A movie is not a political analysis, nor does it present an argument. It presents a concatenation of images (verbal and non-verbal) which each viewer will 'fit' into his/her own frame of reference. Hence the relevant questions about Fahrenheit 9/11 are not so much what it, by itself, _means_ as what the reactions of the large audiences it is attracting will be. Any one person's interpretation is merely that person's, and by itself establishes nothing about the political impact of the film.
The immediate impact of the film in Bloomington/Normal has been to bring the local anti-war group (and myself) into an ongoing relationship with a minimum of five new people, plus the reenergizing of a number of people in the group. _That_ is what Moore's film means here. If our leaflets attract more to our August meeting, that will add to the meaning of the film. I hope local groups elsewhere are making similar use of it. And given that the meaning of films depends on their reception, whether Michael Hoover's or Jensen's interpretation is the "real" meaning is almost irrelevant. That Michael _did_ interpret it in that way meanst it _can_ be so interpreted. And for non-DP leftists (such as myself), it seems to me that the campaign is no longer worth discussing. What Lou or Gowan or I say about the campaign at this point is, for the present, simply kicking a dead horse. The debate over the DP will become relevant again next January (regardless of who wins in November). Between now and then we have better things to do with our time and energy. All the people I am working with locally are committed to electing Kerry; they also all know (and it has raised no resentment) that I will have nothing to do with the DP or Kerry. But Jan and I have been wholly successful in persuading the active members of the group that we must be prepared to fight against the occupation of Iraq: that is, few if any of them are accepting Kerry's international politics. For us to engage in a hassle with them now over their support of Kerry would be utterly goofy. Carrol
