In two months, a new movie will hit movie theaters -
Snakes on a Plane.
(the reason this is relevant below the fold)
The
internet hype for this movie has been dizzying; references and quotes from the movie, parodies (including my own
Snake! The Musical!" are pouring in to every newsgroup and website I frequent. It has been discussed and referenced on television shows covering the spectrum from cartoons to the Colbert Report. I know of some people planning on camping out for tickets to the first showing.
When I first set out to write this diary, the thesis was something along these lines: Snakes on a Plane will most likely be a terrible movie, yet even though this seems to be generally agreed upon by those familiar with it, nearly every one of those people is still planning on seeing this movie. This would then be used as an analogy to why republicans continue to win elections - that even though people know they're corrupt and won't do what's best for the country, people find it so much fun to shout "Flip! Flop! Flip! Flop!" and other fun phrases. It's the reason that "Snakes on a Plane" will outgross most any indy or foreign film that makes it to theaters, no matter how high the quality.
However, at dinner tonight I had a shocking revelation: the degree to which Snakes on a Plane is not nearly as far reaching as I had assumed. I went out to dinner with my family, and while we were talking, my sister commented on how she had just seen a trailer for what appeared to be the worst movie ever, called "Snakes on a Plane." This was the first she had heard of it, and the first that anyone else in my family had heard of it. I asked the waiter when he came back around if he was familiar with "Snakes on a Plane," and he said he had never heard of it, despite being well aware of most new movies.
This lead to my second idea of the diary - another reason why republicans continue to win: because we on the internet fail to realize that what is common knowledge here on the internet - even things that even the newest newbie knows and understands, and which have been chronicled in newspapers across the country and broadcast on The Daily Show and other mainstream media outlets - may have never reached the ears of the vast majority of people.
So the questions become: how do we add the fun of yelling "get these mother#@^*in SNAKES off my mother#@^*in PLANE!" to our campaigns? and how do we get that fun to spread to the public, rather than staying locked in the online community?
That's what I've been thinking about today. Thoughts?
