Noël Godin
Encyclopedia
Noël Godin is a Belgian
writer, critic
, actor and notorious cream pie
flinger or entarteur
. Godin gained global attention in 1998 when his group ambushed Microsoft
CEO Bill Gates
in Brussels
, pelting the software magnate
with cream pies. After bombarding Gates, Godin allegedly said, "My work is done here."
he chooses "to function in the service of the capitalist status quo, without really using his intelligence or his imagination." He says his sworn enemies are "authority, depressing laws, the return of the moral order, nuclear power, any form of political power."
Since 1969, when Godin planted a cream pie on the face of the French novelist Marguerite Duras
, he has cream-pied dozens more, including choreographer Maurice Béjart
, France's best-known television anchorman Patrick Poivre d'Arvor
, French president Nicolas Sarkozy
and film maker Jean-Luc Godard
.
A regular target is French philosopher, socialite
and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy
. After one attack, in 1985, an enraged Levy was filmed standing over Godin snarling "Get up, or I'll kick your head in".
"Georges Le Gloupier" has also inspired an unknown number of followers around the world, who now regularly provide him with details about the whereabouts of various important potential targets. It took 32 people to conduct the Bill Gates
operation. His followers take care to look as ridiculous as possible as they throw their tarts, smiling broadly, spouting anti-pretentious poetry and repeating "gloup, gloup, gloup."
, Wile E. Coyote, the Marx Brothers
and yippies like Abbie Hoffman
.
Godin is inspired (for instance in his Anthologie de la subversion carabinée (1989)) by the works of the Utopian philosophers Tommaso Campanella
(Civitas Solis) and Charles Fourier
(La Phalange, Le Phalanstère
).
His ideal society is one where there is no struggle for power or money and where everybody can live in a state of perfect happiness.
He is also an admirer of the anarchist Ravachol
without approving his violence, sentiment which inspired him to his pie-attacks.
Godin has a particularly colorful and expressive way of expressing himself, using terms like for instance "tempêtes patissières" (pastry storm) to describe his pieing.
and producer Francis De Smet
including the acclaimed La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978
, Camping Cosmos
playing the Belgian writer Pierre Mertens
, Opus IV: La Jouissances Des Hystériques, Tart or Vivant, Tarte ou Vivant and Les Vacances de Noël.
Noël Godin is also known as a filmcritic (Godin par Godin, ed. Yellow Now - Côté cinéma, 2001), he wrote for the Catholic review Les Amis du film (1969–1973), and as an avant-garde
filmmaker (f. i.: Prout prout tralala, 18 min (1974)).
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
writer, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, actor and notorious cream pie
Cream pie
A cream pie is a type of pie filled with a rich custard or pudding that is made from milk, cream, flour, and eggs. It can come in many forms, including vanilla, lemon, lime, peanut butter, banana, coconut, and chocolate. A constant feature of all cream pies is the whipped cream topping...
flinger or entarteur
Pieing
Pieing is the act of throwing a pie at a person or persons. This can be a political action when the target is an authority figure, politician, or celebrity and can be used as a means of protesting against the target's political beliefs, or against perceived arrogance or vanity. Perpetrators...
. Godin gained global attention in 1998 when his group ambushed Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
CEO Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, pelting the software magnate
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
with cream pies. After bombarding Gates, Godin allegedly said, "My work is done here."
Ideals
Godin claims his goal has long been to "entarte" as many people like Gates as possible - people he feels are particularly self-important and lacking a sense of humor. Godin told The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
he chooses "to function in the service of the capitalist status quo, without really using his intelligence or his imagination." He says his sworn enemies are "authority, depressing laws, the return of the moral order, nuclear power, any form of political power."
Since 1969, when Godin planted a cream pie on the face of the French novelist Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
, he has cream-pied dozens more, including choreographer Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart was a French born, Swiss choreographer who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He was the son of the French philosopher Gaston Berger.- Biography :...
, France's best-known television anchorman Patrick Poivre d'Arvor
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor is a French TV journalist and writer. He is a household name in France, and nicknamed PPDA. With over 30 years and in excess of 4,500 editions of television news to his credit, he was one of the longest serving newsreaders in the world until he was fired in 2008...
, French president Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
and film maker Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
.
A regular target is French philosopher, socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
. After one attack, in 1985, an enraged Levy was filmed standing over Godin snarling "Get up, or I'll kick your head in".
