Fox Pees on Bush?

patio34

It May Be a Cheesy Movie
But ?The Day After Tomorrow? has a message for President George W. Bush
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Gersh Kuntzman
NewsweekUpdated: 5:12 p.m. ET May 28, 2004
May 28 - How do I know that George W. Bush can actually be defeated in
November? Simple, I've just seen the big summer blockbuster movie.

That may not sound like the best way to determine the president's
vulnerability?after all, summer blockbusters typically concern themselves with high body
counts rather than high approval ratings?but this time, the summer blockbuster
is "The Day After Tomorrow," a rabidly pro-environment, anti-Bush lecture
released by Twentieth Century Fox.
Let's put that another way: when conservative media magnate Rupert Murdoch
releases a movie that depicts President Bush as little more than a vapid pawn of
Vice President Dick Cheney and decries him for, of all things, his
environmental policies, you know the president is in trouble.
And what a movie this is! With its unassailable B-movie pedigree?its
director, Roland Emmerich, also helmed the timeless classic "Independence Day"?"The
Day after Tomorrow" is nothing if not action packed. The special effects are
terrifying! The close-ups are extreme! Computer monitors are always beeping
incessantly! Polar ice caps are breaking off in continent-sized chunks! Product
placements are really obvious! (The hero scientist drives a fuel-efficient Honda.)

And the arguments between scientists and the government officials are
extremely bitter! And scientists are all heroes while the small-minded, myopic,
government officials are all, well, small-minded, myopic, Bush administration
officials who spout things like, "With all due respect, Dr. Hall, but our economy
is just as fragile as the environment." (Cut to footage of the entire Northern
Hemisphere turning into an ice cube!)

And just tell me another summer blockbuster that has the guts to slam the
White House for pulling out of the Kyoto Accord (extra credit if any of the
target audience of 12- to 18-year-old boys knows that the Kyoto Accord is a treaty
to reduce greenhouse gases and not some new Honda sedan).

A brief plot summary follows (avert your eyes if you are so unschooled in
summer blockbusters that you don't know how such movies will end from the minute
you sit down): National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) discovers that the greenhouse effect is
melting the polar ice caps much faster than once anticipated. How fast? Let's
put it this way, by the end of this sentence, the polar ice caps would have
already melted (that's fast). Of course, no one in government?least of all the
vice president, who is played by Dick Cheney look-alike, Kenneth Welsh?believes
him. In fact, they demean his computer models and, worse, his manhood (yes,
that Cheney guy plays rough). Thanks to the tenets of the summer blockbuster,
though, Hall is right about the melting ice caps. The subsequent glut of fresh
water in the oceans shuts down the Gulf Stream and triggers a worldwide
megastorm that doesn't end until the entire Northern Hemisphere is frozen. The United
States is evacuated to Mexico (which seals its border, forcing millions of
Americans to become illegal aliens), the president freezes to death and the
Cheney guy has to give a speech admitting that his environmental policies have been
a disaster (he eats so much crow that we can only hope he's on the Atkins).

As fact, this movie is to environmental science what ?JFK? was to the grassy
knoll. But as an attack on President Bush, it's as dead on as ?The Sorrow and
The Pity.? So naturally, every environmental group on the planet is endorsing
it. MoveOn.org calls it "the movie the White House doesn't want you to see"
and Al Gore has even traded in his day job (which was what, exactly?) to
promote it. At the same time, NASA briefly ordered its scientists to refuse any
interview requests, lest the space agency appear too sympathetic to the
hard-working NASA scientists in the movie who are constantly being ignored by the White
House. (The paleoclimatology program at NOAA is reportedly slated for a
real-life Bush administration budget cut, so maybe NASA's fears of unmuzzling its
scientists were not so absurd.)

Of course, the havoc unleashed by the aliens in Emmerich's prior (and far
better) B-movie is much more likely to happen than an insta-ice age killing half
the planet in an afternoon?but that's sort of the point. (Unlike the
pissed-off aliens of "Independence Day," Emmerich seems to be saying, we Earthlings at
least have the power to stop destroying the planet by ourselves). Global
climate change is happening?and if it takes a horrendously inaccurate, ham-handed,
cheesy summer movie to point it out, that's good enough for me.

And, apparently, Rupert Murdoch. "Part of the reason we made this movie,"
said Mark Gordon, one of its producers, "was to raise consciousness about the
environment."

What's next? Well, if Murdoch suddenly buys the rights to Michael Moore's
"Fahrenheit 9/11," we should all get used to the phrase "President Kerry."

* * *

ColdRedRain

Fox is a conglomarate that owns many media outlets. Even if Rupert's right wing, the outlet may not be right wing, and they'll push something under his nose that he doesn't know about.

patio34

Hi Coldredrain,

Thanks for the post. But it isn't the opinion of the author of the article. It caught my eye when I was watching the movie, why was Fox News always the one being shown on news reports.

Pat

Sirius Dogma

Thanks Pat,

I heard this movie was all effects, kinda preachy and weak on story, but now I am interested to see it. I thought Fox was usually very very pro-bush or at least fox news. Correct me if I am wrong on this, I don't watch it.

JeffT

They prescreened it here for some profs from the UW Meterology Dept. They lauged all the way through it. One guy said that the bit where NYC freezes was off 180 degrees, If what they said happened acutally happened it would be the hottest place on the planet.

That said, it might be OK as a disaster movie, which have always been short on actual facts.

SixofNine

Naw, Vincinte ain't inta the really kinky stuff, but Tony and his little filly sure are!

patio34

Hi Sirius, It's not what you think just because it's Murdoch-released. I really enjoyed it and it wasn't a pro-you-know-who at all.

Hi Jeff T, Dennis Quaid said about the big stretch away from science: "It's a MOVIE!"

Hi Six, Did you post on the wrong thread?

It is interesting what is going on though. This was scary today in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/science/earth/08gree.html

SixofNine

Hi Six, Did you post on the wrong thread?

No ma'am, I was just tossing in a little humor for the pervy amongst us. I did spell "Vicente" wrong though.

patio34

Well then . . . LOL! It is funny.

Sirius Dogma

when conservative media magnate Rupert Murdoch
releases a movie that depicts President Bush as little more than a vapid pawn of
Vice President Dick Cheney and decries him for, of all things, his
environmental policies, you know the president is in trouble.

Hey all.

I just went and saw this. While in the movie the president was indecisive and the VP was bossy, it didn't metion either as Bush or Cheney. The actor playing the VP looked a bit like Cheney, but the actor playing the president didn't really look like Bush. They go on to kill on the President and make the VP president in the movie.

All in all, this is like saying Harrison Ford was supposed to be Bill Clinton when he played the President in Air Force One.

Fox Pees on Bush?

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