Michael Moore
- For others of the same name, see Michael Moore (disambiguation).
Michael Moore (born April 23, 1954 in Davison, Michigan) is an American documentary film director and author known for his advocacy of social democratic views laced with satiric humor.
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2 Writings and Presidential politics 3 Controversy 4 Quotes 5 His published work 6 External links |
Directing
Moore first became famous for his 1989 film Roger & Me, a documentary about what happened to Flint, Michigan, near Detroit and his hometown of Davison, Michigan, after General Motors closed its factories and opened new ones in Mexico, where the workers were paid much less.
In 1995, Moore released a satirical film, Canadian Bacon, which featured a US politician (played by Alan Alda) engineering a war with Canada in order to boost his popularity.
In 1999 Moore won the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award in Arts and Entertainment, for being the executive producer and host of The Awful Truth, where he was also described as "muckraker, author and documentary filmmaker."
Moore's 2002 documentary, Bowling for Columbine, probes the culture of guns and violence in the United States. Bowling for Columbine received special notice at the Cannes Film Festival and won France's Cesar Award as the Best Foreign Film. In the United States, it won the 2003 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It also enjoyed unusual commercial success for a film of its type, becoming by some measures the highest-grossing documentary of all time. It was praised by some critics for illuminating a subject slighted by the mainstream media, and condemned by others as inaccurate and misleading in its presentation.
When Moore accepted the Oscar for Bowling for Columbine, he created a stir when he took the opportunity to loudly denounce US President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which was met with mixed reaction by the audience.
He has also directed two television series, TV Nation and The Awful Truth, both satires.
Moore has directed several music videos, most notably for left-wing political rock band Rage Against the Machine, including "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Testify", in which he shows the flaws of the USA's two-party system, and once again takes the opportunity to denounce George Bush. He was arrested during the shooting of "Sleep Now in the Fire", which was filmed on Wall Street, after the city of New York had denied the band permission to play there, even though the band and Moore had secured a federal permit to perform there.
On June 12, 2004, certain news sources reported that Moore was planning a film centering around British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A message on Moore's website refuted the claim the following day, stating that, "It is not true. Michael made a joke in an interview and, apparently, it was taken seriously."
Moore's latest movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, examines America in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, particularly the record of the Bush administration and alleged links between the families of George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden. It was awarded the Palme d'Or (by the Cannes jury whose foreman, Quentin Tarantino, has made many films distributed by Miramax), the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival; it was the first documentary film to win the prize since 1956.
The film's distribution has been the subject of some controversy since its Miramax producers' funding company Disney flatly refused to put it in theaters despite having paid for the production and Buena Vista distribution. Due to these difficulties, distribution for the film was first secured in numerous countries other than the U.S. Eventually, in June 2004, U.S. distribution of the film was secured as well, jointly arranged by Lion's Gate, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group, a company set up by the Weinstein brothers for this specific purpose. The U.S. thus still became the first country to see the film's actual theatrical release, despite the fact that the arrangements for international distribution were finalized earlier.
The film opened on more than 800 screens in the United States and Canada on June 25, 2004. It became the number one film in North American box office earnings for that week. The film was released in France on July 7, 2004 and in the UK on July 9, 2004. Many other countries have since released the film or are about to do so (this as of July 2004; also see link in Fahrenheit 9/11 article). The film also has distribution in the Middle East (there is some controversy around this -- see below).
Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, was furious about Moore's allusion to his title. He stated in an interview with the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter "Michael Moore is a screwed a--hole, that is what I think about that case. [Moore] is a horrible human being – horrible human!" When asked about his own political position, Bradbury replied: "That has nothing to do with it. He copied my title; that is what happened. That has nothing to do with my political opinions." It is not unusual for titles to allude to or quote familiar works of literature. Several of Bradbury's own titles are quotations: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" Shakespeare; "I Sing the Body Electric!" Whitman and "Golden Apples of the Sun" Yeats. These are, of course, quotations from dead authors and by works in the public domain.
The film has been banned in Kuwait. In Lebanon, some student members of the terrorist group Hezbollah have asked if there was any way they could support the film. Gianluca Chacra, the managing director of Front Row Entertainment, the Middle East distributor for Fahrenheit 9/11, has stated, ÃÂWe can't go against these organizations, as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria. Having the support of such an entity in Lebanon is quite significant for that market and not at all controversial. I think it's quite natural."
