Errol Morris and 52 ways to change democracy
Oscar-winning documentary maker Errol Morris has made a series of political 'Switcher' ads for Move On.
Morris uses the same format as the Switcher commercials he made for Apple. But instead of PC users who switched to the Mac, Morris interviews dozens of people who voted for Bush in 2000 but will now vote for Kerry. And there's also no annoying Italian circus music.
First there are 52 of these ads on Errol Morris's site. 52! All organized by handy topics like the Environment or the Economy. All you need is pick your topic. It's enough to keep a person busy for hours. This format, and I don't mean the Apple 'switch' format he all but invented, I mean this format of laying out the topics in videos on a web page and organizing them on simple themes like respect, hope, retirement, inflation, integrity, etc... This format is perfect in its simplicity. It is great and new. I'm ecstatic. I wish someone would also throw up an equally good response that was pro Bush, not that I don't support Kerry, but because I believe this can enrich the debate in a whole new way. We must get beyond TV based advertising as the primary tool of democracy.
Screw getting this stuff on TV, lets just publicize the hell out of them on the blogosphere. The only thing that's lacking in this format is the mere suggestion that people should promote a singe or couple videos for topics of discussion on their blogs and bulletin boards where they can not only be seen and dispersed by others but discussed and debated widely within MANY varied forums. I'd love to see these ads individually debated on
Slashdot,
Plastic,
kuro5hin,
WorldChanging, and every Tom, Dick and Harry blog, BBS, e-group, and bulletin board. (That's a call to you fellow blogger and anyone else who reads this.)
These commercials are FAR, FAR greater thing on the internet than TV. On the internet they can be interlinked, dispersed, debated and remixed. Each one is single thread of objectified truth, an unscripted, honest and unrehearsed point of view from a single individual. Online each one is far more effective and infinitely more truthful than any of campaign commercials on TV right now, which at best try to hard to summarize and simplify multiple points thus missing the point. Online they are not foisted upon us, online we choose the forum, the context and the light in which they are viewed. Online the people can contribute to the debate in whatever manner they see fit.
I look at the TV and I am disgusted at the campaign commercials for both parties with all their false truths, misrepresentations, perpetuation of sheer stupidity, and lack of representation of the people's voice. We need richer debate. I'm appalled and disgusted that TV advertising is the biggest single factor in our democratic process. I've long hoped for it to be supplanted by a new richer form of communication where people's voices are not only represented in the debate, but actually are the debate. There should be no separation between the debate as broadcast and the debate happening in our homes and on the internet. The debate should be fluid, where ideas can compete cleanly with one another wether they are from a housewife, a long winded blogger (see hear!), a film maker named Errol Morris or a media mogul named
Rupert Murdockor or
David Smith. That is the hope anyway.
In these ads Errol Morris has made himself a conduit for peoples voices. Unbiased, no. But then what does bias of single conduit matter when it is itself an individual competing with a million other voices on the internet. I look at Errol's ads in this format and I see the voices of people and they reflect MY voice. I see a hope for a stronger and more effective democratic process. I wonder what Joe Trippi would make of this? This is what remains of the ideological party Joe Trippi started with Howard Dean, a party of
active participants, and a medium of people. He said in his books something miraculous had happened that he'd seen for the first time ever..."the candidate lost, but the party and the people one".
Perhaps my words are full of immodest pomp and wishful thinking but I hope that these videos will be the sounding boards of many a discussion board, BBS, IM session, and blog. This is the way to change minds, not advertising.
The sooner we stop selling a presidency and start discussing it and living it the better. Let the internet be the new sounding board and a catalyst for real world action.
Background: Errol Morris is the man responsible for the documentary "Fog of War", one of the best documentaries ever made in my opinion. There is a tremendous amount of amazing content on his website including (a little humor) such amazing commercials as
these two zen-like monkey commercials for Quaker Oats. I have no idea what he or Quaker Oats were thinking, but they make me laugh none the less. I couldn't help but get side tracked for the last couple days checking out this site.
Primary Link:
Errol Morris: Election '04
Quote From:
The Cult of Mac Blog
See Also:
Boing Boing: BoingBoing endorses John Kerry for President
Chicago, IL
