Roger and Me is a 1989 documentary film directed by Michael Moore, who also serves as the film's narrator and protagonist. The film tells the story of the decline of Flint, Michigan, a once-prosperous industrial town, and its transformation into a struggling, economically depressed community. At the center of this transformation is the closing of General Motors' plants in Flint, which results in the loss of thousands of jobs and the decimation of the city's economy.
Through a series of interviews, Moore tries to confront the CEO of General Motors, Roger Smith, about the impact of the plant closures on Flint and its residents. However, Smith consistently refuses to meet with Moore or even acknowledge the plight of the people of Flint. This serves as a metaphor for the disconnection and lack of empathy that many corporate leaders feel towards the communities that they rely on for their profits.
The film is both a poignant and powerful critique of corporate greed and the devastating impact that it can have on ordinary people. It is also a poignant and poignant portrait of a city in crisis and the resilience and determination of its residents in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Roger and Me was a groundbreaking film that helped to kick off the modern era of documentary film and has inspired countless other filmmakers to tell important stories about social and political issues. It is a must-see for anyone interested in documentary film or in learning more about the impact of corporate greed on communities around the world.
Roger & Me
Roger and Me and the Society of the Spectacle The film of Michael Moore can be analyzed with the help of the book by Guy Debord The Society of the Spectacle because the book contains a vivid explanation of alternative narrative elements used by Moore in Roger and Me. Initially, he achieves his dream of avoiding the dreary tradition of blue-collared factory life that lays for the majority of the population of Flint; by moving to California and working for a magazine in San Francisco, but this venture fails for him and he ultimately travels back to Flint. I don't think so. It did not win the award that year: the documentary Kon-Tiki won. These decisions led to massive profits for the corporation, a hugely widening economic inequality, and the total erosion of the economic basis of Flint, Michigan. The same thing happens to the audience that watches the film by Moore: All the elements are realistic and can be supported with documentary materials, though they all are united in an alternative reality which makes the audience believe that this reality is the only one. However, the film by Michael Moore Roger and Me can be considered rather fictional than the documentary one.
"Roger and Me" by Michael Moore
Out at Park City, it seemed like every other conversation was with a documentary filmmaker eager to defend Moore against his critics. To me Roger Smith was almost evil. The trucker cap was the most obvious sign. He asks Smith to go with him to Flint, to see the people whose lives he has destroyed, but Smith won't go. An Alternative Narrative Element The film Roger and Me by Michael Moore describes a story where the author wears two hats, of the filmmaker and of the main character, is trying to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith. Roger was an egotistical and selfish person. Of course the whole gimmick of the film -- Moore's unsuccessful attempts to get an interview with Smith -- is manipulative.
Documentary Critique Roger And Me Essay
In a close up of Smith, he can be heard joking about what he did with a fellow board member before leaving. Living in Flint becomes so desperate, that Money magazine names the town as the worst place to live in America. Only Herzog, Lachman and one other crew members dared the slopes. Moore is a satirist. Smith is shown as this: Michael Moore: Mr.
Roger and Me: The Story of a Rebel and His Mike
Retrieved March 20, 2012. This introduction was presented on 4 October 2004. How could he say this when streets were filled of boarded up homes and businesses? For instance, the scene where a former employee of GM breeds rabbits and sells them for meat mimics the relationship between GM, and its employees. Moore: Families being evicted from their homes on Christmas Eve. . Moore chronicles how GM had previously defined his childhood while growing up in Flint, Michigan, and how the company was the primary economic and social hub of the town.
Michael Moore's 'Roger & Me' (1989)
I wanted images you don't see on the six o'clock news. Retrieved August 27, 2022. The film ends with Moore cutting back and forth between Roger Smith offering pious-sounding platitudes at a GM Christmas party and the wrenching eviction of a Flint family on Christmas eve. The companies save money but we need to take care of are own people Americans before thinking about a profit. It turns 25 years old this week, and from that distance it seems less like a documentary and more like a work of prophecy. Moore meets a former feminist radio host named Janet who, to find work, joins Amway as a saleswoman.
Documentary Film "Roger and Me"
The closure of the plants had far-reaching social impacts especially to the thirty thousand employees who lost their jobs. For instance, one of the laid off workers suffers a mental breakdown and ends up being admitted in a psychiatric clinic. Smith seems detached with the plight of the people being evicted from their houses. Would you be willing to come up with us to see what the situation is like in Flint, so that people. . It remains the definitive documentary study of post-industrial America, a both chilling and heartwarming portrait of what happens when the economic order underlying society is altered, and the terms by which people live are completely transformed.
'Roger and Me' Economics
Retrieved August 26, 2022. Life in the city of Flint was good until Roger Smith the CEO of GM decided to close the factory. Moore also attends the General Motors annual 1988 Shareholders Convention, disguised as a shareholder himself. If only Moore knew what was coming, I thought while re-watching. Most American citizens are taught to have a sense of pride when it comes to their country and its products. Moore speculates with a bitter wryness that human tragedy is not a major lure for tourists. But what happened to Flint happened soon after to Detroit and after Detroit to every place else where manufacturing was a key component of the local economy.
