P.D. James' "Children of Men" marketing challenge

This post discusses the woes of marketing a film based on thoughtful speculative fiction. It's got panelists weighing in on the challenges of such an undertaking and subsequent confusion online site visitors may face.

The critiques are focused on the effectiveness of the film's marketing message: see it...it's fascinating to immerse yourself in these heavy (and seemingly very real) issues. In so many words, the first critique is echoed by the second:

1) "Somewhere, somehow, someone had the idea to bolt on this "higher order online mission" to the movie as an enhancement, which frankly left me in as much of a mystery as the title, "Children of Men." "
-- Alan Schulman, chief creative officer, Brand New World

2) "I don't mind suspending my disbelief to embrace a fictional story that has serious themes, but I don't believe those same themes should then be considered in another fiction. There is a difference between suspending one's disbelief and pretending."
-- Brian Crooks, executive creative director, Avenue A | Razorfish

Too much ancillary mystery is obviously afoot in the buzz-generating efforts here. This is a tough thing to face in marketing...with so much media saturation, people need to be clever in garnering attention (remember "The Blair Witch Project?"). So, it's not surprising that confusing marketing can accompany fiction built around challenging ideas like those of P.D. James.

I like the solution proposed by Brian Crooks the best:
"Why not have a blog that invites the visitor to weigh in on some of the very real world concerns this more serious science fiction movie extrapolates on?"

Personally, I would have relished the opportunity to comment on such a blog.