is still that rebel nature inside of you from your former image as Hollywood’s wild child – does this rebel still exist? Sometimes I wish I was in your position for only one day with the organisations that you’re invited to – I’d love to ask some rebellious questions there. I still believe in you and would like to see you change the world for the better and this is why I encourage you to be brave and I claim:
Angelina tear town this fence!!!!
With best regards
Bjela