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Brad Pitt. The tabloids won't give the gorgeous man a rest. Every detail of his relationship with Angelina Jolie is constantly under scrutiny, and with the release of Inglorious Basterds in late summer and today's stories about the hitch for his movie Moneyball, we know we're going to be Pittched at least weekly in the next few months. But Brad Pitt for Mayor of New Orleans? Come on!
Did that news escape you? I can't run from it. I'm in New Orleans. Like anyone else, however, I wondered is it true and if so, how did this happen?
Let's see. Brad Pitt has helped the city tremendously. His Make It Right foundation is helping to build green homes in the Ninth Ward here, and his high-level celebrity status helps keep New Orleans's need to rebuild from fading from the public eye. But, wait! Don't you have to live in a city to be its mayor?
Technically Pitt is a resident of New Orleans. He and Jolie bought a house for $3.6 million here in the French Quarter two years ago and enrolled one of their children in school here. The pair bought the house while Pitt was filming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, an Oscar-nominated film that at least one BlogHer CE called "dull," but others have called "a love letter to the city."
Chris Rose of The Times Picayune in "Give the people what they want" tells the history behind the hype, reminding readers that some notable Hollywood stars such as Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Ronald Reagan have moved successfully into politics. However he also says that Pitt running for mayor of the city is a little "far-fetched."
It would be a stretch to call the Brad Pitt for Mayor campaign a "grassroots movement" or really an "organization" of any kind. It's actually a couple of guys who had a conversation, printed up some T-shirts and unintentionally set the Butterfly Effect into motion.
The Butterfly Effect, of course, is a guiding principle of chaos theory that suggests the beating of a butterfly's wings in Rio de Janiero could set off a series of random meteorological phenomena that could ultimately cause a tornado in, say, Nebraska.
Well, the butterfly in this case was Tulane art history professor Thomas Bayer. And what he set in motion was no meteoroligcal phenomenon but something much bigger, more uncontollable and even more random: Internet chatter. (Chris Rose)
Bayer wrote a humorous piece called "13 Reasons Why Brad Pitt Should Be the next Mayor of New Orleans" which is up at WearMyStory.com. My favorites are #7 and #11:
Reason #7 - City Council Relations
Stacy Head will be nice to the new Mayor.
Reason #11 - Rebuilding
Rather than relying on Aussie eloquence and narrative creativity or malfunctioning federal and state agencies, Mr. Pitt, as our chief executive will, instead, lead us, the local Pittwomen and Pittmen, in the fight against blight, crime, poverty and lack of humor. Dressed in period costumes and assisted by experienced producers, set builders, make-up artists, and camera operators, this cast of thousands will launch our Renaissance epic in weekly reality sequels. (13 Reasons)
You've got to be local and living the scream to get the Stacy Head crack.
Bayer's published his list, as Chris Rose explains, "led local entreprenuer Josh Harvey, proprietor of Storyville Apparel, to print up some Brad Pitt for Mayor t-shirts and then....well, then things went bat crazy."
The story went viral with hyperbole about New Orleans residents clamoring for Pitt to be mayor and spread all the way to the U.K. Mirror, "Brad Pitt asked to stand for Mayor of New Orleans," and so people are talking. Circe at Purrs & Scratches writes:
I will say that I am of the opinion that Brad Pitt's long term contribution to New Orleans will be the houses built through the Make it Right Foundation. ... Locals refer to them as "Brad Pitt Houses." ... I am going to find it hysterical if in 50 years we are still referring to them as "Brad Pitt Houses" as part of our local lexicon. ... He should build more of them. I would rather that than have him for Mayor. ... Anyway...Brad Pitt for Mayor... ... We could do worse. And
