by Lysander » Sat Oct 09, 2004 12:09 pm
I'm disappointed in the movie, honestly. The things it says are great, excellent, couldn't ask for more. What I take issue with is the way it is presented. Mr. Moore's desire is to "show the people they've been dooped." This movie, however, tells them that they have been dooped. No, wait, it's not even that, he tells the American people "You've been dooped, you idiots." I mean, what's the point of watching the movie? If you're going to vote for Kerry you are already going to vote for Kerry. If you are a hard-core Republican, and therefore stupid, you are going to vote for Bush and that is all there is to it. The only reason I can see for why someone would want to watch a movie like this is if they are unsure about who they want to vote for, and wish to be convinced. So you don't need to hammer the point home to make them listen. Because if they're watching the movie, they're already listening. And a repeated barrage of insults is the best way I can think of to get people to stop listening. The attrocities are horrible enough that they can be strung together completely without any type of snide running commentary and people will understand it. Being told something by someone who has something to gain by convincing the person listening is the best way to get the person to instinctively distrust the omniscient third-person voice. Especially when he reattles off statements that are not cited--I know he cites them on his website, but how many people will check? And quoting Orwell at BUsh is about hte must smug, self-righteous thing he could do, and I don't like watching propaganda movies made by smug and self-righeous people. And all of these are legitimate problems with the movie, which means Republicans have an excuse to rail against it; "Don't watch that movie, it's just Democrats being biased!" or something equally ridiculous. I think that if Moore had put his movie together with the aim of convincing people to vote for someone other than Bush, as opposed to making money by shocking the populous, it would have been a far, far better movie.
I'm disappointed in the movie, honestly. The things it says are great, excellent, couldn't ask for more. What I take issue with is the way it is presented. Mr. Moore's desire is to "show the people they've been dooped." This movie, however, tells them that they have been dooped. No, wait, it's not even that, he tells the American people "You've been dooped, you idiots." I mean, what's the point of watching the movie? If you're going to vote for Kerry you are already going to vote for Kerry. If you are a hard-core Republican, and therefore stupid, you are going to vote for Bush and that is all there is to it. The only reason I can see for why someone would want to watch a movie like this is if they are unsure about who they want to vote for, and wish to be convinced. So you don't need to hammer the point home to make them listen. Because if they're watching the movie, they're already listening. And a repeated barrage of insults is the best way I can think of to get people to stop listening. The attrocities are horrible enough that they can be strung together completely without any type of snide running commentary and people will understand it. Being told something by someone who has something to gain by convincing the person listening is the best way to get the person to instinctively distrust the omniscient third-person voice. Especially when he reattles off statements that are not cited--I know he cites them on his website, but how many people will check? And quoting Orwell at BUsh is about hte must smug, self-righteous thing he could do, and I don't like watching propaganda movies made by smug and self-righeous people. And all of these are legitimate problems with the movie, which means Republicans have an excuse to rail against it; "Don't watch that movie, it's just Democrats being biased!" or something equally ridiculous. I think that if Moore had put his movie together with the aim of convincing people to vote for someone other than Bush, as opposed to making money by shocking the populous, it would have been a far, far better movie.