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Jun. 23rd, 2004 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonI was going to write this big long thing about how much I object to Michael Moore even when I might wholly agree with his politics on a particular issue. No matter how strongly I might agree that it's wrong to, say, treat working class people as though they were disposable, that doesn't stop me from wanting to smack MM upside the head, especially when he's so fond of portraying those same "ordinary folks" as stupid and strange and obuse, all so the good liberal clones can have a laugh.
For example, in Bowling for Columbine, he spends all this time on exposing the roots of the industrial-military complex which of course causes teenagers to lose their humanity and shoot one another, but when confronted by someone in a bar who likes to build napalm bomb things, he just milks that for laughs rather than seriously examining *why* somebody might be blowing stuff up if they are feeling so powerless. Perfect chance to do all kinds of metaphor, but instead he milks the scene for cheap laughs so the city folks can laugh at this country bumpkin who thinks fire and blowing shit up are cool. And does his target audience really have their heads so far up their collective asses to not understand that in fact fire and blowing shit up can be cool, if you feel like you are in control of the process? Especially if there's nothing else to do?
It's things like that which make me believe that MM's movies are only partly about the social issues he tackles. They are at least as much about Michael Moore, crusader against moral injustice and stupid people! Another Bowling for Columbine scene sticks out in my mind as summing up MM in a nutshell: there's a scene where the kid who was injured at Columbine and will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair meets with the CEO of I think it's KMart, for a ceremonial declaration that KMart will stop selling bullets. Rather than letting this kid have the glory of the moment, MM jumps in the middle of everything and starts making speeches about how brave the kid is, how together we can all defeat the industrial-military complex, etc ad nauseum. He's just a grandstander, that guy who can't stand not to be in the spotlight and gets anxious if his voice isn't the loudest in the crowd, and he will bludgeon your brain over and over with his points because you cannot possibly be trusted to understand them on your own, because he is the great MM who will enlighten us all.
Huh, guess I did write a long thing. MM pisses me off. Anybody want to see Control Room in the next couple of weeks?
For example, in Bowling for Columbine, he spends all this time on exposing the roots of the industrial-military complex which of course causes teenagers to lose their humanity and shoot one another, but when confronted by someone in a bar who likes to build napalm bomb things, he just milks that for laughs rather than seriously examining *why* somebody might be blowing stuff up if they are feeling so powerless. Perfect chance to do all kinds of metaphor, but instead he milks the scene for cheap laughs so the city folks can laugh at this country bumpkin who thinks fire and blowing shit up are cool. And does his target audience really have their heads so far up their collective asses to not understand that in fact fire and blowing shit up can be cool, if you feel like you are in control of the process? Especially if there's nothing else to do?
It's things like that which make me believe that MM's movies are only partly about the social issues he tackles. They are at least as much about Michael Moore, crusader against moral injustice and stupid people! Another Bowling for Columbine scene sticks out in my mind as summing up MM in a nutshell: there's a scene where the kid who was injured at Columbine and will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair meets with the CEO of I think it's KMart, for a ceremonial declaration that KMart will stop selling bullets. Rather than letting this kid have the glory of the moment, MM jumps in the middle of everything and starts making speeches about how brave the kid is, how together we can all defeat the industrial-military complex, etc ad nauseum. He's just a grandstander, that guy who can't stand not to be in the spotlight and gets anxious if his voice isn't the loudest in the crowd, and he will bludgeon your brain over and over with his points because you cannot possibly be trusted to understand them on your own, because he is the great MM who will enlighten us all.
Huh, guess I did write a long thing. MM pisses me off. Anybody want to see Control Room in the next couple of weeks?
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Date: 2004-06-23 01:44 pm (UTC)I'm in.
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Date: 2004-06-23 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-23 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-23 08:58 pm (UTC)and ditto your post
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Date: 2004-06-23 04:13 pm (UTC)I dunno...I find myself really liking about half of what MM does, but then feeling very well, uneasy about the rest. Something about the way he does things just kinda makes me feel uneasy...hard to explain.
In any case a couple things:
1) I never have really thought that he has ever done this: "portraying those same "ordinary folks" as stupid and strange and obuse, all so the good liberal clones can have a laugh." To me, I don't think that he thinks that the "ordinary folks" he talks about are the same people as the"strange/stupid/obtuse"...I think they are separate in his mind, and at least they seemed that way to me.
2) As for MM as a "crusader against..."...yeah, I can see that totally. I mean, to me, MM is basically an activist first, and a filmmaker second....which basically leads to him filming a lot of his activism.
3) As for the KMart thing, I don't really remember him 'jumping' in front of the camera, but I don't really remember the scene all that well...I thought it was more the reporters shoving mic's in his face sorta thing...I mean, MM is a well known figure, and if I was a reporter, he's the guy at that scene I'd be asking questions of...
4) I do think MM is anxious about making a big loud statement...but I don't really think it's just all about grand-standing...I think it's more that he basically has an agenda, and is going to use every possible second of air time, screen time, news print articles, etc. he can get to get his agenda across....which if I were devoting my life to such an agenda is also exactly what I would do. For example, he got torn to shreds over comments he made at the Oscar's...but the Oscar's, like the Super-Bowl, is one of the most watched yearly shows globally...so if you want to try to bring focus on something or get a message across, and you've got 20 seconds with however many hundreds of millions eyes on you, there's really no better time/place to do it.
I dunno...MM is, well, he's MM. In the end, I have a hard time creating a singular opinion of him any which way...for example, I can definitely see a number of problems people have pointed out regarding Bowling for Columbine...but in the end, I'd still recommend it to be a movie that basically everyone should see.