Posts Tagged ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’

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RECORD BREAKER

by Tom on June 28, 2004 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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Considering all the controversy of last weeks' Fahrenheit 9/11 strips, I thought I would share the information that Michael Moore's movie broke box office records for a documentary's opening weekend.

Fahrenheit 9/11 took in $21.9 million this weekend making it the number one movie in the country.

Now for my two cents:

Cami and I saw the movie this weekend in Ames, which is about an hour away from Des Moines. It's also home to Iowa State University, so you know there was a lot of liberal college students in attendance.

We would have seen the movie in town, but the only theater that was showing the movie was the same one we had all the trouble with when we went to see Lost In Translation. Sorry, but it's one of many establishments I won't grace with my business anymore. CompUSA, I'm looking your way, too!

Anyhow, from a pure movie-making perspective, I think Moore told a very engrossing tale about the Bush administration. Funny, shocking, sad... ultimately you left the theater with plenty of food for thought. This is never a bad thing.

A lot of the facts that Moore severed up I already knew. But he packages them in a way that serves the most impact. Watching the movie defiantly leaves and impression.

There were parts of the movie that were a little overwrought and you can tell where Moore's ego gets in the way. Blind-siding Senators and asking them to sign up their kids for service in the armed forces is a little shady. So was his parading of a mother who's son died in the conflict.

Don't get me wrong. I am sorry for her loss and thank her family for their sacrifice, but it felt emotionally cloying and a little more than manipulated.

Is everything Moore says in the movie 100% truth? No. He's defiantly pushing his own agenda. But if anything, it's prompted me to ask more questions and do more of my own research - which is also a good thing.

I think if anyone is walking into this movie expecting the unfiltered truth to be spoon-fed to them, then they're walking into the theater with the wrong idea. Because it's no better than to accept what Moore says at face value any more than what the current administration tries to get you to believe.

Bottom line: Regardless of your politics, everyone should see this movie. It's too important and too timely to ignore.

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CREATOR CENSORSHIP

by Tom on June 25, 2004 at 12:00 am
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Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore, controversy, hate mail, censorship, finger sandwiches, fourth wall

I know emotions have been running high for some of you, so to diffuse some of the controversy, I decided to offer a very humorous incentive sketch. I won't spoil the surprise, so vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix and have a cheap laugh on me.

So here it is. Part 2 of my little reaction piece to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. I have to admit there wasn't as much backlash to Wednesday's comic as I thought there would be. I don't know what that says about you the audience or me the creator, but there you have it.

Really the comics of the last two days don't have anything to do with Moore's movie. They weren't a collaboration of his political or a statement against President Bush.

My issue is censorship. Whether it be artists censoring themselves in fear of reprisal or suffering the judgement of others in a society that professes free speech as its highest virtue.

Wednesday's comic saw me stepping into my own imaginary universe as some kind of overlord, informing the audience that we wouldn't touch the controversy with a 10 foot pole. The joke was that I was censoring myself.

Of course, this gets thrown out the window when I call President Bush a doodie head.

Today's comic is about the reaction to commentary such as that. My free speech is countered by another's free speech and my characters get caught in the crossfire. Attempting to express their frustration, I alter what Cami was going to say in panel three. Censorship again.

At the end of the day, it serves no purpose to try and prevent what one person wants to express. Whether it's Moore, myself, or a fictional character. No one has ever adopted the concept of free speech and democracy by having it forced down their throats. No one will adopt another persons idea of what is appropriate and what is not if they aren't already looking for that answer.

I understand that you guys primarily come to the site for a cheap laugh before going about your day and you probably don't need my opinions cluttering things up. But every once in a while, I want to make you laugh AND make you think. If I can do that, then I know I'm not some hack out here trying to perform some slight of hand to make you think I have talent. It's no different than my commentary about the MPAA a while ago. And for those of you who don't think it's my place to mix politics and art, where were your criticism when I was taking Jack Valenti down a few pegs?

Ultimately, there is a nexus where art, politics, commerce and opinion intersect. And every so often my work drifts into the middle of it. If you like it, great. If not, well... content decisions around here is like Iowa weather. You don't like it? Wait 10 minutes. It'll get better.

Stay tuned to the comic next week for a whole new story arc profiling the biggest summer blockbuster of the year - the upcoming Spider Man 2! I'm looking forward to it! I hope you are, too!

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BREAKING BOUNDARIES

by Tom on June 23, 2004 at 12:00 am
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(17 votes, average: 8.35 out of 10)
Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore, President Bush, self insert, photo, fourth wall, controversy

Again at a loss for a good incentive sketch idea, I decided to depict myself as another well-known muckraker, Geraldo Rivera! Click here to see the image (and dig that crazy reference to UHF as well!)

I found myself at a crossroads with today's comic. Even though a lot of people are talking about it, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 could be perceived as damaged goods for a web site that traffics in making people laugh with funny pictures. Without even seeing it, we've been made aware that the film is unapologetically ANTI George W. Bush and this is something that can dramatically split an audience.

But on the other hand, NOT tackling a film that has generated so much advance buzz would just be sloppy content management on my part. Why should I deny what's current in the culture because of a little controversy? Ultimately, I think I reached a fairly inventive solution in regard to discussing the film without directly mentioning it's politics or its bias.

Even if I had to break every law regarding The 4th Wall to do it! ;)

Now before anyone gets their knickers in a twist and thinks that maybe what I'm saying in the third panel are my personal politics... well, I'm here to tell you that's not the point of this comic strip.

Things will become more clear after Friday (this is a two-part strip) that what I am choosing to lampoon is not the movie, the conservatives, the liberals or the independents. Instead what I'm gunning for is the response to works like Moore's and what it says about America as a whole.

I'm sure you've read reports about conservative groups sending e-mails to the C.E.O.s of large movie chains petitioning them to ban Fahrenheit 9/11 from their theaters. Whatever your politics are, I find it decidedly UN-American to censor another artist's work - no matter HOW strongly you disagree with it.

Sure, picket the theaters. Hand out pamphlets denouncing Michael Moore as a one-man liberal propaganda machine. There's nothing against free speech or the freedom to assemble going on there.

But outright censorship - trying to prevent art from reaching the masses, denying them the right to choose FOR THEMSELVES if this is material they wish to expose themselves to - is just plain wrong. As an artist myself, I take particular notice when stories like these break because who is to say I won't be next if you happen to disagree with something I say?

In any case, I plan on watching Moore's film when it comes out this Friday. And like all of Moore's work, I intend to take it with a grain of salt. When I get home, I plan on taking the information I've gathered and researching it myself to get a balanced perspective on the issues.

And IF ANYTHING ELSE, that is the beauty of Moore's chest-thumping. He gets people THINKING. And in an election year where 50% of the populace chooses not to express their given right to have their voice heard, a little extra thought tossed into the political arena is never a bad thing.

:: steps off soapbox ::

If you have comments about today's comic, please leave them in the THorum (Rational discourse ONLY, please!) and expect a follow-up comic on Friday.

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