If You Are Going to Upset People

You might as well go the whole hog. Michael Moore, whose latest film is causing jubilation and serious heartburn, depending on your side of the American idealogical fence, has now stuck his free lance into the usually liberal butt of the Hollywood establishment with this little gem: pirate my film, no problem

Michael Moore has welcomed the appearance on the internet of pirated copies of his anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and claimed he is happy for anybody to download it free of charge. The activist, author and director told the Sunday Herald that, as long as pirated copies of his film were not being sold, he had no problem with it being downloaded.

“I don’t agree with the copyright laws and I don’t have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people as long as they’re not trying to make a profit off my labour. I would oppose that,” he said.

The response has been the usual predictable stuff about "stealing IP" and fluffing about undermining the business.

Jack Valenti, the outgoing president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), said: “We are proud that American films continue to enjoy immense popularity around the world but the need for copyright protection in the digital age is crucial to the preservation of our most prized trade asset.

“Piracy is having a dramatic impact on the creators and copyright owners of this nation, and its defeat depends largely on the commit ment and resolve of the entire industry.

“File sharing causes tremendous financial loss to the movie business, untold hardship to support workers, and costs thousands of jobs.”

Distributed via websites such as suprnova.org, which lays claim to having served more than 17 million downloads, Moore’s documentary critique of the Bush administration’s red, white and blue rush into war with Iraq is among the web’s hottest properties. Thousands of copies of Fahrenheit 9/11 have already been downloaded, each taking about 3.5 hours over a broadband connection.

Ironically, the burgeoning underground market for Moore’s much-debated documentary has been championed by both sides of the political divide. While left-wing sites promote the film’s message, opponents of the high-profile polemicist are urging people to “steal” their copy, thus denying its director his cut of the profits.

Setting aside the moral flexibility of Moore's opponents, many of whom would consider free access their their IP as tantamount to treason but are happy to encourage "criminal activity" in support of a political position, all of them appear to have overlooked the fact that the creator is happy for people to get free access to his work. If he stood on a street corner handing out free DVD's of the movie, no-one would bat an eye, but because he assents to people downloading it without paying for it, he is apparently committing some heinous crime - against a business model.

What he does do, however, is make clear what it is that the cinema is selling you, and it is not the content of the movie. It is the experience of it.

IMAX theatres don't sell the plot, the subtle character development or the brilliant script and dialogue interplay of their films. They sell you access to an overwhelming sensory experience that you cannot have by encountering the same "content" in your living room. Cinemas do somewhat less than that, but it is essentially the same deal, they sell you the experience of the content, and if all you want is the content, and if Mike Moore thinks its OK to give it away, who is anyone to tell him he can't, or shouldn't.

Incidentally, the cinemas, in this case, are also offering something that they have not provided for a generation now, the millions turning up to their local bughouse for a showing are re-establishing their community of interest, contacting other people who agree with them but who have been invisible or intimidated for a couple of years now.

If the cinemas had their wits about them they would be offering places to those who want to stick around and talk, chatrooms for those who can't stop talking (password protected, get yours when you buy your ticket) and FOAF cards that get their mates priority booking and a coffe and donut afterwards when they use the card. Huge opportunity for viral marketing and cause based sales strategies; instead of which, whingeing about downloads - again. Pathetic.

Comments

[Tom Morris]

That as may be, but would you want to go and see a movie surrounded by laptop users?! Backchannelling, IRCing and all that has a very useful purpose, but for many the cinema is an escape from all that.

The other thing that getting the movie over a torrent provides is a way of circumventing release dates. F9/11 is obviously targeted towards the Americans - it doesn't really concern anybody else. I'm sure that the reception it would recieve in Britain would be far more frosty - not because people disagree with it, simply because it's not relevant.

With the Internet, the whole world is there just waiting for this kind of thing. Will entertainment companies take notice? Course not! Hopefully, business Darwinism will make them extinct eventually.

[Earl Mardle]

Hi Tom,

I was thinking more of the phenomenon surrounding F911 that many of its viewers have noticed; that they stick around afterwards talking rather than just heading home. The marketing budget for the film has been almost nothing, and most of that spent by its opponents trying to get it stopped, but theatre owners surely have noticed that this crowd is not the usual one and its enthusiasm can be harnessed in inventive ways. Someone was saying the other day that they can see it becoming a cult movie, a bit like Rocky Horror with people turning up as the characters, signing along with John Ashcroft and joining in the punchlines. Doubtful from what I hear about it, but certainly a chance for the theatre business to try some new approaches.

A house full of laptops back channeling through the movie, c0ome to think of it, there's probably something there.