An Inconvenient Truth

[muchabstracted]

ayelle and I saw An Inconvenient Truth just now. The short version of the review? It's good. Go see it. There is horror, unexpected humor, snark*, science**, and suspense. I would have gone to see the movie even if it were dull and unremittingly horrifying; fortunately, it is neither, and I recommend it with a clear conscience.

*Mostly this consists of

Comments

[fleurdelis28]

My father has said that he heard Jay Leno say once that Al Gore was totally friendly and personable behind the scenes, and then totally turned wooden again when he went out on stage. This made my father wonder if maybe Gore mainly has an anxiety problem.

[muchabstracted]

Hmmm. Possibly. But given that he is clearly capable of giving an engaging lecture to a roomful of people, it might be an anxiety problem that relates specifically to running for President.

I can see him as a casualty of how our media happens to work at the moment. Oh well.

[fleurdelis28]

I'd imagine (based on nothing beyond personal experience) that it's probably also easier, anxiety-wise, to hype an idea you care deeply about than to hype yourself. Who knows why...

[muchabstracted]

That makes sense. If you're hyping an idea, you can probably distract yourself from your anxiety by thinking about the idea. If you're hyping yourself -- well, part of what you're worried about is how you appear, which will do nothing to distract you from anxiety.

[meghatronn]

Gore on Saturday Night Live was hysterical. If all presidents campaigned via SNL, I think we'd have much less tension during elections. Someone I was talking to last week thought we should just do it through singing contests a la American Idol.

Ah, vicarious trauma. I was actually wondering if, in addition to its trauma potential, the 9/11 movie would ever serve as a therapeutic intervention to anyone who actually had family members on the flight. While I know it could just cause further damage, I was theorizing that for some it could therapeutically put to rest the ambiguity of not knowing what happened by simulating it. Part of the grieving process is quite simply that "need to know."

[muchabstracted]

I heard about that! I wish I'd seen it. I think campaigning through SNL is a brilliant idea. American Idol, not so much. There are many, many Presidential candidates that I just do not need to hear sing.

Your theory regarding the 9/11 movie's use as an aide to the grieving process makes sense to me. You certainly know more than me about the grieving process at this point, though in a few years I imagine I'll have a lot to say about how people react to living with violence.