Raygun: The Lawsuit!
#570
Earlier this year I swore I wouldn’t write anything else about Raygun, who made headlines during the Olympics for one of the worst performances in sporting history, but this week’s news has prompted me to break my vow. I groaned when I saw that comedian, Stephanie Broadbridge, had created a show called Raygun: The Musical. It looked at first like another cash-in on this woeful episode, but on closer examination was revealed as a spoof. Fair enough. We’ve had Keating! The Musical, Shane Warne: The Musical, even Manning Clark’s History of Australia – The Musical, why not Raygun? When you put yourself out there as a public figure you have to expect there’ll be satire and jokes at your expense.
As Broadbridge went out of her way to tell us it was an affectionate parody, and that she had a lot of admiration for Rachael Gunn, AKA. Raygun, it seemed pretty harmless. Nobody likes to be the butt of humour that is just plain nasty or with no basis in truth, but this seemed as if it would only add another layer to Raygun’s post-Olympics celebrity.
The big surprise came when lawyers acting for Raygun’s management agency, Born Bred Talent, slapped an injunction on Broadbridge’s show, claiming that the name “Raygun” and the “kangaroo hop”, with which she thrilled audiences in Paris, were both protected intellectual property. Or to be more precise, “choreography” that represented “the culmination of over 10 years of training.” It was a way of ensuring her brand remained “strong and respected.” They were “taking the necessary steps to safeguard Rachael’s creative rights and the integrity of her work.”
This is a supreme example of why life as we know it is becoming a bad comedy routine in which we express boredom and frustration with things that spoil our “mood” (dreary, nasty Gaza and Ukraine); then have a nervous breakdown if anyone gets our pronouns wrong or uses some forbidden word from an ever-expanding list.
On the other hand, Raygun’s “kangaroo hop” is to be protected by the full force of the law, and her clownish behaviour in Paris transmuted into a serious money-making business. It’s amazing how much “integrity” can be unearthed when there’s cash involved.
To recap briefly: part of Raygun’s media appeal is that she has a PhD in Cultural Studies, having written a thesis on Breakdancing, or as it’s now known, Breaking. I’m still struggling to see Breaking as a sport, but done well it can be an astounding display of athleticism. This was not exactly the case with Raygun’s Olympic performance, which closely resembled the Dance of the Dying Duck - until she started hopping like a kangaroo. As all her moves were in slow motion we had plenty of time to digest and analyse her artistry.
Afterwards we learned that Raygun had decided to wow the judges with her originality, using intellect to triumph over the superior athleticism and skill of her opponents. That worked pretty well, earning her a grand total of zero points. Then began a frenzied post-mortem in which one group of people expressed outrage, asking how she ever got selected and suspecting some form of skullduggery. The other side – including Albo – were indulgent, believing she gave it her best shot and was an Aussie hero.
In the months since the Olympics, Raygun has continued to be treated as a celebrity, even though she owes her fame to a massive failure. She hangs out with Boy George – and this week, Cao Fei, at the Art Gallery of NSW. She complains about the angry responses she has received, as a poor victim of trolls and bullies. It was perhaps inevitable she’d be picked up by a management group who would help her monetize such media magnetism.
The legal letter to Stephanie Broadbridge reveals the ugly side of this apparently frivolous story. A smart, successful and talented designer such as Coco Chanel never bothered to slap lawsuits on imitators because she believed every low-grade knock-off helped promote her name and encouraged people to go looking for the real thing. And Chanel had a product worth defending! Raygun, who is famous for all the wrong reasons, has a team of lawyers browbeating a comedian for sending her up. Her signature move has now become “intellectual property” as if it took a special genius to be a pantomime kangaroo.
“This misuse of intellectual property,” write the lawyers, “is not only misleading but also jeopardises Rachael’s other commercial ventures, which rely on the integrity of her brand.”
One almost forgets that Raygun’s newfound fame is entirely founded upon her antics at the Olympics. It doesn’t inspire much confidence in her “other commercial ventures.” Even those whose lives revolve around TikTok might hesitate to plaster their bedrooms with Raygun merchandise. As a role model for young women she’s just shown them the best way of responding to satire is to threaten a lawsuit.
If such a case were to make it to the courts, it would be good if the judge might look into the substance of Raygun’s “intellectual property”, not just the legal niceties.
If Raygun is going to torpedo the fine Aussie tradition of the tribute musical we should think about other candidates for this honour. Albo! The Musical doesn’t quite set one’s pulse racing. Dutton: The Musical is more promising in terms of comic potential. How about Lidia Thorpe – The Musical? That’s one I’d pay to see. It’d have everything - plenty of action, passion, violence, irreverence, bikies, nightclubbing, and First Nations themes to boot.
From an artworld perspective, I think there’s only one viable option: Quilty! The Musical. Like Raygun, Big Ben has all the necessary degrees – Women’s Studies, Indigenous Studies. He’s adored by thousands and loathed by heaps of his fellow artists. Like Keating or Warnie, he’s a bit of a showman when it suits him: a real Aussie bloke, a diplomat, a great humanist. His brand is strong and his integrity can’t be faulted. We’ll assume that his vocal support for certain dubious causes was merely because of an excess of enthusiasm.
I sympathised with Ben when I read recently how he felt “awkward” charging the Tweed Regional Gallery $600,000 for his Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Margaret Olley. In all fairness he’s offered to supplement the big sale with a few free visitations to the Tweed. But even this wasn’t sufficient to mollify one disgruntled artist who wrote to me suggesting that if Ben felt so awkward, why didn’t he simply donate the work under the Cultural Gifts Program and get a whopping tax break? That’s a query I can’t answer, but I think it would make an excellent late scene in Quilty! The Musical, as our hero agonises: “To charge 600K, or not to charge 600k? That is the question…”
Anyway, now that Raygun: The Musical is temporarily on ice, it’s a great opportunity for some creative talent to get started on Quilty! I’m happy to hear suggestions from readers as to who should be playing the major roles.
This week’s art column for The Nightly looks at the 11th Asia-Pacific Triennial, Brisbane’s big moment on the world stage of contemporary art. For many years the APT was one of the most interesting and adventurous shows to be seen anywhere, but with the changing priorities of today’s art institutions it’s no longer surprising to find works by artists from the emerging world being exhibited and collected everywhere. This year’s APT sees the Queensland Art Gallery striving to stay ahead of the game, with a large group of collective and community-based artworks. The result is a pretty solid show that, perhaps lacks the edge of some of the earlier iterations.
The film is A Real Pain, written, directed, produced and acted by Jesse Eisenberg, although for much of the time he’s being upstaged by Keiran Culkin. It’s the story of two mismatched cousins on a Jewish heritage tour to Poland - ostensibly a comedy, but with scenes that run the full gamut of emotions, from embarrassment to grief. You won’t need a degree in Cultural Studies to understand the way thoughts of the Holocaust have a tendency to dampen any search for touristic entertainment.