[kj] More on the Johnny Depp/Dave Vanian "coincidence"

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

Just to play Devil's Advocate -- Vanian said he got the distinctive 
hairdo from Lily Munster, not any Hammer Horror films, though obviously 
in interviews he's said he loves the Hammer stuff and I've no doubt 
that's heavily colored his demeanor, clothing, etc.

And "Dave Vanian" as stage persona/invented character (like Paul Reubens 
vs. Peewee Herman), and thus intellectual property, versus an actor, 
Depp, who routinely adopts others' personae for his roles -- that angle 
could be played up.

Thing is, Vanian doesn't get out of his Vanian persona off stage, like 
Paul reubens, who is not always Peewee Herman. Dave Vanian really seems 
to be Dave Vanian 24/7 -- which is cool. And, yeah, it might look petty. 
Unless he said something politely & discretely to DreamWorks, and they 
got scared, and just offered him something offhand, frightened when they 
saw older music videos and the like, to just get him out of their hair. 
It'd be nice for that to happen to Mr. Vanian, I think. I mean, there 
are whole subgenres of horror punk and the like that make way more money 
than The Damned ever had. It'd just be nice to see someone like him get 
some sort of payoff for pushing a substantial part of musical culture 
into the vampire-obsessed, gothy direction its gone. But Vanian has 
always struck me as particularly modest and low key, not someone to toot 
his own horn -- which is one of the reasons I admire the guy.

-Oliver



Alexander Smith wrote:

>

> Moreover, it'd look pretty petty on Vanian's part, not to mention the 

> fact that Vanian himself appropriated that aesthetic from Hammer 

> horror films.

>

> I mean yeah -- I agree that the similarity is pretty striking, but 

> it's not really a copyright/trademark issue, I don't think.

>

> Alex in NYC

>

>

> On Nov 13, 2007, at 1:49 PM, B. Oliver Sheppard wrote:

>

>> That's true -- as Jim Carrey said, "Imitation is the sincerest form 

>> of plagiarism."

>>

>> You're right, a lot of times a rip-off is billed as an 

>> homage/tribute. That's a good cultural/legal defense. Oh well.

>>

>> -Oliver

>>

>

>