Michael Moore and Spider-Man fight evil

[G_j]

http://www.villagevoice.com/print/issues/0427/halter1.php

Michael Moore and Spider-Man fight evil in two new summer blockbusters
The Big Ones
by Ed Halter
July 6th, 2004 11:30 AM


Tangled webs: Spider-Man 2's straphanging superhero
(photo; Columbia Pictures)


Spider-Man and Michael Moore: fellow do-gooders or mortal enemies? Questions of box office competition aside, a posting on film geek Harry Knowles's popular Ain't It Cool News website suggests that at least one movie fan thinks the latter. In response to Knowles's supportive review of Fahrenheit 9/11, a true believer with the screen name "spidey2k" warned Knowles to "kepp your fat ass political views out of an 'Entertainment' site. . . . I didn't realize that this website was taking promoting 'political' propaganda. Shame on you Harry."

Spidey2k's meager yelp of digital protest is unlikely to affect the process already under way that Fahrenheit 9/11 has helped ignite. For decades, cultural pundits have bemoaned the transformation of politics into entertainment. But now that Fahrenheit 9/11 has broken documentary records, taking in $23.9 million on its opening weekend, the world of entertainment is invading the realm of politics. It's given hope to some that movie marketing, online fan networks, and grassroots organizing might just converge into a Bush-seeking missile. It could also be the first stirring of a new category of high-concept Hollywood product: the activist blockbuster.

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No, this wasn't the world's last dotcom launch, tucked away like a hidden dinosaur canyon in some uncharted region of darkest Soho—for unlike the venture-capitalized vaporware medicine shows of the late '90s, this event had a legitimate reason to exist. It was one of the reported 4,600 "house parties" thrown in conjunction with a live webcast interview with Michael Moore, organized by MoveOn's political action committee to capitalize on the crowds still seething with Bush-hatred after Fahrenheit 9/11's top-slot opening weekend. The dot-org estimates that its Turn Up the Heat "town meeting" drew more than 55,000 party people. The goal of the evening was to rally volunteers for a July 11 phone-bank house-party event to register swing-state voters, and to brainstorm other ways to organize against Bush.
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Naturally, Moore's goals reach beyond mere ticket sales. MoveOn, Moore, and numerous leftist groups are leveraging the model of high-concept movie events to foster high-voter turnout, banking that a more broad-based vote will oust the Republican Green Goblins. Surely, at least some of the nonvoting American public will realize that going to the polls is as easy as going to the multiplex. Getting rid of Bush won't solve all of society's problems, of course. But hopefully, the success of Moore's blockbuster activism will encourage box-office-hungry producers to back scores of shameless imitators.






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