Thursday, July 01, 2004



Literature & Art Across Frontiers: New Disney film takes another view of U.S.
In an irony even Mickey Mouse would find hard to miss, America is about to weigh two wildly contrasting versions of itself in theaters this weekend as the Walt Disney Co. debuts its own foray into documentary filmmaking right alongside Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- which the studio refused to release.
Disney officials insist their 88-minute film, America's Heart and Soul" -- stitching simple, positive vignettes of everyday Americans with sweeping vistas and up-tempo music -- is neither a response to Moore's politically charged hit nor any type of political statement itself.
More diorama than documentary, the film, to be released nationwide Friday, introduces audiences to a varied collection of Americans -- from a Vermont dairy farmer to a Colorado cowpoke to the Rev. Cecil Williams, leader of San Francisco's Glide Memorial United Methodist Church.

· 'America's Heart and Soul' a contrast to 'Fahrenheit 9/11' [to be read with History of Intellectual Culture]
· · · See Also The truth, though, isn’t that books make you boring, but that you can easily pick out a boring person by the way he talks about books
· · · · · See Also David Brooks writes about polarization in America: The degree of raw ugliness in the public sphere is increasingly disconcerting