Laugh Now, Think Later: Shadoe Stevens & The History of Fred Rated Trailer (2013)
"Shaditude, Bludgeon Advertising, and Mind Control."18 February 2013Factual94 mins
94 minute semi-documentary special about history of mind control and "public relations," as created by Edgar Bernays, the life of Shadoe Stevens and the history of the "Fred Rated" series of television commercials.
A woman and young daughter escape her abusive husband by faking their deaths. Eight years later she is happily living in the upscale Palm Springs with her now-17-year-old daughter.
Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies.
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.
What does it take to say a word of love? How long and how much strength does it take for the heart to speak? How many streets at night? How fast? How many faces in how many bars? What tenderness? What pain? What music? What images in the mind? And where does it come from? Is it in the darkness of a closed park at night? In the back room of a Chinese bar? In the bottom of a beer? In a collective dance? In a sister's laughter? When does it finally happen? For the soul to let go.
