PeaceChicken.com

Does anybody else think it’s sick that Paramount Pictures is getting ready to make huge profits off the events of 9/11?

I can’t say I’m surprised, I was actually anticipating a movie to come sooner than this. Of course I have to wonder if the timing is intentional. Why? So we can all be reminded of when those evil-doer terrorists attacked us (or was it our own government?) and how we should live in fear and vote Republican.

I hope I come to find out that I’m wrong and that a significant portion of the movie’s profits will go towards the families of those killed on 9/11. Otherwise I can see no way to justify this. It’s one thing to do a documentary (and for the record, 60% of the profits from Fahrenheit 9/11 went to charity), but this movie looks like sheer exploitation for entertainment purposes. And yes, I’m making claims without actually having seen the movie. This is the best I can do because I refuse to ever see it.

The movie follows the true story of two police officers who died in the collapse. Jeanette Pezzulo, the widow of Port Authority police officer Dominick Pezzulo (who is played by Jay Hernandez in the film), has expressed anger with the film. She’s quoted as saying:

“My thing is: this man died for you. How do you do this to this family?”

Obviously the movie industry is deperate for new ideas, the constant barrage of sequels and copycat plots is proof of that. But why don’t they hire some unemployed college graduates with creative writing degrees to come up with something that won’t exploit victims of tragedy?

I know I shouldn’t be surprised by this. Some quick Googling revealed to me that (big surprise) Viacom (which owns Paramount Pictures) is indeed just another mainstream media puppet for the Bush Administration.

The Chairman and Chief Executive of Viacom is Sumner Redstone. And though he claims to be a liberal Democrat, he said this regarding the 2004 Presidential election:

“I don’t want to denigrate Kerry, but from a Viacom standpoint, the election of a Republican administration is a better deal. Because the Republican administration has stood for many things we believe in, deregulation and so on. The Democrats are not bad people. …But from a Viacom standpoint, we believe the election of a Republican administration is better for our company.”

So of course it makes sense for Viacom to produce a movie like this in the hopes of our renewed sadness leading to the return of a life lived in fear. Right before the November elections.

Remember 9/11. Be afraid. Vote Republican.

07/27/06 Update: Looks like Oliver Stone is going to donate 10% of the film’s opening weekend proceeds to charity. Note the “opening weekend” part. What a way to pay your respects to the widows and families, only taking 90% of the first weekend’s sales and 100% of the profit after that.

08/10/06 Update: There are some interesting reviews and blog entries surfacing about the movie: AlterNet’s review and a New Yorker’s perspective.