“The Lady” is coming to the big screen!

Luc Besson’s “The Lady,” to be released this February, is stirring the pot among Burmese Activists. Many are disheartened by Besson’s portrayal of the country’s beloved pro-democracy leader and see the film as a missed opportunity while others are simply happy the issue is taking the big screen.

What I found most interesting is the film’s use of the famous Shepard Fairey design of Aung San Suu Kyi as the theatrical poster.

Shepard Fairey’s original work of Aung San Suu Kyi.

This is the film’s poster of Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi.

While both posters show support of the Burmese Democracy Movement I take offense to the theatrical poster. I have no doubt that Michelle Yeoh will do well in her role as Aung San Suu Kyi, in fact I am thoroughly excited to see her performance, but she is not The Lady and the poster has appropriated an image for the sake of ticket sales. It is very bittersweet.

Emilia

I am a Media Studies major at The New School, defender of human rights, and wrangler of high school freshman and juniors.

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