Monday, January 07, 2008

The Fun of Editing!!

Before I continue on, watch this "trailer."


I've never actually seen the original movie (I have only seen the made for tv re-make), but thought this was so clever. Afterward I thought of all the fun you could have twisting movie plots and what not through nothing more than the editing.
It was then that I realized why I get so angry with Michael Moore. The man does this (but not in a cutesy/clever way--he willingly and intentionally misleads people through doctoring his footage) and distorts truth through the magic of editing.
He is not the only filmmaker who does this, nor is it limited to film at all. You can find it in all mediums, and it leaves us unable to fully trust anything we hear or see. Everything becomes a matter of perception and portrayal.
That does not remove "truth," though. I am reminded of the saying: "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig." Think about that for a second; the pig is a pig. No amount of make-up changes that. However, it is scary how effective something like make-up can be when the farmer has an agenda. It is also scary how many of us will fall for the ruse, and find ourselves making out with a pig. I guess the scariest part, is when we fall so deeply into the lie, that when we are reminded that it is actually a pig, we are past caring.

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