현실 참여 미디어의 힘: 마이클 무어와 미국 자본주의의 위기

Abstract

In a film review of Fahrenheit 9/11, John Berger asserts that “it is not so much as a film but as an event.” According to him, what makes it an event is the fact that it is an effective and independent intervention into world politics. As a filmmaker, TV show producer, best-selling book author and idiosyncratic media personality, Michael Moore has been a spokesman for ordinary working class and biting critic of the crisis of American capitalism run by greed, competition and profit seeking. What he deals with in his documentaries are issues of fundamental importance to ordinary Americans, but seldom addressed in mainstream media--the culture of violence in US society and history, their relationship with US military intervention, the problems of inadequate health care and manyfold injustices of current global capitalism. This paper examines how a film can be a (historical) event by exploring the narrative strategies of Michael Moore’s interventionist political documentaries, especially Sicko and Capitalism: A Love Story. At the heart of Michael Moore’s unique documentary form there is a vital interaction between political engagement and popular entertainment, imaginative energies and the representation of the real world. This paper focuses on how Michael Moore utilizes compelling narrative strategies to engage his audiences through a documentary style that combines humorous social commentary, political argumentation, journalistic interviews and satiric and ironic compilations of video montages. In the age of communication technology media is an increasingly important strategical arena of political contention. Michael Moore’s documentary essays strongly exemplify how a film can function as an effective form of political intervention and social change and media activism is crucial to overcoming the crisis of capitalism.