Many people may not know this, however, quite a few do– that Al Gore in many respects is the inspiration upon which our community of creatives was founded. Many of us have worked directly for an Al Gore concern, and so, in making this new series, something I consider to be a tragic comedy, we are not doing so to add to the pile of deprecation on this heavily misunderstood man.
This deprecation, in many respects is a contribution to a larger problem.
Al Gore Time Machine is a story about a man who finds himself at the precipice of history time and time again, with the opportunity to make something happen, only to fail at the last minute, attributed to poor taste or judgement.
If you look at Al Gore’s life and accomplishments, it is actually much more tragic than this– with very few laugh lines. He has brought the world’s attention to the encroaching climate crisis only to stop short of any systemic change, he won the presidency of the United States & an in our corner of the woods, he came up with an idea similar to Yotube before Youtube was hatched–mostly in reaction to the media that traumatizes him, while failing to seize the true opportunity due to a paranoia developed from his enemies who he’s allowed to define and consume him.
We’ve all seen those moments of greatest in Al– the times when he’s said something that’s clicked when it appeared as though he was presenting himself as himself. That’s really all anyone ever wanted from him. And time and time again he’s let his enemies define him to the public– and instead of doubling down on the person he really is, a true visionary in many respects especially when you consider where he came from.
In many respects, Al may, without his knowing, be ahead of the times once again. We all hope that the new movements taking to the streets throughout the world is the true visualization of a democratized, leaderless media. If we are to enter into a post-leader era, one where we don’t have to rely on the personal deficiencies of otherwise productive people, we all may be better to seize these historic moments.
The responsibility won’t rest on Al’s wide shoulders to direct a movement he started to its full and total completion.
I hope that becomes the case. I think Al probably does too.
In closing, this is not a partisan hackery job here. We are working up a similar series call “Dick & Don Time Machine” — a story about a tragic duo that travels back in time to make the world a more terrible place based on their own paranoia around self preservation. Compared to those fascinating trwerps at least it seemed like Al was trying to make things better for all living creatures, not just his own tribe at all costs and “go fuck yourself” to the rest (an argument could be made for Dick & Don, of course, that they were just trying to keep things real).
Until then, green power to the people.