FANDOM A Nielsen survey conducted in April 2007 with over 26,486 Internet participants found “that the film, An Inconvenient Truth, had had a significant influence on those that have seen it - in their awareness of the issues and their stated changes in habits and behaviors.”(Nielsen, 2007: p.2) Additionally, the Channel 4 Britdoc Foundation released a case study including an impact guide: while it is impossible to obtain detailed data of how much the film affected the audience’s behaviour, the foundation revealed that there has been a significant increase in web searches about energy saving lightbulbs following the film’s release in the United Kingdom (Britdoc, 2011: p.20). Like the case study just mentioned suggests, the success of such…show more content… While Lisa’s inconvenient truth is a fictional fan performance (Lisa being a fan of Al Gore), the scene itself and the reference to the documentary can be considered fanfiction by Matt Groening (creator and screenwriter) and his team as a tribute to An Inconvenient Truth. Whether this or any other aknowledgment is humorous or appreciative; all speculation aside, the great amount of references to the movie in popular culture (Internet Movie Data Base, 2014) only confirms its popularity. As a matter of fact, Hermes points out the importance of popular culture and its impact on audiences: according to him, citizen have a facilitated relation with pop culture and a rather problematic one with politics of the real world. In other words: a popular movie generates excessive discussion; and participation in these discussions creates a sense of belonging, therefor concern (Hermes, 2005, p.1). While a sequel to the documentary published in 2006 is very unlikely, its footprint still remains untouched at the time of writing this study and its enthousiasm stays active as long as Al Gore’s foundations and Internet fans sites feed us with new informations and ways to be involved, as well as a space to share and discuss. Unlike fictional or historical objects of fandom,…show more content… The documentary engaged a worldwide audience to be involved in discussions as a global community and to take action (on a personal and political level). As Patrick Dodd (Managing Director of Nielsen) puts it, “When consumers are impacted enough to actually change some of their daily habits as a result of watching a film, it’s the surest sign that the message has gotten through” (Nielsen, 2007: p.3). But Dodd referring to the audience as consumers reminds us that even a movie that seems to advocate for a good cause is measured by its success in ratings and sales (additionally to the success of public awareness). Like any other product, the impact guide published by the Channel 4 Britdoc Foundation also shows that in advance to the movie’s production, thorough research was conducted to determine the margin of profit for the investors (Britdoc, 2011: p.45). One could almost say that An Inconvenient Truth was in competition with other documentaries in order to get investors and most importantly, distributors. This makes one wonder if the audience missed out on great but non-profitable documentaries, that forever went