South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have created a surprisingly clever political satire with the film Team America: World Police. At first glance, the focus is on parody in the voice, unexpected action movies by filmmakers like Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer. However, there seems to be a deeper agenda to the film and not what one would expect from Stone and Parker in particular. Although it contains the necessary bathroom humor and profanity, the filmmakers “out” themselves as being part of some right-wing reception. Also, the movie mocks the ultra-nationalism of movies like Pearl Harbor, but liberals like Alec Baldwin and Sean Penn are targeted as well. greater criminals than any member of the Bush administration. A Hollywood attack is rarely seen within a Hollywood film, as it can prove to be bad for one’s life. But both Stone and Parker ventured out and, surprisingly, the company really got away with it. It certainly deserves a closer look.
The film’s cast includes marionette puppets in an homage to the 1960s British series, “Thunderaves”. Team America is the name of an elite, anti-terrorist American police force. Like thunderbirds, they have high schemes, shape various vehicles and live inside hidden hideouts. As the title suggests, this team’s mission is to “police the world”. This is an obvious reference to the style of the Bush administration after September 11. Although Bush is never actually mentioned in the film, it is clear that we are looking at the world today. (A terrorist Middle Eastern looks exactly like Osama Bin Laden in appearance, although he is not named, and the villain the lead is North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il.) A team of trigger-happy patriots is represented, who rejoice in the blow of enemies and the fall of monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sphinx. A well-represented group of crime fighters do not seem to notice the loss, those in foreign countries seem to be looking at foreign countries. > transferred and their help is greatly appreciated. In one scene, stunned Parisians are drowsy with bazookas and machine guns. “We don’t need thanks,” says a member of Team America, “We’re just doing our jobs!”
Stone and Parker make a not-so-subtle statement about America’s bold approach to global terrorism. Yes, the terrorists are brought to justice in the movie, but recklessly. Stone and Parker seem to embrace the popular notion that America has a “knight” mentality when it comes to diplomacy. One of Team America’s many expensive gadgets is a supercomputer called I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. (acronym is never explained). Their supercomputer, who has the voice of a stone-faced guy, is a techie in the movie and sends Team America on a wrong path. This is an obvious criticism of the discrepancy between the various American intelligences. But another judgment about America’s spirit is made by examining our ethnocentricity. Every time a new filming location is shown, the subtitles let us know what region to look at.
and how many miles are distant from America, we are as it were the center of all.
But what at first appears to be a liberal criticism of the Bush administration becomes more defensive. The film’s commentary on America’s reaction to terrorism is not meant to be negative at all. But the message is that America is doing what is necessary, even if it is not pretty. The protagonist has a key speech at the end of the movie, Gary explaining that Americans are dicks because someone has to defend the world from assholes like terrorists and pussies like Hollywood actors who have no place in politics. The film’s definition gives a fair amount of criticism to both the right and the left, but in the end it seems to be a conservative approach, at least as far as the war on terror is concerned. In the world of Team America: World Police, conservative Americans are paranoid about a cause: terrorists possess weapons of mass destruction and arranges for full use.
Kim Jong Il will be pursued as a criminal. He is extinguished here as a cruel ruler who sometimes breaks out into sentimental songs about “Rone” (one of the many insensitive actors in the film). The Korean dictator has shown that he has nuclear weapons and is the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks in other countries. Although a work of fiction, this thought is not entirely barbaric. Kim Jong Il is believed by many to be a potential global threat. Visiting U.N. troops by director Hans Blix, the film is both playful and disturbingly believable. Since the U.N. He asks for permission to search the premises for weapons of mass destruction, Kim “Or what?” to which Blix replies, “Or we will be strongly with you… and we will write you a letter telling you how angry we are.
The fact that George W. Bush never showed up can be seen as further proof that this film has no anti-Bush message. The film was released in October 2004, just a month before the presidential election. Neither Bush nor Kerry are directly referenced in the film, but the film’s release had a posthumous scare. But this may be the party movie studio and not the filmmakers themselves. After the success of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, the White House didn’t take any chances of this movie doing any more damage to the Bush campaign. Before the film was shown to anyone, Counselor Bush released a statement about Team America saying, “I really don’t think terrorism is funny, and I suggest Paramom respect those who fight and sacrifice to keep America safe.” (Java Report)
Although Bush gets a pass in the film, famous who are shown to be politically active stars like Sean Penn; Tim Robbins, and Alec Baldwin. In Team America, members are the Screen Actors Guild or “F.A.G.” Members of this group are mistaken for celebrities who involve themselves in things beyond comprehension, i.e., politics. The filmmakers even go so far as to make Matt Damon mentally retarded and can only say his own name. F.A.G. The team is to stop involvement in the war on terror. Team America sees a dangerous threat and although F.A.G. they claim to be peace lovers, eventually they come up with Kim Jong Il and become more violent. Matt Stone and Trey Parker seem to be having a great time finding ways to rip off puppets like celebrities. Susan Sarandon falls from a balcony and explodes on the floor like a watermelon, Tim Robbins is set on fire, panthers eat Sean Penn.
