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Controversy Surrounding The Bridge:
The film's background is complicated. Eric Steel's film footage first became known in conjunction with Jennie Olson's experimental documentary The Joy of Life, which was described as a film that "meditative[ly] plunges the [San Francisco] International Film Festival into a heated bridge debate." The San Francisco Chronicle broke the news that Steel has filmed people jumping and Tom Ammiano, a bridge board member and AIDS activist, noted that "Whatever the intention of the film, you can't help but think of a snuff film." And that was the beginning of the stream of comments and comparisons that have tied Steel's film to pornography. Yet what actually divides the two films is not the surrounding political debate but, rather, how Olson and Steel have positioned their films in relation to the subject of suicide and politics. Jennie Olson was more outspoken about preventing suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge. She has taken a public, political stance and has worked with the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California, written an op-ed piece championing suicide deterrents like a barrier and, during the hearings over the barrier, handed out copies of her film to board members.
Steel's film, on the other hand, doesn't mention the barrier or the debate. When your position isn't clearly articulated, people begin speculating, and we're constantly told to be wary of the media and its spin, but the reception of Steel's film seems to be an apt example of what politically framed publicity can do to a film prior to its release.
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