From: "Epiphanie Bloom" <crispyclouds-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: And afterward?
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 05:30:28 +1000


I'm so glad I decided to check my emails before deleting them! Kudos to the 
folk aboard the list for the interesting turn of discussion...

Judy wrote:

> > I listen to AM radio right wing talk shows almost every day, keeping
> > up with their take on things.  I was heartened to hear them being
> > unusually emotional and hysterical in their criticism of Moore and
> > the film. They seemed to view it as threatening, not the information
> > per se but that it was a blockbuster, it was reaching people. They
> > insisted it was all made of lies.  And mostly, one guy kept repeating
> > that Moore was "fat," as if that was the best argument he could make
> > against the film.

I get Fox News along with CNN, the BBC, and several other news channels, 
which I try to tune into a little bit each day... I can currently even tune 
in for a full ten minutes before I allow myself to flick the channel in 
disgust (oh the responsibility that is being a TV owner)! ;o)

I'm not at all surprised to hear that Moore was referred to as "fat", and 
this was one of the chief criticisms against F9/11 - it would be amusing if 
it wasn't so dire!

> > Moore is a phenomenon.

I agree... I can just imagine the theses which are about to be produced on 
his work, which is great - the more public figures encouraging people to 
think outside the box the better (I'll limit my pro-postmodernist assertions 
to a bare minimum here for convenience, though if I have time I'd like to 
respond to your further messages...)!

Glen write:
>
>Hi Judy/All,
>
>On a related note, I doubt anyone else on this list watched the MTV
>Movie Awards (maybe they did!?!), but Moore received a little spot in
>the proceedings. It was very odd. He hadn't won an award or anything,
>and from the bits of the program I watched there was no other such air
>time for others who had not won awards. His message was: "Vote!"

Hi Glen,

I'm also in Sydney (though I'm about to travel to Hong Kong for a job 
opportunity) and saw the MTV awards a few nights ago...

I found it surprising that Mike Moore's attitude towards his audience was 
quite patronising and not very encouraging overall, however. I wish he'd 
taken the time to do more reasearch on MTV viewers and/or be more patient, 
as watching MTV *can* indeed be a resistant act, and there are a lot of 
young people out there who are trying to figure out what to make of the 
world of politics, and are not as "switched off" as adults would have them 
believe. I think a certain amount of vegetating in front of (M)TV is not a 
bad thing at all (nor the attending/viewing awards shows), and I got the 
impression that a lot of the audience members were far from thrilled with 
the efforts Mike made in "getting their attention" - he was obviously being 
sarcastic with comments such as "my film is not all about heavy stuff... I 
don't know why that guy in the parliament house has such a problem with it" 
(I paraphrase), and the eye rolls were forthcoming. Lots of MTV viewers are 
in fact involved in political causes, and I would've liked to see Moore 
attempt to appeal to the "switched on" aspects of his audience rather than 
further encouraging youthful (and otherwise) audiences to believe that 
adults really have no clue about the complexities of their generation. 
Aren't there enough vicious cycles around?

All the same, at least he participated! I will look forward to catching the 
film when it comes out (I expect watching the audience will be as fun as 
watching the movie - a different kind of spectator sport awaits me! ;o),

Epiphanie Bloom (my real name)


Reality is the Wildest Fantasy

_________________________________________________________________
Love Movies? You'll love HomeScreen. Rental DVDs - no late fees!  Go to:  
http://www.ninemsn.homescreen.com.au/account/freetrial/?.promo=9msn_hotmail_ 
tagline