Team America predicts the election...

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The more I think about it, Team America really hit the nail on the head in gauging the political mood of many Americans about the election and the War on Terror.

Team America: World Police is a spoof of the American action/war genre as typified by movies like Top Gun, Mission Impossible, and Pearl Harbor. While high on action and effects, these movies tend to be very formulaic: a "top gun" loner protagonist (TM) joins an elite group of warriors/pilots/spies (TM), each drawn from a list of stock characters, and wisecracking dialogue (TM) and mayhem ensues. At some point, after a setback at the hands of the slimy sociopathic villains (TM), the protagonist becomes disillusioned (TM) and leaves the group, only to return after much soul-searching (TM) and generally some romantic action. The reunited team goes on to save the day (TM). This produces good feelings (TM) in the audience, which translates into beaucoup ticket revenues.

In TA:WP, the protagonist is an actor (!) with a double major in "world languages" (he makes himself understood in Arabic saying lines like "durka durka mohammed jihad"). In sets drawing from the most stereotyped American imaginations of Paris (Eiffel tower, boys in sailor suits, women in sunglasses, baguettes), Cairo (camels, turbans, pyramids), and the Panama canal, TA:WP destroys famous cultural artifacts in the pursuit of terrorists. The theme song is pure America right-or-wrong:

America, F*** Yeah! / Gonna save the motherf***ing world, yeah!
America, F*** Yeah! / Freedom is the only way, yeah!
Terrorists, your days are through / Cuz now you have to answer to
America, F*** Yeah! ...etc...

The villains are an alignment of terrorists under Kim Jong Il and liberal actors (joined together under Alec Baldwin in the Film Actors Guild, or FAG), an equation of the American left with Islamic terrorism right out of a Rove wet dream: I mean, the left sure is out of touch with the rest of America, isn't it?

But the point here is the story: pure black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. While Team America might make a mistake or two, they might run into a setback, it can only briefly question it's principles before moving onto a full affirmation. Similarly, most of America will not be able to accept, or even entertain the idea, that Iraq was a misadventure, a diversion away from an enemy more far more present and available in Afghanistan. To question Iraq is to question the script, and most Americans have too much emotional energy invested in that script to give it up. Bush stands for the vindication of American purpose, while electing Kerry would have seemed like admitting that America made a mistake. So lets all join in the chorus: America, F*** Yeah!

 

i was going to say that about the movie.. The part where actors/celebraties were being potrayed as p***** and we shouldn't listen to them, hit it right on, considering how many celebraties endorsed for Kerry (Leonardo and Bon Jovi came to my university, the Boss guy called Bruce, Helen Hunt, etc)