Smash His Camera (2010) is a film that looks into the career of a celebrity photographer or paparazzi member Ron Galella. Ron Galella was willing to go to extreme lengths to get a photograph as a celebrity photographer. This definitely raised the debate of the ethical guidelines that came with paparazzi. Photojournalist’s were seen as being to aggressive when trying to get photos of celebrities. They were willing to sacrifice their reputation, put themselves in harms way, all to simply do their job. The quote that stuck with me from the movie, and to me explains why paparazzi do their job was when the movie talked about Andy Warhol. He stated that “My idea of a good picture is one that’s in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous,” which is exactly to me what the public wants, and Ron Galella was willing to put himself into situations that allowed him to get these pictures. And that is why he was so successful. The question is how far is to far with these photojournalists when it comes to invading others privacy. Or are these photojournalists just exercising their first amendment to the fullest.
Historically there are many cases of paparazzi invading celebrity’s privacy. Including when Nicole Kidman won a case against the paparazzi in Australia. This is a good example of a photojournalist going to such an extreme that “[Nicole Kidman] was “really scared” when Mr. Fawcett chased her car across Sydney in 2005 (BBC, 2005). ” It came to the point that Nicole Kidman was scared for her well being because of the extremes that the photojournalist was going to, to get a photograph of her.
Obviously these situations can be handled in many different ways. If we are looking at these situations from the viewpoint of Ron Galella, it may not be seen as an act of intrusion. To Ron Galella he is simply trying to do his job to the fullest. He is trying to capture these photos of famous people doing unfamous actions. He had this amazing passion for photographing Jackie Kennedy and felt it was his right to do so. Looking at this from the perspective of Jackie, she obviously did not think the same way. She felt that she was wronged in the way that her privacy was taken away from her when Ron Galella was following her day in and day out to get photographs of her. It would have been more ethical for Ron to simply give Jackie her space, but that was not the view that Ron had on the situation obviously. For Jackie, she felt that Ron was going to such extremes that she felt harassed, and uncomfortable and that is when Jackie decided to sue Ron and resulted in a restraining order.
I believe this will have a huge impact on journalism in two different ways. Photojournalists may see how dedicated, and passionate Ron Galella was with his work and be inspired. This inspiration could see other photojournalists going to similar extremes to become a top-notch journalist. On the other hand, celebrities have become more aware of the extravagances that photojournalists have gone to and start to become more cautious. This caution could be exercised in many different ways like more security, and higher tolerance for what photojournalists are willing to do.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7266388.stm