Bad analogy
May 23, 2004
I think Chris Lawrence places Leni Rifenstahl in bad company:
Well, this award will definitely make Michael Moore even more insufferable than he is already. And, here’s your “laugh test†moment:
“I did not set out to make a political film,†Mr. Moore said at a news conference after the ceremony. “I want people to leave thinking that was a good way to spend two hours. The art of this, the cinema, comes before the politics.â€
I’m sure that’s what Leni Riefenstahl said too.
Leni Rifenstahl has rightfully been the example of choice by a lot of people who comment on the use of good art in the service of evil. I don’t deny that nor do I apologize for her. I have seen her art, both pre- and post-Nazi era propaganda, and I have learned to separate the artist from her art to a certain degree. Besides, her late life has been a life spent trying to gain some sort of atonement or redemption for her work.
Whether Michael Moore would spend the rest of his life doing really good, non-political art in the service of nothing more than catching the beauty of the world, I do not know. This is where Chris’juxtaposition falls flat. I don’t think Mr. Moore would be less of a crapweasel than Leni was.
2 Comments to Bad analogy
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Rifenstahl died this past year, FWIW.
As for Moore, he (like Ted Rall and his ilk) is at an age where he may yet live to repudiate his hackery (crapweaseldom?). And, if nothing else, we have “TV Nation” to thank for inspiring the creation of “The Daily Show.”
Must be my youth, Chris. At 23 I think they’re old enough to start going down the redemptive path. Who knows? Maybe Moore can start filming pigs procreating and actually make a beautiful documentary out of it. That is, as long as the Tokyo X that’s on top in one scene remains the same hog instead of being replaced by a Jinhua pig after a gut-wrenching scene of pigs being led to the trough.
“From my cold, dead, hooves!”