Michael Moore, American filmmaker, author, and political activist, who was best known for a series of documentaries—often controversial—that addressed major political and social issues in the United States.
Following his graduation from high school, Moore, as an 18-year-old member of the Flint school board, began his populist assault on what he viewed as the injustices of American capitalism. In 1976, after having attended but not graduated from the University of Michigan at Flint, Moore started a radical weekly newspaper, the Flint Voice (later Michigan Voice), which he edited for 10 years. He was later hired to edit the San Francisco-based left-wing magazine Mother Jones but was fired after a few months (he later accepted an out-of-court settlement for a wrongful-dismissal suit).
Returning to Flint, Moore filmed his first documentary, Roger & Me (1989), which chronicles the effects of unemployment in Flint due to the closing of two General Motors (GM) factories and the company’s longer-term policy of downsizing. At the centre of the film were Moore’s “in-your-face” efforts to gain an audience with GM’s chairman, Roger Smith. Mixing humour and poignancy with indignation, Roger & Me was a hit with critics and at the box office. Moore subsequently moved to New York City and established Dog Eat Dog Films. He also created an organization to finance social-action groups and other filmmakers.
After producing three television series and other limited-release films—including the comedy Canadian Bacon (1995), in which a U.S. president starts a cold war with Canada in order to boost his approval ratings—Moore achieved major success with Bowling for Columbine (2002). The film, which profiles gun violence in the United States, won the Academy Award for best documentary. In his next documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Moore criticized U.S. Pres. George W. Bush’s handling of the September 11 attacks and the administration’s decision to start the Iraq War. Although highly controversial, it won the Golden Palm at the Cannes film festival and earned more than $222 million worldwide to become the highest-grossing documentary.
In 2007 Moore released Sicko, an examination of the health care industry in the United States. For his next documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story (2009), Moore took a critical look at the U.S. economy, including the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–08 and the subsequent bailout of banks. Where to Invade Next (2015) unfavourably compared various aspects of daily life in other countries—such as educational practices and the balance between work and leisure—with those in the United States.
(from Britannica.com)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Moore
Looking at these two short interviews with Michael Moore, identify the key aspects of his work from what he says here.
An NPR interview on propaganda in Michael Moore’s work focusing largely on Sicko (2007)
This is a German interview on Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine (2002)
These are the trailers for three of Michael Moore’s films;
What are the common traits that these films share in terms of both style and subject matter?
SUMMARY
His first film Roger and Me (1989) dealt with the closure of the General Motors factories in his hometown of Flint in Michigan with a huge lay-off involving over 30000 workers. The film was driven by his own personal anger about how and why this was done.
That said at the core of Moore’s work is the use of comedy and dark satire which he uses to attack the institutions that he has targeted. He is also central to the films in terms of seeing him interviewing people and his everyman persona disarms and encourages a range of interesting responses. This is also underscored by his physical appearance.
He wears casual clothes, a baseball cap and is overweight. However this seemingly, laidback persona does hide a sharp and incisive line of questioning which he uses to good effect.
Although his work is polemical and can be seen as rather subjective, the way that comedy is employed whether by using clever expositional devices or by Moore’s interviews themselves.
A key part of Moore’s approach is to concentrate on a particular agenda whether it be for example gun control (Bowling for Columbine (2002), the invasion of Iraq (Fahrenheit 911, 2004) or the American health care system (Sicko, 2007) and expand on a set of arguments around his perspective on these issues.
Certainly he can be considered to be a voice of sorts for the American left and some of his films – especially Columbine and Fahrenheit 911 were surprising successes at the global box office as well as winning major awards.
His most recent work Where to Invade Next (2016) directly compares the US to a range of other countries across the world in terms of issues like equality, health and education provision.
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