Reply #15: THE POLITICS OF FILM [View All]

'Fahrenheit 9/11' may be especially influential among younger voters

<snip>
"Young people digest a lot of their politics from nontraditional sources," such as Jon Stewart on Comedy Central and David Letterman on CBS, said Mark Lopez, research director for the nonprofit Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Moore's movie "may be a nontraditional source, and if it reaches a wider audience, it would help form some people's opinions.''
<snip>

"It's not often you get a movie that's focused on a major election year issue ... and 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is getting at the issues that young people care about -- in this case, the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism,'' said Jonathan Zaff, president of "18 to 35,'' a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., that tries to encourage first-time voters.

Zaff said about one-third of younger voters are registered as nonpartisan -- a considerably higher percentage than among older voters. The themes of Moore's film may particularly hit home with such viewers because "around 80 percent of frontline men and women (serving in Iraq) are under the age of 35'' -- and they represent the lion's share of casualties there, he said.
<snip>

"The buzz is just overwhelming down here. People are saying, 'I've got to go see this,' '' said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior scholar at the University of Southern California School of Policy and Development. But whether it becomes an election-year "must see" and just what effect it may have on the political landscape, she said, "may be clearer after a week of box office.''
<snip>

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/06/24/MOOREFILM.TMP