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The fear of being downsized >> Michael Moore on corporate culture and The Big One by MATTHEW HAYS
Count Michael Moore among these self-styled filmmaking rebels. Since his 1989 doc Roger & Me, he's become the most celebrated anti-corporate advocate since Ralph Nader, out to fight the evils of downsizing multinationals. And he's used his media savvy to slam the message home, hosting his own cult-sensation TV show, TV Nation, writing a bestselling book, Downsize This! Random Thoughts From an Unarmed American and now releasing his unofficial sequel to Roger & Me, The Big One. Moore appears throughout the film doing a standup comedy routine in front of audiences who clearly know who he is. My first question for Moore involves this celebrity status. Noam Chomsky, for example, avoids interviews, arguing that a celebrity status might threaten the purity of his message. "That does concern me," Moore says from L.A., where he's developing a new series. "That's why I try and make the message funnier than the messenger. Obviously I'm a big fan of Chomsky's, but I don't understand not giving interviews. I want things to change in my lifetime. If that means making the film entertaining, or using humour because people like a good cathartic laugh, then that's what I'm gonna do." Over the phone--as in his movies and TV shows--Moore is adamant in his stance that corporations are doing extensive damage to the world economy and that things are worse now than they were in the past, despite the rosy stats that are being bandied about. "The fear of losing one's job is worse now than it was in '91, despite the fact that there was a recession going on then. During a so-called economic recovery, more Americans are worried about being downsized. Which the government likes, because then they won't ask for raises or form unions, so it'll keep inflation down." Though Moore's messages are subversive and anti-corporate, he has operated through corporate channels: Warner Brothers put out Roger & Me, General Electric and Rupert Murdoch's Fox broadcast TV Nation and Random House published his book. Does Moore have any advice for employees in a world where growing numbers must work for organizations that have been taken over by large corporations (as the Mirror itself was two weeks ago by Quebecor)? "I don't think it's a good idea for the media to be in fewer and fewer hands. On the other hand, if it helps the paper survive or gets it out to more people, as long as you don't compromise what you're doing, that's the key thing. I have to deal with this all the time. The question I have to constantly face is that I don't compromise one inch what I do. And if I have to, then I'm not doing it." The Big One opens this Friday, April 17
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It was Fassbinder who once said he didn't throw bombs, he made movies. Godard often compared the power of the camera to that of a gun, and John Waters once referred to Divine as "a terrorist drag queen."