The Buzz Effect: F911 is gonna hit harder than anybody yet realizes.

[Jackpine Radical]

First, obviously, it's not just "preaching to the choir", as the RW Spinmeisters would have us think.

It's gonna bring in lots of curious undecideds--the same kind of people who have to go see as much as they can at a car accident. They are gonna be PISSED and mobilized by this flick.

Then there are the alienated kids--you know, the ones who didn't vote in 2000 because they were too mellowed out by endorphins after the new scarification on their arm. The movie is very anti-Establishment, so a lot of them are going to wander in & some of them will come out to vote.

But the big effect, the Buzz Effect, is gonna get even to the FReepers. People are talking about the movie, and what they learned in it. Even if you're part of the choir, this movie is gonna teach you some new lyrics, and you'll probly try them on your neighbor. People at work, people in checkout lines, people at bus stops--there is gonna be a lot of chatter about the Bin Ladens and Bushes, etc.

I never read the Stepford Wives or saw the movie (any version thereof), but I know what a Stepford Wife is. I didn't see Network either, but I know about "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" A whole lot of people are going to know a whole lot about MM's movie without having ever stepped inside a theater to see it. No matter how big the box office gross, more people are going to know all about this movie secondhand than will ever see it. MANY more people. And that is the power of the Buzz Effect.

[skooooo]

1. Good point....

Given the reception the film has had so far, it's bound to have an effect on American culture.

A documentary of sorts, shown on 850 screens outselling commercial films that are showing on 3 times the number of screens??? That's a major deal.

I agree with you. It will take some time for it to happen, but F911 will enter the American psyche like few films in the last 20 years have.

[Cocoa]

2. I remember the effect "Roger and Me" had on me

and this is a quantum leap up from that, in how explosive the subject is, and of course in how many people will see it.

Then there's the long range effects. The kids that see this now are going to be voting for years. Bad news for what's left of the conservative movement.

[supernova]

3. I agree, the buzz will be out there

regardless of what the chattering classes on TV say about it.

That's really the best kind of advertising for any movie anyway, recommendations from friends.

[Eurobabe]

4. 2004 college grads who can't get a decent job

my daughter is one of them. she despises this administration and the mess they have gotten us into. i think many of them will vote, out of self-preservation! i know my 20 & 22 yr. olds will!

[Nay]

8. My 21-year-old and all his friends are mad as hell

and are ALL voting Kerry.

That may be because he has a firebreathing anti-Bush mom -- me.

[mopaul]

5. 'Birth of a Nation' was such a movie

the silent classic by d.w. griffith, racist overtones, a movie about race and the klan and caused huge controversy.

good point about the buzz effect. some movies have great social consequence without even trying, like 'king kong'. 'citizen kane'.
'the wizard of oz'. fahrenheit 9-11 will actually change the world.
as did the beatles, perhaps unintentionally. elvis too.

i've been telling people about the bush/bin laden families connections going back 60 years, and they are always shocked and incredulous. now, everyone will know.

[skooooo]

6. Good point-- this will be seen world-wide...

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Kinda like Abu Ghraib...

nobody paid any attention til the pictures came out.

A big-time best-seller book sells maybe a million copies.
A blockbuster movie hits 100 million pairs of eyeballs.

[KoKo]

9. Good points. And, Dems who aren't DU'ers will finally have talking points

to use at the Water Cooler. Before it was hard for them to connect the dots to explain why Democrats are very concerned about Bush's policies and his character. Without pulling out a bunch of articles to give someone to read, it was impossible to try to list the things this mis-adminstration has done wrong.

Thanks...

[Boomer]

10. As for our "free" press...

There will also be increasing pressure on mainstream media to address the Bush/BinLaden family connection and other oil-related themes touched on by Moore. He's broken the code of silence.

[giant_robot]

11. Judging by what I saw on Saturday

the buzz is bigger than I thought it would be. I tried to see the 3:30 matinee of F9/11 at the theater near the SUNY south campus here in Buffalo. Even at 3:30 in the afternoon, there were people lined up around the building, there were some young people registering voters out of the back of a small pick-up truck, and the parking lot was packed. I don't like crowds much, so I drove out to another theater in a more affluent neighborhood which was carrying the movie. There was less activity there, but the theater was nearly full (at a 4:00 screening) and there was a considerable contingent of senior citizens. There was more spontaneous applause during and after the movie than I expected in the 'burbs. I don't know if it's just a blue state effect or not, but the buzz is pretty big out here in western New York.