Fitna, Papyrus and Highlights. March 27, 2008
Today was a big day for the Netherlands. Right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders published his 15-minute anti-islam rant onto LiveLeak.com. People will be talking about this for weeks. Full-blown media frenzy with worldwide coverage. Prime minister’s statement. Therefore we will not bore you with the things you’ve already seen, read or heard in so many different nuances. Let’s talk about production value. With some special attention to typography.
I didn’t expect Geert Wilders to have any sense of good aesthetics, or him being able to pick a good art director/somebody who finished art school. The guy dyes his hair blonde for crying out loud, ‘to appear less Mediterranean’. He actually walks around with that coupe soleil everywhere for as long as we’ve seen him in public. I think this must have influenced his choice of the typeface… wait for it… Papyrus. Yes, Papyrus. Now I agree that is one of the most obvious options if you want to communicate a middle-eastern look and feel to a design. At least in the west. But come on, Papyrus?! Somehow it screams fresh ground coffee to me. Or diapers. And on the internet there’s a niche for everything: I [heart] Papyrus. Now that everybody’s paying attention to the flick, maybe they should also put out a statement.
Papyrus was designed by Chris Costello, an American graphic designer. ‘a font that would represent what English vernacular would have looked like if written on papyrus 2000 years ago.’ (Wikipedia)
Looking at it for a second time, the art direction of the movie reminded me of Discovery channel documentaries from the 90s. Yes, the production value is that bad. And I’m not just talking Papyrus. Yes, Papyrus. No, I’m talking about the whole thing. Blurred out frame covering snippets. Transitions that were sold next to the cheese in your local supermarket. Hell, I can make a better looking feature in iMovie in less than an hour. Maybe we should ask Gary Hustwit to can his star actor Helvetica and make a typographic sequel and hire Papyrus. Yes, Papyrus. But that would be like casting Rob Schneider for a remake of Casablanca.
(2) Comments
Vince
What about the Arabic font?
Vince
btw: At least he didn’t use Comic Sans….