Moore has authored the three best-selling books Downsize This (about politics and corporate crime in the United States), Stupid White Men, and Dude, Where's My Country (both critiques of American domestic and foreign policy). The American magazine The New Republic has branded his writing "Chomsky for children".
Moore was previously a columnist for and briefly the editor of Mother Jones magazine, which fired him, and he then became an employee of Ralph Nader. He left Nader's employment on bad terms, but they remained friends, with Moore vociferously supporting Nader's campaign for the United States presidency in 2000.
(In exchange for jumping in the show's "traveling mosh pit," Republican Alan Keyes won the endorsement of Moore's television series the Awful Truth in 2000 but Moore does not endorse Keyes' views.)
On January 14, 2004, Moore declared his support, on his website, for the candidacy of Democrat Wesley Clark in the 2004 presidential election (Clark has since withdrawn from the race, endorsing John Kerry). However, Moore has yet to publicly support Kerry, and has said that if Kerry were elected, "I'd keep my eye on him, too." Moore recently drew attention after he claimed publicly that George W. Bush was AWOL during his service in the National Guard (see George W. Bush military service controversy).
Many have objected to Moore's treatment of NRA President and actor Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine. Some have said that Moore's use of a clip of Heston giving his famous "from my cold dead hands speech" implied that Heston said the phrase during the NRA's Denver, Colorado appearance shortly after the Columbine killings, when he in fact did not use the phrase. Moore has stated that he used the clip to introduce Heston and did not mean to imply he said the words in Denver. Some have also said that Moore's interviewing of Heston later in the film was much too aggressive given that Heston suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Moore contends that as president of the NRA Heston should be asked tough questions.
In response to criticisms, Moore has been said to prefer letting his works speak for themselves, but this apparently no longer applies: He has set up a "war room" to swiftly respond to criticism of his most recent film Fahrenheit 9/11 and his website contains counterarguments to the most common arguments against him. Included in his website, films and books, Moore has continually published literally hundreds of sources to prove his claims. These range from across the world and include most of the top news sources in America. Despite this, Moore is still subject to attack and has referred to certain types of his critics as "wackos", "nutcases" and "lunatics" -- it is however unclear and/or contested whether he has ever called any specific individuals thus. Moore has said that after all four of his books, and all his movies, there had not been a single lawsuit against him. Moore's critics contend this to be untrue, pointing for example at a lawsuit against Warner Brothers (about the way Moore portrayed some people) as evidence to the contrary (see link below). Also, a number of lawsuits have been initiated, including one by James Nichols (brother of Terry Nichols) for libel and defamation of character in Bowling for Columbine, but no verdict has been reached.
More recently, in the controversy surrounding Fahrenheit 9/11, some critics have accused Moore of "aiding the enemy" with his candid and graphical reporting about U.S. actions in Iraq. Critics also say that the unflattering portrayal of the U.S. political system and of the Bush administration weakens U.S. credibility internationally. In this context, foreign endorsement of Moore is often seen as an indictment by some of his critics: For example, Gianluca Chacra, the managing director of Front Row Entertainment in the United Arab Emirates (Fahrenheit 9/11's distributor there), has reportedly said that Moore was "considered an Arab supporter" in the region.
Despite the controversy surrounding Moore and his work, he has had great success as a documentary filmmaker and writer. His films "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" debuted as the highest-grossing feature-length non-music documentaries of all time. Though he has been criticized by some for distorting facts and being unpatriotic, his influence as a muckraker and filmmaker is undeniable.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Writings and Presidential politics
Controversy
Critics of Moore contend that Moore's films reflect liberal and unpatriotic views and that his books have factual errors. Accusations have also been made that some of the scenes in Moore's documentaries were staged or scripted without being clearly labeled so, and that other scenes were edited to alter the original intent of the speaker in the video. In one case, on-screen text was allegedly altered in a campaign ad. Moore denied that this was done in the film, but is said to have "slightly corrected" text for the DVD release. Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes has stated that a conversation with himself published in one of Moore's books was in fact completely fabricated. Quotes
See more Michael Moore quotes at Wikiquote.His published work
List of books
List of films
List of TV series
External links
Sources critical of Michael Moore
Michael Moore's official response to critics