|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Over a decade before he obtained box office and Academy award success with Bowling for Columbine (2002), Michael Moore made his name as a film-maker with the feature length documentary called Roger and Me. The film is concerned with the way Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan, reacts to the closing of the General Motors production lines in the town which provided the vast majority of employment in the town. The factory closings and subsequent depression in the town’s community and economy clearly angered Moore, and so he went out and made a film about it. ... ’ (Anonymous; 2001)
Like most fictional films, Roger and Me is based around an ever-progressing plotline which keeps the viewer watching in anticipation of new twists and inevitable conclusion. This plotline is concerned with Moore’s attempt to interview and bring to Flint a certain Mr. Roger Smith, the GM Chairman at the time of the closings. The first time we here of this character, Moore is telling us, via his narrative role, that it was his idea to close down factories in the US and build them in Mexico where labour was dirt-cheap, and then use the money saved to buy out companies (a small airline is the example shown briefly) and expand the business. ... The narrative structure of this part of the film strongly suggests that Roger Smith is the man behind all of these decisions, thus he becomes almost the ‘villain’ of the piece. This is highly intelligent documentary making as it gets the audience behind the cause and gives the film-makers and the audience a shared ‘target’ if you will.
Moore is keen to show that he is not alone in his negative view of Roger Smith and GM, and thus he includes interview footage with many Flint residents who all share a hatred of Smith, and therefore gives the impression that the community is united in its blaming of this one figure. ... However, via his narration Moore uses quick sarcasm to completely discard the GM point of view.
‘Did I hear Roger Smith judged all wrong just because he eliminated 30 000 jobs in my home town?’
A very strong and unique aspect of Michael Moore’s film-making is the way in which he uses humour and wit to mock his ‘enemies’.
Approximate Word count = 1813
Approximate Pages = 7.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|