Hollywood’s charge of political agenda is long overdue. Stone and Parker cannot disagree strongly with their politicians, their arrogance. Why should anyone take a celebrity political analyst seriously? Sean Penn, who in recent years has made a remarkable trip to Iraq, has chosen someone to be his ambassador. He also corresponds to a special foreign war for The San Francisco Chronicle, where he observed. and documented his experiences in Baghdad (Penn’s “Commentary”). Why they do this is anyone’s guess. What credentials does Sean Penn have to be a foreign war correspondent for a major newspaper? No street like anyone before.
In Team America, Sean Penn talks about Iraq, saying that before Team America was there, the boys played in the streets and lived in a chocolate utopia. This further illustrates the helpless state that celebrities walk around in luxury. Regardless of anyone’s opinion about America being in Iraq, only a delusional person thinks the Middle East is a comfortable place to live. The artists make the point that political clamor grows out of the most trivial and impractical things. It is also true that the business in which so many vocal stars are scrutinized is quite spirited.
The film obviously touched a nerve with Sean Penn who, after the release of America’s Team, responded via letter, further proving that he is without common sense or humor. He wrote the following;
Hello, I remember when the famous guys were starting to be around Hollywood at some party. Sometimes I remember getting a few giggles from the humor. I do not remember that he took the trouble of taking my name among others, in order that he might appear pleasant, above all, and agreeable to your multitude. You have never benefited from satire and nonsense. It moves me when anyone who does not have a child, does not have a child in the war, or is not or does not harm himself, is encouraged to “not be ashamed not to vote” “if you. I don’t know what you are saying” (Mr. Stone) without mentioning shame of not knowing what to say, and encourages people to know. You guys are talented young guys, but hey, especially young guys. It’s okay to joke about me or whoever you want. Not so well, to irresponsibly provoke, which will eventually lead to the dismemberment, mutilation, exploitation and death of innocent people all over the world. The consul decided on the matter by vote. No one’s ignorance is an excuse, even for two worshipers of the cross.
Very well, and sincere jokes;
Sean Penn (Penn, Letters)
Film critic Roger Ebert was equally annoyed with Stone and Parker’s parody of the war in the Middle East. Perhaps he is also without a sense of humor, but most likely it is his political inclinations that he refused to enjoy in the film. Ebert told Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, but he referred to Team America as “nihilistic” and claimed he was “misled” by the film’s political stance (Ebert). Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers, Stone and Parker applauded that they are smart enough not to take themselves too seriously. I left Hollywood. He admits that the film is something the filmmakers think is “close to the right,” but he doesn’t blame them, because the rest of Hollywood is in “clear and present danger” (Travers).
Team America is not an obvious cry for conservatives, however. The manufacturers of the article make a saturation between the two extreme pairs. A very funny scene has the hero, Gary deciding whether he wants to join Team America or not. It is shown on various good records, heard by a country song called “Freedom is not free. The song is a parody written and performed by Trey Parker belts out Parker’s most sincere voice, “Freedom ain’t free/ You and me are like people/ And if you don’t be careful/ We won’t have to foot the bill. “. The song is hilarious and sounds exactly like something coming out of the radio in a pickup truck. It seems that Stone and Parker are bothered by someone who mindlessly follows an ideology, whether it’s a celebrity or a brainiac.
The fact that the filmmakers are completely biased makes their message all the more compelling. Yes, Americans can be reactionary and ethnocentric, but that’s not to say the real danger isn’t there. None of the Americans in Film was lazy except the members of the F.A.G. Even Kim Jong Il is made a little more attractive than Michael Moore who breathes with a hand. shot to death Artists are probably like most people in the country: somewhere between left and right. They do not celebrate war or destruction, but they also cannot imagine being able to live without it. Certainly not in the world we now live in.
Report:
- Work cited “Drudge Reports White House Not Happy.”; Editor. Jawa Report October 2004. 3 August 2005 mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/ /” >039534.php>; http://http://police.&rdquo/ ” rel=”nofollow”>Police.”; Penn, Sean. Commentary.” /a>; San Francisco Chronicle, 14 August 2005. The Drudge Report, October 2004. /”>>; Team America: World Police. Dir. Trey Parker. Perf. Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Paramount, 2004. Travers, Peter. “Team America: World Police.”; Rolling Stone Online 14 October 2004. 4 August 2005.
