Animal Theater

Inoculation

"The thing that makes me great as an artist, the thing that sets me apart from every other chump who foists their shit up under some limelight somewhere, is that I have the ability to switch narrative styles convincingly," he puffed his sativa vape and looked at me with shining dark eyes. "My STS journals got on two million screens, more probably by now, because they were funny and acerbic, but my documentary on neo-slavery got millions of downloads because it was deadly serious. Don't forget for a second that I'm the voice that drives both of those projects. Me, as myself, not hiding behind some pretense of objectivity. I come masquerading only as myself, and the people believe the disguise. Eduard Jason Acquitan is an utterly convincing character, and how many of those does the world get?"

"And here I thought it was your humility that made you great." I said.

"That too!" He said, laughing and blowing mind altering vapor particles from his nose. "You seem like a very busy woman, so let's get to it, do you come through with the financing or not?"

"I have all the time in the world and as you know it's not me," I said. "I'm just an advisor. I represent the Conglominatrix Financial Group in this deal, but what we want from you is not a stake in your next project, we want a stake in you. We want you to partner with Lamont Alvano, to start a new media corporation."

"Lamont Alvano the music producer?"

"That's right, he also produces television."

"I just want to talk about financing my film. Your people have read the script right? And the marketing strategy? It's a sure winner."

"Once the company is up and running you can finance that and any number of other films."

"What would I do in this company?" He asked.

"Anything you like. We envisioned you handling features, written word, and marketing, and Lamont helming music, television, and commercials, but that was really just the initial idea. What we really want is your name."

"I'm an artist," he said, straightening the fork on his napkin. "I don't know anything about running a company."

"You don't have to." I said. "Our guy will handle everything you and Lamont don't want to be bothered with."

"Who's your guy?"

"That's an open question at the moment." I said.

"Ahh, see? Now your motivations are clear." He took another hit off his sativa stick and set it down with a finality that said he was done with it. "All the work that I've done has its roots in the written word. I started out writing autobiographical sketches and silly erotic novels, and the first thing you learn writing that stuff is to make your character's motivations clear. You want a position in this new company, but what remains unclear is what they want. It's no secret that I was fleeing the party when I came to Chile. The company you work for is practically a division of the party. What could they possibly get from associating with the likes of me?"

"You are a voice, a unique voice, you said so yourself. You create content that people want to consume. That makes you a valuable engine in the economy of ideas."

"The economy of ideas," he said, enjoying the sound of it. "So they want control of the ideas I'm generating?"

"Certainly not." I said.

"Because I'm against the war."

"They know that." I said. "They don't need you to make pro-war movies, in fact they expect your company to be the dominant voice in the anti-war movement."