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Arts and Entertainment: Raku Party
November 30th, 2011

Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center - News
November 24th, 2011

Arts and Entertainment: THE CEDAR KEYHOLE GALLERY IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE: Artist of the Month for November, 2011: Marsha Schwartz
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Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center has lots to offer in December
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Arts and Entertainment: Emerging Artists in Cedar Key
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Arts and Entertainment: A CALL TO ALL ARTISTS
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Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center - Workshop
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Arts and Entertainment: A Multitude of Artistic Opportunities are available at the Cedar Key Arts Center in November
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Arts and Entertainment: Local Artist "Bill Roberts" to Display at the Cedar Key Arts Center
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Arts and Entertainment: Art Festival Poster Contest Winner
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Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center - New Board Member
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Arts and Entertainment: The Cedar Key Arts Center Fall Opening Event
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Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center Opens Its Fall Season
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Arts and Entertainment: WEEKEND MUSIC SCENE SEPT 22 - 25
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Arts and Entertainment: Cedar Key Arts Center - News
September 22nd, 2011

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Satire or Documentary?

Satire or Documentary?

Susan Seyfarth

In "Fahrenheit 9/11," director Michael Moore`s purpose is similar to that in most of his work: to create an awareness of the "little people" who are exploited by the privileged class, be it corporate America or political Washington, D.C. Here, Moore traces events leading to and continuing through the U.S.`s presence in Iraq. But this is not a documentary because the facts are not presented objectively. They are interpreted by Moore, and there is never doubt about what he wants us to feel--rage, indignity, sadness, and naiveté over what he sees as the Bush administration`s lying about the war--why it started(oil), who fights it (young unemployed minorities), who profits from it (the Bushes, their buddies). This is precisely what the creator of effective satire does; point out human vice and folly in order to change society for the better. The satirist`s tools include sarcasm, ridicule, and irony, applied gently or harshly, whichever it takes to wake up an audience.

In Moore`s hands, these tools craft a tough, funny movie in the tradition of TV`s "Saturday Night Live." We see the gruesome shots of limbless victims of explosions, harsh indeed. Ridicule and irony appear in the superimposing of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld on the bodies of the TV Western "Bonanza`s" cast. Accompanied by the show`s theme song, they appear to be having a swell time rounding up the bad guys and roping in the money resulting from their ties to the Bin Laden family. Then, Moore gently but sarcastically asks U.S. Senators to sign up their kids for active duty in Iraq. They don`t get the point but we do: they will not consider his request. From their perspective, it simply is not a sensible one.

Is "Fahrenheit 9/11" effective satire? Most likely, yes. Whether you love it or hate it, Moore causes you to react, to respond. Whether for the good of society or not is up to the judgment of each respondent, each moviegoer.


Caution: graphic violence, language.

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