A Conspiracy Theory
The left is in a tizizzy over Disney's decision to bar Miramax from distributing Michael Moore's latest epic of paranoid neo-fiction movie.
Disney's call - to follow through on its promist not to distribute "Fahrenheit 911" is being spun - predictably - as a conservative-dominated Disney, in collusion with the Bush family, squatting on the plucky indie filmmaker (including by some people who should be smarter than that...).
Let's look this over for a moment.
Michael Weinstein has never been shy about his Democrat bona-fides. Never. In addition, he and Moore have, according to Captain Ed, a pretty sweet deal sewn up that guarantee them both an immense amount of money. And despite Disney's explanation:
Mr. Moore's film is deemed to be against Disney's interests not because of the company's business dealings with the government but because Disney caters to families of all political stripes and believes Mr. Moore's film, which does not have a release date, could alienate many.
...Moore and his crowd are crying "
censorship".
Buncombe. This is a goldmine for Moore and Weinstein - and the Democrats.
For starters - Miramax has known for a year that Disney would refuse to distribute the film. If you think a project that high in profile, and for which Harvey Weinstein's financial, political and personal stakes are so high, comes within six months of release without a distributor, I suggest you think again.
Everybody wins:
- Weinstein gets to outflank Disney - with, I suspect, Disney's full connivance.
- Moore and Weinstein get buckets of free publicity - "notoriety", it might have been called in a more innocent age and place - by caterwauling about "eeevul corporate censorship - which the dimmer and duller bulbs of the left's echo chamber will repeat verbatim.
- Moore's movie goes on to exactly the same release it would have had.
- Moore and Weinstein, as Ed noted, scoop up the North American profits, a fair chunk of which finds its way into Democrat coffers.
- The Democrats get the nourishment on which they run; victimization.
Don't believe the hype.
Posted by Mitch at
May 5, 2004 03:40 PM
Moore knew that Disney objected to the Miramax distribution LAST year. This is simple grandstanding at the Cannes Festival for publicity. Not only nothing to see here, but nothing WORTH seeing.
Posted by: the markman at May 5, 2004 04:06 PMgod bless america. you fucking fascists slutpigs
Posted by: tate mctate at May 6, 2004 01:29 AMKucinich staffer?
Posted by: Mitch at May 6, 2004 06:58 AMI'm thinking Err America intern...
Posted by: Steve Gigl at May 6, 2004 08:58 AMEisner a Bushie? Bwah-hah-hah-hah!
Posted by: John Anderson at May 6, 2004 09:14 AMI have not seen it myself, but a commentor at Samizdata says the decision a year or so ago was to protect some Disney Corp tax considerations. Which frankly sounds a lot more likely to me.
The only thing loonier than Disney's action to block this film is to blame it on a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy [tm] to make money for Eisner and Moore. That's like saying Bill O'Reilly and Al Franken colluded on Fox's libel suit.
I'm sure the end result for Moore's movie will be the same as for Franken's book, i.e., loads of free publicity. But I *really* doubt there is much of a conspiracy involved. Does it look more like simple, corporate bone-headedness to me? To quote Bugs Bunny, "Mmmmm... COULD be!"
On the bright side, anyone who complains about the "liberal" media will look rather foolish after this.
Posted by: timmy ramone at May 6, 2004 10:41 AMFoolish after what? Left-leaning megamedia company tries to protect itself from being harmed by a loose-cannon moonbat property of theirs? They take an action that, in the end, will be mutually-beneficial to all the (liberal) parties involved?
Quick: Show me a bread-n-butter conservative issue supported by Disney (or ABC, CBS, NBC, NYT, CNN...)
I'll wait.
Posted by: mitch at May 6, 2004 11:05 AMI'll gladly name one bread-n-butter conservative issue supported by Disney: Making money. Disney makes lots of it, in fact. Conservatives like making money, right?
And if Disney truly was a "left-leaning megacompany" they wouldn't pull the film from distribution. Instead, they'd crank up their massive promotional machinery and advertise the heck out of this movie. FARENHEIT 911 could become a big hit, Disney would make a pile of money, and Moore might even win another Oscar -- all the better to crush and demean those Evil Republicans, no?
By pulling the film, Disney stands to *lose* money, instead. Especially if Miramax exercises its option to seek a different distributor. But if Disney relents, then it makes the company look even worse because Disney would have to admit that it made a mistake by trying to "censor" Michael Moore. And that isn't going to help Mr. Eisner, who is already in plenty of hot water with Disney stockholders.
In short, the facts simply don't support this "moonbat" conspiracy theory of yours.
Posted by: timmy ramone at May 6, 2004 01:12 PM