Information AboutPieing |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PIEING | |
| culture jamming techniques | |
| political activism | |
| practical jokes | |
| pie throwing | |
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The political act of pieing has its origins in the "pie in the face" gag from Slapstick Comedy (first popularized by Movie Director Mack Sennett around the year 1914 in his Keystone Kops Silent Movies ). Throwing pies as a comedy staple came into its own in the Laurel & Hardy classic short film, "Battle of the Century" ( 1927 ) which, according to legend, required four thousand pies. Pie-throwing became a convention of early slapstick movies made by the Marx Brothers , the Three Stooges , and others. The probable originator of the pieing as a poliltical act was Aron Kay , a Yippie , who first pied singer and anti- Gay-rights activist Anita Bryant in Des Moines, Iowa , in 1977 . Kay subsequently pied, among many others, William F. Buckley , G. Gordon Liddy , E. Howard Hunt , William Shatner , and Andy Warhol . Kay retired in 1992 after pieing Right-wing activist Randall Terry . Recently, the Belgian Anarchist and Surrealist Noel Godin has gained a following for pieing figures whom he believes take themselves too seriously, most notably filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard during the Cannes Film Festival . His favorite target is Bernard-Henri Lévy . Godin's popularity has inspired many Copy Catters . (Godin stated that the men he most desired to pie were Bill Clinton , Tony Blair , John Travolta , Tom Cruise , and Pope John Paul II .) The Anonymous Biotic Baking Brigade has pied, among others, conservative pundits Ann Coulter and David Horowitz ; Green Party politican Ralph Nader ; and Fred Phelps , the eccentric leader of the Westboro Baptist Church . The Canadian group the Entartistes , founded by Rhinoceros Party founder François Gourd , has also pied many, including then– Prime Minister Of Canada Jean Chretien . "The pie gives power back to the people because so many feel powerless in the face of big politicians and industrialists," explained Pope-Tart (a code name), a member of the Entartistes. '' Newsweek '' columnist Gertz Kuntzman wrote that pieing "deserves to be one of the most celebrated traditions in our so-called Culture ." [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7548667/site/newsweek Sometimes pieing targets suffer the prank with good humor. Godard was very pleased at being pied; he intervened with the Cannes authorities on behalf of Godin to prevent him from being arrested. By contrast, Bernard-Henri Lévy has on multiple occasions attacked Godin and his followers, and said of his pieing, "These attacks are sinister. The person who throws a pie is saying, ‘I hate you. I don’t want you to speak.' I never saw it coming. And it took away my dignity. When you’re lecturing, you’re supposed to have an authority. But a pie turns it into a Food Fight ." {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS
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