Because movies fix things!

[substitute]

So all us anti-war, dubbya-detesting people are to unite. We are to do something important. We are to join together, and with one voice:

Watch a movie?

Yeah. 'Cause that will make things all better. The huge flows of money back and forth, the power of humans demonstrating in the streets, the fight of the next election, the grass roots organizations are all as nothing compared to some hipsters inviting their friends to watch a cool movie. Plus bonghits.

Comments

You can't fight in here! This is the projection room!

[eyeteeth.livejournal.com]

I don't know, it's not like watching Dr. Strangelove and demonstrating, raising money, etc. are mutually exclusive. And it's not like demonstrating, raising money, etc. have made it all better either. Public apathy is often one of the things that allow war to happen, and it is the purpose of art to combat apathy. So maybe this will get a few people to think about things in a different way, which is also the goal of the demonstrators, fundraisers, and organizers, right?

Re: You can't fight in here! This is the projection room!

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but it's the media worship and total inaction that I find comic. It reminds me of an anti-famine group from the 1980s who were an outgrowth of Est in some way. Their goal was to get people to commit to the idea of ending world hunger. That was it. They considered that to be the important goal. Actually giving someone sandwiches, or even teaching someone better farm technique, or even changing societies in ways that ended hunger, were unimportant. It was all about spreading the word and getting people to "commit to the idea".

A Brahmin can make a room pure with a flick of a couple of drops of water and a holy poem. To make it clean requires a bit of scrubbing, eh? :)

Re: You can't fight in here! This is the projection room!

[flipzagging.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say it's a good idea. After all it's important to have a variety of tactics in any political movement. And to make things fun.

But I hate this idea. What the hell does Dr. Strangelove have to do with the New American Empire Century? Even as a base-broadening tactic it's moronic. A frickin' BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE? That'll pull in the kids, yessir.

I used to call it "the leftist liturgical calendar". When Dec 1 rolls around, you do the generic World AIDS Day protest, and the movement self-polices to make sure the message is exactly the same as it was last year. And year by year any sort of engagement with real politics recedes, it becomes a ritual of mouthing the same slogans and having the same thoughts. Finally in 2003 people think watching 40-year-old comedy is some radical act.

Re: You can't fight in here! This is the projection room!

[frobisher.livejournal.com]

Given your comment "A frickin' BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE? That'll pull in the kids, yessir.", it apparently is a radical act. :-|