So apparently Eric Fournier, the man who was apparently behind the internet phenomenon Shaye St. John has died, and though I’m not sure that he’s really dead or that he really was Shaye, apparently I’m gonna blog it. This ain’t Newsweek!
I wish I had a little bit of journalistic acumen or something and could at least give you a bit of concrete info about Fournier and maybe how he came up with the character or some such bullshit, but, according to an article on the prestigious wikibin, “No commentary or insight about Shaye Saint John has ever been presented to the public by her creators.” All I know is that Fournier was a presence in the Bloomington, IN punk scene of the 80’s as a member of hardcore band Blood Farmers, and someone named Eric Fournier is listed as the director of 2004’s Shaye and Kiki, the only commercially-available piece of Shayeanna.
The only background that I could find is Shaye St. John’s fictional backstory, which was summed up well enough in an article on some site called lollipop.com:
The idea/story/mythos behind Shaye Saint John is that she was a hot woman who was horribly disfigured in a car accident. As a result, she appears in public wearing this weird-ass, creepy as fuck mask, and hobbles along with clunky prosthetic legs and hands. Her mind appears to have sustained a bit of damage as well, as the numerous short films, bits of wisdom, and assorted clickables on her website can attest.
I would say that Shaye St. John represented a bold new strain of alternative comedy, but I have no idea what those words mean. I just think that anyone who can find the yuks in Neil Hamburger’s shtick should be able to appreciate this finely-crafted nightmare fuel/comedy.
I’m not sure what makes Shaye so disturbing. Is it the hacked-up mannequin parts, including a mask that bears a frightening resemblance to Carl von Cosel’s girlfriend? The burned-up baby doll she sometimes talks to? The disembodied chipmunk voice spewing gibberish about “modeling sesh-ons” and “kitty candy”? The whiplash editing and random use of video filters and sound effects? The honky-tonk website with Progeria-victim wallpaper and annoying autoplay sound? I don’t fucking know. Whatever the case, don’t worry - it’s only disturbing until it becomes HILARIOUS.
It’s particularly hilarious to watch it with a group of people and observe their reactions, and when I watch it alone it is, OK, ever so slightly terrifying. But I’ll tell ya, this is great date movie material! And it is on Netflix!
We can only hope that Fournier pulled a ‘Zmuda and had someone lined up to don the mannequin parts and play Shaye for the rest of eternity… Right, gang? We’re hoping for that, aren’t we?