Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 51
1 or is it the same as every other hamburger joint of this
2 nature?" That was my simple question. It was raising
3 points to discuss with Jane. This whole two pages is
4 raising points to discuss with Jane prior to the film
5 process. That was a question that seemed to me worth
6 raising with Jane.
7
8 Q. What I am wondering about this document, Miss Tobin, is
9 whether this is not your version addressed to the producer
10 of what you thought the film ought to convey?
11 A. It is my version of areas which I thought are worth
12 discussing; not what I think the film should convey.
13 She -- I mean, you know, the producer is the one who makes
14 decisions. Researchers will put down a whole pile of
15 things; they will put down factual things of what they have
16 seen; they will put down, you know, kind of: "It might be
17 nice, there is a shaft of sunlight that comes through the
18 room, it will be worth catching that"; they put down
19 subjective interpretations that are worth exploring in a
20 very loose and free way before you work out the filming
21 schedule.
22
23 Q. I will ask my question again in a slightly different way,
24 if I may. Is this something that you wrote down -- I quite
25 accept that you cannot dictate to the producer -- but
26 something you wrote down as a suggestion of the kind of
27 angle that the film might have?
28 A. No. It was a suggestion of the kind of areas it was
29 worth talking about. Those things that are written down
30 there are not necessarily things which I was making a
31 statement of fact of saying "We must do this, we must do
32 that". They are things which I thought were worth talking
33 about. Some of the things that are put down, I might not
34 necessarily have agreed with.
35
36 Q. Then you say in the last paragraph: "But it is not
37 different to Coca Cola, Disneyland, Forest Lawns" -- I do
38 not know what that is -- "the Hearst Castle or Roberts" --
39 I do not know who he is --"the American belief that their
40 way of life is the only way. It is an elaborate edifice
41 built to justify the basic crudity of the reality, which is
42 selling junk food for as much money as possible."
43
44 Is that not, in truth, what you wanted to -----
45 A. I think that is the truth of what I think about
46 McDonald's. It is not the truth of what I was saying
47 should be in the film. I was putting in as free and as
48 loose a way my impressions of having spent that time in
49 McDonald's. It was not a manifesto saying "This is what
50 the film must be about". You toss up all sorts of ideas
51 during the filming process. That is what this was doing,
52 throwing everything into the air and seeing which we wanted
53 to talk about. It is not a manifesto saying "This is what
54 the film must portray".
55
56 Q. Did you discuss these ideas with Jane Gabriel?
57 A. Yes.
58
59 Q. Would you agree with me that, in the event, the film does
60 not give any oxygen to these sorts of ideas?
