For class today we are going to be watching a large portion
of the The Greatest Movie ever sold. As you’re watching, I want you to pay
special attention to who has control over what aspects of the movie. Hear what
advertisers are saying, what consumers say (especially the teens at the high school),
and what the artists say. What are some of the incongruences?
You should also be looking at the movie on a meta-level.
That is, are you paying attention to how the documentary itself is constructed?
This is far from an accidental film. What does Spurlock want us to believe and
how does he use the grammar of cinema?
Really, this gets at a larger issue of language. Is the
filmic language of Meshes of the Afternoon, the same as a McDonald’s
commericial—and are these the same as Spurlock’s documentary. The next step is
to turn that question inward and ask how you are going to use this language—what
are your ethical, moral, social, and personal responsibilities in creating
media? In stringing together others’ footage, can you subvert or change their
motives for your own? If so, is this ethical?
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