>>>This might be the major Democratic effort
>>>to unseat Bush in November:
You mean by releasing this film before the general election? Nah. Even if they get this movie made and ready to market in time (not likely anyway), the GOP will find a way to tie the studio up in court to block the film’s release.
It’s a HUGE can of worms to open, up isn’t it? Can a major corporation get away with a blatant attempt to influence an election like that, under the guise of art and mass entertainment? Is this a first amendment crisis waiting to happen? Some will argue that it’s unpatriotic or unethical to use the very emotionally manipulative film format to influence history as it’s made. And some will argue that the is the precise purpose of the medium.
But our politicos are practical folk, and they’ll know that the long-term implications take a back seat to the immediate need to keep that film out of theaters before November.
Unless you’re saying, of course, that the studio is /counting on/ the legal effort to block the movie, unseating the president not by making him look like he ignored a threat but my making him look like that Orwellian “older-male-sibling” character… Interesting possibility.
As an aside, I believe one of the TV networks has already (or soon will) put out a made-for-TV movie on a similar topic–insider political stuff leading up to 9/11–which I believe plays out more or less as a campaign commercial for the administration. So, it cuts both ways.
>>>This might be the major Democratic effort
>>>to unseat Bush in November:
You mean by releasing this film before the general election? Nah. Even if they get this movie made and ready to market in time (not likely anyway), the GOP will find a way to tie the studio up in court to block the film’s release.
It’s a HUGE can of worms to open, up isn’t it? Can a major corporation get away with a blatant attempt to influence an election like that, under the guise of art and mass entertainment? Is this a first amendment crisis waiting to happen? Some will argue that it’s unpatriotic or unethical to use the very emotionally manipulative film format to influence history as it’s made. And some will argue that the is the precise purpose of the medium.
But our politicos are practical folk, and they’ll know that the long-term implications take a back seat to the immediate need to keep that film out of theaters before November.
Unless you’re saying, of course, that the studio is /counting on/ the legal effort to block the movie, unseating the president not by making him look like he ignored a threat but my making him look like that Orwellian “older-male-sibling” character… Interesting possibility.
As an aside, I believe one of the TV networks has already (or soon will) put out a made-for-TV movie on a similar topic–insider political stuff leading up to 9/11–which I believe plays out more or less as a campaign commercial for the administration. So, it cuts both ways.
Comment by Bogey — April 11, 2004 @ 12:03 pm