After some thought and an overdose of reviews, commentary, interview and talk shows, I think the fact is that the film Fahrenheit 9/11 will have little or no effect on the votes of the citizens who do in fact usually vote. They'll have already made up their minds. The experiences of those who have been directly and profoundly impacted by events (loss of a job, death of a child in the military, and so on, or, conversely, significantly lower taxes, a sense of having one's deeply held moral views validated, and so on) will have already influenced votes well before the film's release. But given the fact that the film is sold out day after day, there's another factor in the mix now. The number of attendees at my little neighborhood theatre in just this first week most assuredly far exceeded the number of voters who turned up at the polling place on any given presidential election day in the past few decades. I would submit that a huge percentage of these movie goers have yet to get into the habit of voting and that registering to vote has never been on many of their 'to do' lists. Assiduous eavesdropping at theatre exits suggests that this may be the one thing that this film may change and may help to make a difference. Only time will tell.

posted by Joanna @ 7/03/2004 01:25:00 AM