Well, I saw Team America: World Police. It’s very good. It effectively skewers the gung-ho advocates of projecting American power, just as it deflates the pompous arrogance of Alec Bladwin, Tim Robbins, and the other actors who presume to know what’s best for the rest of us. (And the caricature of Michael Moore was quite good — almost as good as the film of a marionette drunkenly vomiting.) (See my pre-viewing post below for the indignation of Hollywood at being subjected to ridicule; also see Sean Penn’s tantrum.)
I saw the movie this afternoon, and thought it was hysterical.
My favorite part? When Alec Baldwin, forced to defend his choice to aid Kim Jong Il, sputters, “global warming, uh, corporations . . .” before being shot. Priceless.
I have to complain that I felt that the movie did far too little political mockery and far too much crude sexuality. Marionette sex isn’t that funny. Mocking Baldwin and Moore is.
I’m glad to hear the positive reveiws because one of the creators, Trey Parker (and I beleive the other, Matt Stone) is a card-carrying Libertarian.
As a matter of fact, if you’ve ever watched “South Park”, their brilliant animated series on Comedy Central, you’ll recognize the ever-present Libertarian slant (especially at the end of most episodes when the main character, after complete chaos has ensued on the small town, gives his little “theme-of-the-day”). Because the show is computer animated and takes a relatively short amount of time to produce (sometimes less than a week), they have the ability to tackle currents events that are still in the news, and as politically incorrect as can be! They haven’t missed a thing: bin Laden, Jesus (who happens to live in South Park and has his own public access talk show), homosexual boy scout leaders, cloning, censorship, left-wing Hollywood and media, you name it!
In any case, it is a veiwpoint that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Imagine, a Libertarian message sent to millions of veiwers per week via a simplistic cartoon animated by very sophistocated computers through the eyes of 4 elementry school children…how’s that for a (relatively) free society! (Thomas Paine would be proud…I think)
Not only are the themes in South Park often explicitly libertarian, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trey Parker & Matt Stone visit Cato’s web site on occasion. The speech “Big Gay Al” gives at the end of of the “Cripple Fight” episode is remarkably reminiscent of Tom Palmer’s own piece on the subject (online here: http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-03-00.html ).
In this episode, South Park’s parents begin to worry about Big Gay Al’s influence on their boys as a Scout leader, and have him replaced (by a straight pedophile, as it turns out). The kids are outraged at how Big Gay Al was treated, so they campaign to have him reinstated. As they’re on the verge of success, Big Gay Al gives this speech:
“Look, I appreciate what you kids did; really, I really do. But this isn’t what I wanted. I’m proud to be gay. And I’m proud to be in a country where I’m free to express myself. But freedom is a two-way street. If I’m free to express myself, then the Scouts have to be free to express themselves, too. I know these men. They are good men. They are kind men. They do what they think is best for kids. No matter how wrong we think they might be, it isn’t right for us to force them to think our way. It’s up to us to persuade, and help them see the light, not extort them to. Please, don’t cut the Scouts’ funding. The Scouts help and have always helped a lot of kids. That’s why I love them. I will continue to persuade them to change their mind, but this is the wrong way to do it. So, I am hereby dropping my case, and allowing the Scouts their right to not allow gays into their private club.”
The entire script for this episode is online here:
http://www.spscriptorium.com/Season5/E503script.htm
Scroll toward the bottom of the page to find this speech in context.
Team America is great. What was interesting to me was the reaction from people here in California. I heard several of my friends say something to the effect, “I liked it because it bashes [Republicans/Conservatives/Warmongers]” If nothing else, the Moore spoof was pretty blatant, and I’m not sure how the lefties miss it. At least Edelstein got the movie, even if he didn’t quite like its perspective.