Kudos to Robert Levi for creating a bizarre peice of ‘outsider’ media: called “Radcliffe Project“, 21 minutes of not-quite slash-fiction combined with copious conspiracy theories, but performed as a commentary to the 2nd Harry-Potter movie. This disturbing, but hillarious performance can be downloaded from the radio4all podcast network.
The premise of this recording is that the performer allegedly believes that the child actor (Radcliffe) from the Harry Potter fims is somehow in love with him. He alleges that the Harry Potter films contain coded messages of put theire by the child actors with the assistance of the film’s directors.
These messages are intended to tell us that the actors are prisoners of the Time-Warner film company, who are agents of the author J.K. Rowling. We are told that she is some sort of criminal mastermind and wishes to subject the children to peril for her personal financial gain. We also learn that Radcliffe is not British but from New Jersey.
As with the best outsider media, we are left to judge if this is a genuinely disturbed mind or fake insanity. Clearly his theories are absurd but that is not the point: The question is, does he geuninely believe these notions or is it just a performance?
The low production standards and creepy voiceover (we can hear the film playing in the background), make either interpretation likely. Could he actually believe that child actors in an entirely different continent are sending him coded messages of affection? Am I sick for finding humor in what might actually be a criminal offense in some countries? If you are able to derive any pleasure from this hap-hazardly produced stream of conciousness, it comes from the ambiguity. There are no clues which would obviously mark this performance as a work of humor, and yet it is brilliant comedy.
