Sarah Silverman’s New Film, Her Breasts: Which Will Get More Internet Pageviews?

Karly Rayner wrote an interesting article on the website Movie Pilot, lamenting the coverage of the Los Angeles premiere of Sarah Silverman's new film, I Smile Back. Instead of focusing on the film, the coverage focused entirely on the dress that Silverman wore and her breasts. Granted, most everyone who sees the pictures will go 'wow' but wasn't that Silverman's intent? As well, in a business that is pageview driven, and the more the better, as is Ms. Rayner's, which do you think will get more? Ms. Silverman's new film or her breasts?

Make no mistake, this is not an epidemic just brought on by amateurish internet reporting. This type of sensational reporting dates back long before Al Gore ever thought of the internet. In the early part of the 20th century, media mogul William Randolph Hearst perfected "yellow" journalism and built a media empire out of it and his days as media mogul. An example, the trial of Fatty Arbuckle for the rape of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe. This from ReturnoftheKings.com: "However, what felled Arbuckle was the machinations of William Randolph Hearst, a calculating man who saw the incredible power of the emerging national press. He was the leading proponent of yellow journalism and actively sought to distort stories and situations in order to further his profits and status."

Keep in mind, this was 1921. Back to Return of the Kings

"He published incredibly sensationalistic fare that painted Arbuckle as a serial abuser of Rappe, having not just ruptured her bladder through his great weight that crushed her body, but also assaulted her with a Coke bottle. Hearst played off America's distrust of Hollywood's sexual freedom and rampant abuse of substances. Further, he painted the obese Arbuckle as a rank glutton, even though Arbuckle had been overweight since childhood - suggesting biological reasons for his weight. Still, this media coverage was absolutely damning and completely ruined Arbuckle's career. He subsequently was tried three times for his role in the death of the Rappe, with the final trial resulting in acquittal, with the jury issuing an apology-completely unprecedented for a jury."

While Rayner's article made very legitimate points, that most sites barely mentioned the movie, two questions must be asked. 1) Would Ms. Rayner have written about the premiere of the movie based on the movie alone; and 2) would her pageviews be as comparable? From the article, she aptly states, "Instead of writing about the movie in question that Silverman was promoting, most news sources added it as a hasty afterthought and instead focused on her plunging neckline and, by extension, her breasts." No matter what any writer will tell you, they want eyes on their article, no matter the format it comes in.

How do you gain those eyes?

Same way Sarah Silverman got focus on her new film I Smile Back. No one may know the plot of it, but they know Silverman has a new film.