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

Brendan bq at soundgardener.co.nz
Tue Nov 13 14:40:36 EST 2007


I went out with a psychopath (no, seriously, she was) fashion designer
once, she was touted as young and edgy and bla bla bla, all she did was go
through kilos and kilos of glossy fashion magazines relentlessly, a bigt
stack several feet high, mark off the individual bits and pieces of
clothes she liked, and put it all together into her own designs. Often she
blatantly ripped off a design, usually when she went over to Aussie or
elsewhere, and made me promise not to tell that she was producing rip offs
(in another country, that no one really pays that much attention to :)

A lot of people defend the above, say 'that's just how the industry works'
etc. Well, I rubbed shoulders with all those people for quite a while (she
was a hot psychopath ;), and the vast majority of them have NOTHING TO
SAY. I know it's 'how it works', but that's hardly a point, is it...

I have no problems with the genuinely creative designers, but they are few
and far between. Most of it, to me, buys into people's fear of not
conforming. Why else, for god's sake, would anyone spend $900 on a pair of
fucking sunglasses?!



> I did a more detailed comparison of Johnny Depp's upcoming "Sweeney

> Todd" character with Dave Vanian's stage persona, here:

>

>

> http://www.cultpunk.com/?p=217

>

>

> There's even a comparison between The Damned's "Grimly Fiendish" video

> and the trailer for _Sweeney_Todd_ there.

>

> Here's my advice for Vanian, though I'm not a lawyer: Mr. Vanian, your

> real name is David Letts, and you took on the stage name and persona of

> "Dave Vanian" when singing for The Damned. "Vanian" is a shortened form

> of Transyl-Vanian. Before Anne Rice wrote _Lestat_, about a vampire

> rocker, Vanian was already doing it. Thus, I think David Letts has some

> intellectual property stake in the character he created.

>

> Having said that, just look at how closely Johnny Depp -- who played Ed

> Wood as Jon Lovitz; Willy Wonka as Michael Jackson; and Capt. Jack

> Sparrow as Kieth Richards -- has copied Vanian here. I'm ersonally tired

> of mainstream culture ripping off old punk stuff and none of the

> original folks ever getting credit or residuals of any kind. Vanian

> should ask for some cut of the Sweeney Todd revenue from DreamWorks, who

> are producing the movie.

>

> Comparisons at URL above. Hard to write it off as coincidence, the more

> I look into it.

>

> And I like Dave Vanian anyways. He deserves more due than he's gotten.

>

> -Oliver

>

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