The title was a big mistake. Moore should have chosen something which capitalized (excuse the pun) on the public's antipathy for Wall Street bankers. That approach would have vastly widened the audience, since many on the populist right share that antipathy. But if Americans think you're mounting a challenge to the capitalist system per se, they'll presume that you're a church-burning Bolshie. Most Americans can't see anything or anyone standing between Milton Friedman and Vladimir Lenin. The public yearns to have an angry-but-funny populist translate financialese into plain language; they're not ready for the red flag.
(Distinguishing between industrial capitalism and finance capitalism might have helped.)
Actually, from what I understand -- I have not yet seen the movie -- Moore does not wave the red flag in his film. That is to say, he does not come out in favor of any variant of socialism. So his self-defeating title creates the wrong impression.
Digby's response raises good points:
Having said all that, there is great, HUGE value in this movie as an emotional, populist polemic for the left, something I've been screaming about since the beginning of the financial crisis. It's extremely disheartening to see the administration and so many Democrats in congress completely ignore the political and policy ramifications of failing to engage in fundamental financial reform and fiery populist rhetoric at a time like this. This teabagger movement is happening in a vacuum created by a lack of interest in this topic by liberals who are so enamored of being members of the new "creative class" and the like that they aren't paying attention to the cynicism and anger that's reaching critical mass among average working stiffs out there. It's easy to dismiss it, but very, very foolish. The issues Moore raises in this film will be answered on the right with authoritarianism, militarism, immigrant bashing and violence. It's a recipe for disaster unless the left takes this on in direct, political terms.
6 comments:
Joe, I review movies for one of the 25 largest newspapers in America. I have seen "Capitalism" twice and am confident in guessing that you will dislike it, as I did. After all of its righteous anger about systemic inequities, it rolls over at the feet of the new guy, dramatizing his election-night victory with soaring strings and images of weeping supporters. I recently interviewed Moore, whom I have considered a legitimate progressive and a personal hero, and he said that the new prez is "on notice." But you won't notice any of that skepticism in the movie, even though Moore was still working on it in August, when anyone who was doing their homework could have added two plus two.
T Joe........... ...Digbys response(not the part Joseph mentioned) also criticizes Moors nostalgic/let's not throw the new prez under the bus just yet...............and Joseph, doesn't the title more or less reflect your point about America,s lack of readiness to examine capitalism,s shortcomings, as in blinded by love?
Moore is practicing the same poor judgment he had on display when he said there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush with his support for Obama.
When will the kool-ade intoxification wear off?
The embrace of the Catholic hierarchy in the film (something like 3 priests and bishop are interviewed) is a contradiction with Moore's professed love of democracy. But, it does fit in nicely with his general sense of sentimentality and 50's era nostalgia.
Why should the interviews with bishops bother you? Another anti-Catholic conspiracy theorist, methinks...
I've written MM every time he emailed me. I pointed out - among many other things - that he was in favor of Bush's original bailout plan (you remember, the one that gave everything to the big banks and nothing at all to the little guy, how he was by far the top recipient of monies from Big Finance (and had a history of doing the opposite of what he promised publicly after taking bribes from the relevant corporations).
I hoped he might include criticism of Obama in his film.
I every much doubted he would, but I had to try...guess I was right to doubt it. Another indication? One of the ads for the film even ends with the single word "Change." Sigh.
Sergei Rostov
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