“Sound of Freedom”: how to make a fortune with a mediocre movie
Turning the culture war into profit
Twenty years ago Barbra Streisand sued a photographer who had taken an aerial shot of her home. Her effort to suppress the photo brought it to the attention of millions. Hence the “Streisand effect”: try to censor something and you risk making it bigger. Today a new name is needed for a related phenomenon: claiming to be repressed to generate hype. “Sound of Freedom”, a new film about Tim Ballard, an anti-sex-trafficking activist, is a case study in how the culture war can be turned into profit.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The sound of free cashflow”
United States August 12th 2023
- America is building chip factories. Now to find the workers
- Murder rates are falling in a majority of American cities
- Hip-hop’s 50th anniversary shines a light on its New York City birth
- “Sound of Freedom”: how to make a fortune with a mediocre movie
- How strong is Trump’s defence in the election-stealing case?
From the August 12th 2023 edition
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