My Gift Shop Review

The documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop definitely caught me by surprise. What started out as a simple documentary about street art turned into a secretive view into the lives of street artists, how and why street art has become so popular, and an almost disturbing commentary on the commercialization of art. What I took away from Exit Through The Gift Shop was that art is quickly becoming about who you know and how much money you have as opposed to how much talent you possess. I believe that the documentary is a cleverly re-arranged collage of various videos that contains a different meaning and purpose than what the videos were originally intended for. I don't believe that the documentary was a complete fake, however, I do believe that Banksy created it for the purpose of enlightening the general public about what I'm sure he considers to be a disease in the art world and to attempt to preserve his personal ideals of art, the art world, and the motives behind the creation of art. Who decides what is and is not art? The art collectors with the most money to spend. It seems to me that a piece of work only becomes art if someone is willing to fork out big bucks for it. This documentary is about the commercialization, demoralization, and watering-down of the art world and how the elitist and consumerist aspects of our society have rubbed off onto the art world.