Home
Movies
Counterpoint With Cargill: Was the New
Machete Trailer Bad Marketing?
At first it seemed like a stroke of genius: a Cinco de Mayo trailer release for an early fall movie produced by one of this country’s most successful Mexican American filmmakers, starring his Mexican American cousin and about an issue that has been a hot button one for several years – illegal immigration and the exploitation of immigrant labor. But while the trailer very much fell in line with the original one in Grindhouse (from which this film was inspired and is in the vein of), the opening shot was a biiiiiit different. Instead this film opens with star Danny Trejo staring into the camera saying “This is Machete…with a special Cinco de Mayo message…TO ARIZONA!”
While it is certainly a timely and to the point message about recent legislation, allowing the filmmakers and bloggers alike to voice their personal political opinion on the matter, it comes across as a bitter, angry rebuke of an opinion held by 60% of the country. A recent CBS poll only puts 36% of the population in opposition to the law – not the existence of the law, but its mechanics – with its weakest support in the Democratic Party still nearing 40%. And from a marketing standpoint one has to ask: is it wise to exploit the news of the day to get your film noticed if it means alienating 60% of your audience almost immediately. Don’t get me wrong, the film is set up as a “mexploitation” flick tackling the issues of immigration politics – but doing so presumably in a cartoonish, over the top sort of way; even if Machete is heavy handed, it will still be nigh impossible to take seriously as any kind of real “message film.”
So why risk thumbing your nose at folks who might otherwise write off the film’s political leanings and instead enjoy a wild, blood-spattered, T&A riddled bit of satire that seems more about having a good time than it is making a point? Especially in the age of the fire & brimstone politi-bloggers, eager to capitalize on any perceived slight from those with a differing opinion. Can the progeny of Grindhouse, a film that itself notoriously underperformed at the box office, really afford to become a film that a segment of the population wants to write off because they don’t want to feel like they’re being lectured to? Does the 36% of those who oppose the law contain enough Robert Rodriguez, Trejo and gory-action fans to support this film enough to be profitable?
I don’t believe Robert needed to conceal the content or nature of his movie at all and I wouldn’t argue that he should. But coming across so aggressively in the opening might have been a marketing mistake, handing ammunition to illegal immigration opponents and activists eager to make an example out of someone who disagree with them. Can a small, indie style film withstand becoming “that pro-illegal movie”? Or will most people have forgotten this little slight come September and just get down to having some good old fashioned fun? We’ll find out September 3rd.