Followers
Godin, who uses the pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Georges Le Gloupier" has also inspired an unknown number of followers around the world, who now regularly provide him with details about the whereabouts of various important potential targets. It took 32 people to conduct the Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
operation. His followers take care to look as ridiculous as possible as they throw their tarts, smiling broadly, spouting anti-pretentious poetry and repeating "gloup, gloup, gloup."
Philosophy
Godin insists his group is non-violent and is careful to use only what he calls a "tarte classique", filled with whipped cream and perhaps a little chocolate in soft sponge cake. He says his humor can be traced back through Jerry LewisJerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, Wile E. Coyote, the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
and yippies like Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
.
Godin is inspired (for instance in his Anthologie de la subversion carabinée (1989)) by the works of the Utopian philosophers Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella OP , baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.-Biography:...
(Civitas Solis) and Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
(La Phalange, Le Phalanstère
Phalanstère
A phalanstère was a type of building designed for an utopian community and developed in the early 19th century by Charles Fourier. Based on the idea of a phalanx, this self-contained community ideally consisted of 1500-1600 people working together for mutual benefit...
).
His ideal society is one where there is no struggle for power or money and where everybody can live in a state of perfect happiness.
He is also an admirer of the anarchist Ravachol
Ravachol
François Claudius Koenigstein, known as Ravachol, , was a French anarchist. He was born 14 October 1859 at Saint-Chamond and died guillotined 11 July 1892 at Montbrison.-Biography:...
without approving his violence, sentiment which inspired him to his pie-attacks.
Godin has a particularly colorful and expressive way of expressing himself, using terms like for instance "tempêtes patissières" (pastry storm) to describe his pieing.
Movies
Godin has appeared in many films directed by his friend Jan BucquoyJan Bucquoy
Jan Bucquoy is an anarchist and author-filmmaker born in Harelbeke, Belgium who started as a theatre practitioner and who worked as a cartoon-scriptwriter.-Career:...
and producer Francis De Smet
Francis De Smet
Francis De Smet . PH. D. of Philosophy . Inventor: soundenhancing, Human intervention on the Internet. Film producer. Music supervisor for Transatlantic Films...
including the acclaimed La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978
La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978
La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-78 is a 1994 film satire on Belgian provincialism that proved a major cinematic success in Belgium. It was the first film by now-famed Flemish provocateur and director Jan Bucquoy...
, Camping Cosmos
Camping Cosmos
Camping Cosmos is a Belgian 1996 film, sequel to La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978, directed by Jan Bucquoy. It stars Claude Semal, Lolo Ferrari , Noël Godin , Herman Brusselmans and Arno ....
playing the Belgian writer Pierre Mertens
Pierre Mertens
Pierre Mertens is a Belgian French-speaking writer and lawyer who specializes in international law, director of the Centre de sociologie de la littérature at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and literary critic with the newspaper Le Soir.Influenced by Franz Kafka, Mertens started to publish...
, Opus IV: La Jouissances Des Hystériques, Tart or Vivant, Tarte ou Vivant and Les Vacances de Noël.
Noël Godin is also known as a filmcritic (Godin par Godin, ed. Yellow Now - Côté cinéma, 2001), he wrote for the Catholic review Les Amis du film (1969–1973), and as an avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
filmmaker (f. i.: Prout prout tralala, 18 min (1974)).
Books
- Anthologie de la subversion carabinée, L'âge d'homme, 1989, ISBN 2-8251-0715-8 (philosophical study of political freedom), réédition revue et augmentée, 2008
- Zig zig boum boum, Le Veilleur, Toulouse, 1994
- Crème et châtiment : mémoire d'un entarteur, Albin Michel, 1995
- Godin par Godin, Yellow Now, 2001, ISBN 2-87340-151-6
- Armons-nous les uns les autres! (novel), Flammarion, 2003, ISBN 2-08-068685-3
- Entartons, entartons les pompeux cornichons!, Flammarion, 2005, ISBN 2-08-068546-5 (The story of all his pieings).
Piers' websites
Movies with Noël Godin
- Site of the Movies with Noel Godin
- Les vacances de Noël (2005)
- La vie politique des Belges (2002)
- Camping CosmosCamping CosmosCamping Cosmos is a Belgian 1996 film, sequel to La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978, directed by Jan Bucquoy. It stars Claude Semal, Lolo Ferrari , Noël Godin , Herman Brusselmans and Arno ....
(1998) - La vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-78 (1994)