I’m a sucker for this kind of thing. Love it.
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Is that Explosions in the Sky?
Damn, he really is good.
OW,
The cheat sheet story you linked to below from Think Progress has been debunked, fyi.
Per Marc Ambinder
Dennis,
Check this out. Good for a laugh.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/03/sarah-palin-debate-flowch_n_131607.html
Does it strike anyone else as a bit . . . improvident . . . to begin the video with footage of an airplane? Are they trying to evoke Triumph of the Will?
Creeps me out.
That was a truly great speech delivered by a truly inspiring speaker. I can’t wait to hear his next major address which will be delivered on Tuesday January 20, 2009 on the steps of the U.S. Capital.
I’m with Oliver on this. I’m a sucker for that kind of thing, and I loved it. (And I’m not even American.)
There’s something about masses of people responding to a great speaker — and Obama is right up there with the best — that evokes something deep in anyone who’s watching. And I don’t mean in a Triumph of the Will kind of way: that and everything like it evokes something deep, all right, but it’s galaxies away from the Obama phenomenon.
Churchill, FDR, JFK, and now Barack Obama, all had a gift for articulating the popular angst and popular will, showing the way ahead and inviting — not demanding, not ordering, but inviting — their people to join them in the great struggle ahead.
To turn away from a call to arms like that, you’d have to be a pretty strange kind of human being indeed.
Just to be clear, I love the video and I loved the speech. And obviously Obama’s appeal has little in common with Hilter’s.
I just find it odd. I mean, here you have a video that bears a more than passing resemblance to Triumph of the Will to begin with–it’s a film centered around a speech at a massive political rally. To open it with a shot out the window of an airplane just seems to be inviting trouble.
For the curious, the link in my name goes to the Intro sequence from Triumph of the Will.
Are they trying to evoke Triumph of the Will?
No.
Come on.
That’s a lot better than Todd Palin’s The Secession Promise
Dennis, good job with staying on topic. You auto-fellating coprophagist.
As long as we’re hijacking this thread, let me just see if you’ve answered my questions from that earlier thread….
http://www.oliverwillis.com/2008/09/29/take-the-fight-to-them/#comments
Ohhhh… you didn’t. What a fucking surprise.
Getting back on topic… no, they’re not trying to evoke Triumph of the Will. That’s insanity.
By virtue of being a campaign video it is a propaganda film. But all campaign videos are propaganda films. But that’s like saying Mein Kampf is the same as Tom Sawyer.
In terms of filmmaking, in the technical sense, they’re all children of Triumph of the Will, just the same as modern films are partially children of ‘Birth of a Nation.’ But topic and context matter. Opening it with the shot out the airplane, I’m 101% sure, was a coincidence. Nobody is dumb enough to deliberately quote Riefenstahl.
Pretty cool video.
In terms of filmmaking, in the technical sense, they’re all children of Triumph of the Will, just the same as modern films are partially children of ‘Birth of a Nation.’ But topic and context matter. Opening it with the shot out the airplane, I’m 101% sure, was a coincidence. Nobody is dumb enough to deliberately quote Riefenstahl.
Pretty cool video.
Sorry for the double post… this bag of bolts likes to have a seizure at inopportune times…
Cultists.
Beyond Satire
We have met the enemy, and they are us.
Don’t evoke Walt Kelly at me.
“Opening it with the shot out the airplane, I’m 101% sure, was a coincidence.”
I’m sure you’re right, simply because no other explanation makes sense. It’s just a coincidence I would never in a million years have expected. That opening sequence is reasonably well known, and I would have expected at least one of the people who put this together to have made the connection.
Look, it really doesn’t matter. I understand that this is a supercharged context to be having this discussion; I will drop the issue. I was simply baffled when I first saw the video. You have to admit, it’s a pretty bizarre coincidence.
Dennis,
You’re right, this isn’t about Obama the man, it is about us. Obama’s image represents an idea, just as the images of MLK or Che Guevara represent ideas. To many people, Obama represents transparency in government, democracy, a clean environment and care for the least among us (etc, etc, etc).
You’re right in suggesting that one man cannot be perfect in all ways (except for the idea of Jesus, etc) so there is a danger in idolizing a human. We risk the danger of following him no matter what he does.
That said, this is an election. Plenty of people are proud to show their support for Senator Obama. This does not mean that we are cultists, rather it means that we are patriots, that we believe in our candidate and that we care about the future of this country.
Peace.
Obama/Biden ‘08
Dennis, the only fair thing to do now is to have French fashion models wearing large images of McCain and Palin. Perhaps Assrocket of the 2004 blog of the year would be invited to cover the event.
[...] (Hat tip: Oliver Willis) [...]
Did you see the one Bob Cesca made?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9ubMQX7WE
it was on huffpo awhile ago but it’s good
“I was simply baffled when I first saw the video. You have to admit, it’s a pretty bizarre coincidence.”
The second I saw the plane wing in the opening image I thought “Triumph of the Will.” It turned me off the whole ad.
I’m sorry but if you want to make a political propaganda ad, there are some images you just have to avoid. That image is one of them. And it isn’t because I immediately thought Obama=Hitler. Rather, that image is so well known and so closely associated with one of the most famous propaganda films of all time, it instantly brings to mind Obama=propaganda.
Of course, we all know the ad is designed to manipulate us but we set aside that knowledge to enjoy being stirred by it. We want the rush. It’s like suspension of disbelief when watching a movie. We all know the superhero’s ability to fly is impossible but we get off on seeing it anyway.
Right up until we see the wires holding him up. Then it’s all over.
You know what I associate with Triumph of the Will? Thousands upon thousands of Germans marching around in front of a big ol’ building. Didn’t see that.
“Thousands upon thousands of Germans marching around in front of a big ol’ building.”
They’re actually marching around and around inside a giant stadium before settling in to cheer their leader.
Cheering throngs, stadiums, a solitary figure grandly isolated before the teeming masses.
Three more images to avoid in any propaganda piece.