Stanford Report, August 23, 2006

Did 'Fahrenheit 911' change any opinions?

With Michael Moore finishing up production on the movie Sicko—his take on what's wrong with the U.S. health-care system—it's worth asking what impact his last film, Fahrenheit 9/11, had on public opinion.

A glimpse is provided by a small, self-funded study led by Cheryl Koopman, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, which appears in the current issue of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.

In 2004, the researchers surveyed 73 moviegoers at four California theaters before they saw Fahrenheit 911 and 127 moviegoers as they exited the flick. They posed questions to the participants about the film's critical portrayal of the response by the Bush administration to the events of Sept. 11.

The results? Those who were polled after watching the film perceived Bush more negatively than those polled before watching the film. People in the post-film group also were less likely to support Bush in the upcoming 2004 election than were those in the pre-film group. "These results indicate that a documentary film can have significant, immediate effects in the direction intended by the film's creators on political beliefs about war, voting intentions and mood," said Koopman.

Co-authors on the paper include senior research scholar Lisa Butler, postdoctoral fellow Oxana Palesh, research assistant Tatiana Forero-Puerta and psychiatry resident Bibi Das, MD.