I wrote a post a while ago about today's documentaries. They've long since become commentaries or one sided rants that no longer document the facts as they are, but instead document the facts that the filmmaker wishes to focus on...and "let's not include that piece there because I don't agree with it."
CNN recently took on Michael Moore. Actually, they wouldn't say they took him on. They were just doing a piece on his new movie Sicko and pointed out that, "No matter how much Moore fudged the facts — and he did fudge some facts..." and this didn't sit well with Mr. Moore. CNN even agreed with his premise that our health care system needs help. Moore apparently didn't like a network that generally is on his side questioning him on his methods.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought blogs, conversations with friends, debates - these were the things that were largely supposed to be based on opinions...and documentaries just documented what was actually happening.
CNN accused Moore of "cherry-picking" numbers from different academic studies to make his arguments stronger. CNN said it believes in essentially comparing apples with apples. Moore said he tried to use the most recent data available. (yahoo news)
Obviously Michael Moore has an opinion. Someone hurt him deeply when he was younger. He's starving for attention. He's mad as heck and he wants the world to know... I don't really know. (right now if you're a conservative you might love that he's getting called out because you disagree with what he has to say...even if CNN is wrong - and if you're a liberal, you might just be getting defensive right now) I just wonder if we should create a new category of films and not lump these rant films in with true documentaries.
Michael Moore has made a career out of chasing down big business and demanding their time. It drives him nuts when they won't take the time to answer his questions.
CNN, in its statement, noted that it has given Moore multiple opportunities to discuss his concerns about the report on the air.
"It's ironic that someone who has made a career out of holding powerful interests accountable is so sensitive to having his own work held up to the light by impartial journalists, as we did in our examination of `Sicko,'" CNN said.
If they created another film category, Hollywood would have to create another Academy Award category in order to be able to make their political statement.
ReplyDeleteEveryone sees Michael Moore for who he is... no need to make him go nuts and accuse George Bush of rigging the film categorization system.
I'm just not sure...
ReplyDeleteWhether it's with supposed 'non-fiction' writing or so-called 'documentaries', there is always editing. You just can't include everything. Obviously Michael Moore takes it to the extreme, and I think most people know that by now. Everyone's got a spin and most people have an agenda, and usually that is to create an entertaining and provocative piece of writing or film.
I believe the real problem lies in America's inability to discern and/or research. People (including myself many times) watch or read something and take it for truth. So evangelicals fight back with 'Cracking the Da Vinci Code' and conservatives lash out with 'Fahrenhype 911' simply because viewers are too lazy or dumb to find out for themselves.
Am I making sense?
Politicians, Conservatives, and Liberals fudge statistics. News shows fudge statistics. Psychologists, scientists, cults, churches and schools fudge statistics. My statistics professor in college said that you can find more than one study to support any premise you want to put out there.
ReplyDeleteI guess there can be no true documentaries because there are no true, valid or reliable statistics.
I must admit that I liked a part of one of Michal Moore's movies when he said that it is the news that has everyone angry at each other and frightened out of their minds.