31 March 2010

Pillsbury Tolstoy


Yes, we should want to be infected by emotion, Tolstoy, but emotion is fleeting and when it flees what can we say of form and color, and all of those essentials? And what can be said of truth, the thing that should ground all emotion? Form and color and so on should be appreciated because they hold the power to persuade the viewer to feel the intended emotion.
And further, Tolstoy, can we not look at something of which we have no emotion and simply appreciate it for its mastery of composition, its practicality, and can that emotion of appreciation not be the intended consequence of the brush stroke you so easily dismiss?
These are merely questions, and you're dead and buried in Russia some place.

27 March 2010

Michael Moore Hates America, SamSam Hates Michael Moore

I just finished watching the documentary film "Michael Moore Hates America." Thank God someone has created a rebuttal to the poorly placed arguments of Moore and shown him for what he is. Simply making a blanket statement, I will say this: Moore's films are self-serving fiascos that should not be called documentaries due to the blatant lies that he weaves into them. To make a larger statement, Moore's films should not be called true art because true art contains truth to it, the only true, human quality in Moore's films are the unintended showcasing of Moore's own self-hate.
I say self-hate because the very things that Moore objects to in his films--the NRA, capitalism, et cetera--are all things of which he is an active participant. It bothers me that Mikey thinks he is the voice of the American people--if polled on whether we want Michael as our mouthpiece, I am sure many would object.
It is impossible to tell a story through film without lying--things have to be left out because of time and there is no way to take the filmmaker's opinion completely out of the film. However, Moore does not create open dialogue in his films and he rewrites history with false statistics and reinactments.
For Moore, the ends justify the means. But the final product cannot be appreciated, so what is it all worth?