Canadian editions, Moore, Jarmusch

[Dan Feeney]

Canadian editions come with the two flavours of cover. I only get the 
regular edition, not the adult one...

Moore's film was great. It was no less "factually correct" 
or "objective" than anything I've seen on FOX or CNN. What standard 
are people comparing it to? What control? None exists. Corporate 
media has set a "standard" of apparent apolitical that is - 
vehemently pro-corporate, vehemently judgemental about anyone who is 
different, and sets up a fictional "normal" person who is a fictive 
work of Hollywood. No one lives like a sit-com, yet every sitcom, 
whether it's about the 60s or gay couples or black dentists and 
lawyers, sets up the "normal" American, and then, in the news, this 
fictional "normal" is the standard by which weirdness is projected. 
Its very very culturally deadening. Cauron is no more political than 
Columbus - he just happens to be overt about it, probably because he 
is more conscious of BEING political, where a director like Columbus 
is ignorant of his political role - he certainly seems to be. It is 
Cauron's choice - some on the movie list and this one have voiced 
complaints about Cauron's politics. That's great. voice all you want. 
But don't EVER expect that people with high profiles should "shut 
up," any more than we average joes and jills should "shut up." Fudge 
is not entirely conscious of the role he is playing and has played in 
the return of the DE. That is not the sterling example that should be 
held up in terms of anything at all.

It is just incredibly silly to think there are so many gun-related 
murders in the USA because of "hillbilly feuds".

Moore can be accused of Anti-Americanism only if Americanism is 
defined as narrowly as the standard sit-com defines it, or as You 
Know Who defines it.

With Bowling for Columbine, perhaps a good movie to see would be Jim 
Jarmusch's film, Dead Man. It is also not without humour, and guns 
play a central role.

As Rowling's series progresses, I don't think the importance of these 
kinds of discussions will lessen at all. At the end, in fact, they 
may be integral to any discussion of Harry Potter. That is why I have 
decided to enter this discussion.

dan