The Man With The Many Hats

How do we measure the cultural impact a political documentary has on its audience? Is it by the ability to sway elections? The insight to start raising serious sociopolitical questions? Or, maybe it's by pissing off people like this guy?? Either way, I'd say, 2 out of 3 is quite impacting, wouldn't you? Fahrenheit 9/11 managed to do exactly these things, with the exception of sending George W. back to his Crawford Ranch to wallow in the dry, hard to breathe, Texas heat. Oh Shucckks!

Four months prior to the 2004 elections, Fahrenheit 9/11, "Michael "Snake Oil Salesman Moore's" seditious political documentary invaded our town theaters, selling his "self-righteous, self-serving, self-interested" message to get us to watch his film so it could gross $222,446,882 and he could buy a few more hats, and ultimately show hilarious scenes of George W's driving technique and Brittney Spears' nationalism .

Michael Moore is by no stretch a visionary. Michael Moore is really not even a good snake oil salesman. I mean, he wears ball caps. He looks like college football fan. But, what he is good at is clearly presenting ideas in a "quasi-believable" fashion that somehow vaguely resembles something of the truth. Sort of. Kind of. Maybe. I don't know. Either way, I'd like to believe Fahrenheit 9/11, when it came out, managed to change some peoples' attitudes toward the events that took place on September 11, 2001. Geez, even this guy is still pissed about the film. I know that when first seeing George W's reaction to the crashes at the World Trade Center, his commander in chief style of handling the situation was just downright impressive. George's reaction to the WTC crashes while at an elementary school, "la la la, la la la, cats, dogs, goats, mice." America's reaction on 9/11, "What the fuck is happening!!!! Where is our president?" But don't get me wrong, this is not a summation of the man's style of leading our country. Maybe this helps?? I'd say this film brings out the worst in Mr. W, and it doesn't need 8 years to prove it to-ya.

All in all, Michael Moore, managed to inform me, while making me and my friends laugh (at obvious parts). I'd say that's pretty remarkable. Most importantly, what Fahrenheit 9/11 managed to do (besides put Michael Moore on every major new station) was tell a story we could all relate and sympathize with. We all know where we were at on 9/11, and what we were doing. But, what ultimately the film managed to successfully do was give restitution for those of us who knew and those of us who didn't know of our government's mishandling of 9/11, before and after. In the end, does it really matter if the film reeks of propaganda? I mean, at least it's coming from a noteworthy side. Could you imagine a rightwinger's doc. of the events that took place on 9/11? Something makes me believe it'd have Sarah Palin in the cockpit of a fighter jet, firing her bazooka, while bald eagles, in synchronized formation create the American flag with this writing inscribed: "This is America, we fight for our freedomsss, and we fucking go to war if we have to!!!" "Liberals die!!" "And Michael Moore especially!!"