Perplexed by Puppets: Team America, World Police

As many people are aware, Team America: World Police starts this Friday. It is from Trey Parker & Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. I happened to see the sneak preview last weekend. I have been a big fan of South Park for several years. While sometimes the politics of that show lean to the right, it has also presented leftist views, and manages to pretty ridicule everyone – Jews, Christians, gays, straights, the disabled, etc. Those looking for polite, PC humor need not turn to South Park, Team America, or any other entertainment produced by Parker and Stone.

That said, I was a bit perplexed upon viewing the new film. Of course, I expected crude irreverent un-PC humor, which it delivered, and I laughed through much of the movie. However, I found that the critique targeted the left too heavily and left the right pretty much unscathed. For instance, there is the band of liberal Hollywood actors called the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G. – sigh!) which teams up with Kim Jong Il for a “peace conference” only to get obliterated by Il and Team America.

And while I honestly believe that the movie is most likely meant to make fun of both sides - the ultra macho/but ultimately damaging "fuck yeah" attitude of Bush & co., as well as the self righteous whining of actors like Sean Penn - they should have skewered specific right wing personalities like Anne Coulter, or had a Bush puppet get blown up (how do you include Kim Jong Il in a satire of the war on terror but not Bush?). It is clear that they went out of their way to mock the unilateral war-mongering ways of the US, showing the team destroying ancient artifacts, museums, landmarks, and entire towns just to stop a couple terrorists with blinking suitcases, horrifying the civilians more than doing any good (a critique of the Iraq war?). But this critique of the right wing US is too obtuse and not nearly as pointed as the many critiques of the left and their peacenik hysteria. Because of this, liberals can walk away from this movie with plenty to be offended over, but conservatives may mistakenly and unironically adopt “America: Fuck Yeah!” as a patriotic theme song instead of the tongue in cheek satire it is meant to be.

This having been said, Team America is a great satire of the typical Jerry Bruckheimer/Armageddon-type Hollywood action flick. Parker and Stone know their stuff and they mock every cliché – the training montage, the tough guy one-liner, the sex scene in the midst of chaos, the hero’s touching backstory – it’s all there and it’s funny. For what it’s worth, the duo has said in interviews that they made the film with the intention of mocking these Hollywood films. It was originally meant to be a spoof of the goofy environmental disaster film The Day After Tomorrow. The politics of Team America seem to be an after thought. It has been said that South Park represents a "hip" new subversive form of Republicanism, with many fans calling themselves “South Park Republicans.” Certainly, the message can be culled from various episodes. But Parker and Stone seem to lean toward libertarianism more than anything else. They have called themselves “middle of the road guys” and many of their views do not mesh with the conservative mindset.

For image-conscious liberals who think any negative portrayal of a liberal in the media is a conspiracy (I admit I often have that reaction myself), it might be hard to watch themselves being mocked. They might be scared that the only message young people will take from this movie is that liberals and terrorists should be killed indiscriminately, a fear which I think is valid. Whether or not Parker and Stone want to accept the responsibility, media images are powerful, and young minds are malleable, and Team America does not send a good message for the uncritical eye.

However, at a certain point, I think we all need to lighten up. Parker & Stone have made a fortune out of not giving a shit, and enjoying getting a rise out of people. That is their schtick. Maybe we think it’s irresponsible but that's what they do. To them, Team America is meant to be unabashed, bipartisan, unPC fun, and nothing more. I’m not saying I agree with that, nor am I trying to serve as an apologist for their twisted politics. I honestly still don’t know how I feel about this movie. I laughed despite myself. I felt guilty afterward, like when you automatically laugh at an unPC joke. I do feel, though, that if right-wingers use this film as pro-war propaganda (which they will do), I think they're just falling into the same trap the liberals are when they get up in arms about the anti-liberal content. To me, Parker and Stone are not so much conservatives as they are political pranksters playing a joke on everyone.

There's a good discussion of Team America at this link: http://dailykos.com/story/2004/10/11/1463/0260.