$120,000 for Banksy’s Jungle Book “Execution” Print

A poster version of the print, which was never distributed. From the Telegraph UK.

CNN International reports that a Banksy print recently sold for $120,000 on auction in London Tuesday. Some details:

The work, “Save or Delete Jungle Book,” went under the hammer alongside works by other urban artists as part of an Urban Art sale at Bonhams auction house in London.

The image was originally commissioned by Greenpeace for a poster campaign highlighting the problem of deforestation, with the characters transposed onto an image of a devastated forest. But the posters were never circulated due to copyright issues with Disney.

Seems to me that this work is a beautiful piece of political commentary. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it would qualify for the first-amendment satirical protection under which the Paul Krassner Disneyland Memorial Orgy is distributed.

Banksy’s work is always controversial, and has touched on Disney more than once. Perhaps most famously, his 2006 guerrilla installation at Disneyland commented on Guantanamo Bay. His documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, includes video footage of setting up the costumed dummy in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as well as commentary from a cameraman who was detained by Disneyland police after the installation was discovered. It left me unsure of how comfortable I am with the private security forces at Disneyland, and their powers to detain persons of interest.

Disneyland Memorial Orgy: A 1967 Paul Krasner Satire

Are you sure you want to see this? I’m not sure I did . . . but I couldn’t very well call myself an irreverent fan if I didn’t at least take a quick glance. (I’m sure I needn’t warn you that this may well not be “safe for work,” even if it is just a comic.)

From the Atlantic Free Press, the story behind an image of Disney characters engaging in unspeakable acts, conceptualized by Paul Krasner and created by Wally Wood.

Disney had been their Creator, and he had repressed all their baser instincts, but now that he had departed, they could finally shed their cumulative inhibitions and participate together in an unspeakable Roman binge, to signify the crumbling of an empire. I contacted Wally Wood — who had illustrated the first piece I sold to Mad magazine — “If Comic Strip Characters Answered Those Little Ads in the Back of Comic Books” — and, without mentioning any specific details, I told him my general notion of a memorial orgy at Disneyland to be published in The Realist. He accepted the assignment and presented me with a magnificently degenerate montage.

Well, at least I won’t speak of those acts here . . . consider yourself to have been forewarned if you choose to follow the link to the story, with the image.

The article goes on to discuss a bit about Disney’s decision not to pursue the artist for damages. Would Disney really want to take on such a well-known, well-prepared satirist in court? It also mentions a few other unapproved uses of Disney licensed characters, including those famously removed from a daycare center in Florida (subsequently replaced by Hanna Barbara characters).

What are the acceptable limits of satire? Who decides? And once again, what ironies lay in any uproar about borrowing (for example) Disney’s image of Snow White, a character who emerged from The Brothers’ Grimm’s collection of folk tales?