June 21, 2017 – Cannes Lions Day 5: #OhMyGodIanMcKellen #Manicures

I will admit, I’m little guilty.  More than just this blog being late, but I skipped the Cannes school.  

But I have very good reason!

But before that, I’d decided to go see Dame Helen Mirren speak about diversity, as you do. The talk with L’Oreal wasn’t necessarily eye-opening, but it was Dame Helen Mirren.  Therefore, elegance.  

It’s like when Isabelle Huppert walks down the red carpet and gazes in the vague direction of where I’m standing.  It’s like when Nicole Kidman claps her hands without letting her rings hit each other.  It’s like Elle Fanning spanking John Cameron Mitchell at a punk rock afterparty.

You get the picture.  It’s iconic.  Even if it retreads old ground.

But back to the guilt.  Yes, I skipped Cannes School.  But it was for a good reason: Sir Ian McKellen.

Now, I understand that I can stream all of the talks following the festival.  However, there is something that needs to be understood.  Sir Ian McKellen has saved my life ten times over throughout my childhood, and I can’t ever express how much he does mean to me as a role model and an idol.  I watched the X-Men films the same time that I’d come out to my parents, and the story itself resonated with me, as it does with many minorities, especially in the LGBT community.  That being said, I didn’t know that Sir Ian was gay at the time.

When I found out, though, I became obsessed.  For the first time, I had a role model who unabashedly represented himself and what he stood for.  While there might have been other icons, had there ever been one that had played both a superhero/villain and a wizard?

Basically, Sir Ian McKellen is awesome, and he gave me a lot of courage to be myself and own my own identity.

Which is what he encouraged during both of his talks today.  (That’s right, there were two.  I went to both.  I’m still slightly guilty, but it was worth it.)  He represented the idea of heroes that were not heterosexual or “mainstream” in terms of identity.  He emphasized the importance of minority representation and icons, both in fiction and in real life.  His stories were entertaining, fun, and overall, enlightening for me.  I have so many questions for him regarding queer activism.  I hope that one day I’ll be able to ask him.

Between these talks, I attended another in the Forum titled Populism, a Catch 22?  It was a discussion on how to build brands to appeal to mass audiences with popular opinions, while also maintaining genuine connections and representations through honesty.  What I found interesting about this is that it really nailed home the idea that brands and advertising exist to lie.  It was a stark difference from many of the other sessions in the festival, as there had been so much emphasis on honesty.  Authenticity, transparency: are these really themes and topics that we are trying to achieve in this industry?  I hope so, but according to this talk, honesty is only around now due to convenience.

More importantly, brands themselves need to make a stand.

There was another talk at the Facebook beach that I attended.  Building a Business; Rebuilding a Community: The Rise of Hiut Denim focused on founder Devid Hieatt and his journey in building a retail company that focuses more on content and branding than on the product.  That doesn’t mean that the product is low quality, not at all – it’s some of the finest denim in the world – it just means that content is what really drives sales and needs more focus in terms of work and innovation.  Furthermore, his startup is about to provide 248 jobs to those in need.

Hieatt pushed hard for social media and the utilization of social media tools.  Even more, he pushed for the humanization of brands.  Contrary to the last talk, he didn’t emphasize it for convenience; humans are what make products, not corporations.  In the end, what’s most important, according to Hieatt, is to “be fucking human”.

Before the big awards show that night, I decided to treat myself to a manicure at the girls’ lounge.  It was a strange experience; all of the women knew each other there, and they were all very focused on the fact that men were wanting manicures.  “How brave” they were, to be doing something so immasculine.  It felt like witnessing a suburban house party from the corner of the dining room.

Of course, I’m just bitter because I got misgendered about fifty times in the span of half an hour.  Even after I told women that I went by they/them pronouns, they would nod as if they were listening and refer to me as “he” when I chose the blue colors for my nails.  “Oh, he looks so good with that color,” they would faun.  I couldn’t tell if it was a genuine compliment, largely because I was too distracted about that fact that I’m not a “he” or a man.

I got tired of correcting them, but hey, at least my nails are pretty.

But finishing the evening with the award show was good.  The Entertainment Lions was something I’d been anticipating all week, because I have just had my mind blown by how imperative film is to the advertising industry.  The fact that so many agencies have and/or are building inhouse film studios is invigorating.  I’m excited to break into the industry, and so much more than I had been before this talk.

You know, the future is looking good, even if there are long walks ahead.