Unfortunately Deflating The Elephant has to be one of the most breathtakingly boring examples of film I've seen in a long time. While Lakoff is interesting and informative, the manner in which the material was presented was stupefying. There's nothing at all interesting about watching someone sitting behind a desk talking directly into the camera no matter what he or she is talking about. The medium is not called motion pictures for nothing.
In fact a film like this one does more to reenforce the notion that liberals are a bunch of elitist intellectuals than any conservative propaganda. Watching Lakoff lecture from behind his desk on a subject that ninety percent of the population neither knows nor cares anything about would only confirm in most people's minds that liberals aren't concerned with real issues. What does any of this have to do with making sure a person can feed their family? How does this relate to the struggle to pay medical bills? There's no effort made by the filmmakers to put the information into a context that details the impact the distortion of liberalism has had on people's life.
One of the claims made about the film is that it's an invaluable learning tool for anyone who wants to learn how to read between the lines and recognize the real meaning behind framed messaging. The only trouble is that hardly anyone is going to want to sit through it. When I read about the movie I thought the topic would be fascinating and was hoping for something along the lines of what had been done with Manufacturing Consent. Instead, even the introductions to the various sections by Sean Penn are stilted (you can almost see his eyes reading off the teleprompter) and the movie as a whole is an exercise in tedium to sit through.
"Preaching to the converted" is an expression that applies directly to this film. While there is nothing wrong with a little positive reinforcement now and then, Deflating The Elephant doesn't even work on that level as the material is presented in a manner that would put both friend and foe alike to sleep.
Article comments