02.11.2004 17:12 - Images of Violence
Fahrenheit 9/11 was on television here last night. I didn\'t want to watch it again. It brought back unpleasant memories of when I saw it in the cinema. Now, I\'m not a fan of the Shrub, but I\'m afraid I\'m not a fan of Mr. Moore\'s viewpoint in this case.
The thing that struck me most about the film when I originally saw it, was how blatantly it manipulates its audience. The film is full of images of total despair, such as dead and injured babies, an Iraqi mother standing outside her recently-destroyed home screaming hysterically, and the American mother losing control of her emotions in front of the White House due to the loss of her son. I was very upset by these images, and what upset me even more was that these images were very carefully filmed by someone, rather than putting down the camera and at least trying to help or console the individuals concerned. Those images were also very carefully edited for maximum impact. In other words, someone was using those images in a cold and calculating manner for their own ends. Even worse, these images were being used to make money. Michael Moore may be giving all his money away that he earns from this for all I know, but certainly the cinema isn\'t, and I imagine the distributors aren\'t either. It also worries me that this behavior is an indication of belief that the end justifies the means, which I thought was the view that he was trying to fight.
It also worries me that this seems to be a form of shock tactic that has been lately adopted by some charities. I have been stopped in the street a number of times by people claiming to work for a charity, who insist on trying to show me pictures of tortured or dead people, and it worries me that they seem to be taking some sort of perverse sadistic gratification in doing this. The end justifying the means again?
I left the cinema feeling dirty and used, and guilty that I had supported the film by paying to see it.
