Spider-Man and Michael Moore: Fighting EVIL

[nostamj]

thought you might enjoy this Village Voice feature article...

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Moore understands correctly that if popular, leftist positions are going to enter the medium of mass entertainment, proponents will have to speak in the writ-large language of the blockbuster: good vs. evil, Jesus vs. Satan, Spidey vs. Doc Ock, America vs. Dubya. "Even though the kind of films Moore makes are a far cry from Spider-Man 2," The Hollywood Reporter wrote last week in an article entitled "Top 10 Things Moore Did Right With Fahrenheit," "it's clear that he understands how important it is for a movie, especially a comic-book story driven movie, to have a colorful villain." Unfortunately, our death-dealing leader answered Moore's casting call all too well.

As pro-wrestling promoters and talk-show hosts have long known, it's not just the creation of the villain that's important. It's how the medium uses the hero-villain dynamic to help discussion about the film spill over into the rest of the world: Internet chat rooms, op-ed pages, barroom arguments. Divisiveness spreads chatter: Which is better, Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2? Is Fahrenheit a documentary or is it propaganda?

But Fahrenheit has also turned this old formula on its head. For blockbusters like SM2, which set an opening-day record of $40.5 million in ticket sales, the outside buzz helps sell the movie. But for Moore, the movie is secondary to the discussion it fosters—in this case, instigating chatter means resituating the popular political discourse a few notches to the left. Just like Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, Moore has hitched a moral mission onto the engines of entertainment media.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0427/halter1.php