South Park Creators Vomit on American Politics
Political analysts or overgrown teenagers? In Team America: World Police, Trey Parker and Matt Stone prove they’re both.
The South Park creators offer a scathing political critique in their latest film, it stars a bunch of puppets. It is also packed with power ballads, explosions, and other ’80s film tributes… not to mention bathroom humor.
In the first scene, a few regular people representing a microcosm of American culture—called Team America—descend on Paris to stop a suspected terrorist attack. They shoot blindly, blowing up the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre to “protect” the French. Later, they destroy the Sphinx for the same purpose. In other words, in a pointed critique of unilateral destruction, Parker and Stone claim that we Americans love to blow things up.
One of the funniest moments in the film is when a bespectacled Kim Jong Il puppet refuses to allow the United Nations search for weapons. He tells the inspector he cannot investigate and asks what the U.N. will do about it. The diplomat nervously retorts that they will “write a nasty letter.” Clearly, Parker and Stone do not have a great deal of faith in the United Nations or their investigations.
Nor do they have much faith in Americans. Team America members are not the brightest crayons in the box. They rely on a high-tech computer, called “intelligence” (personified with a digital smile) to make their decisions, instead of common sense. When the computer crashes, one team member tells the others, “We have no intelligence! I repeat: we have no intelligence!” It’s hardly a subtle statement, but a notable one nonetheless.
They also point their arrows at American celebrities—including a slovenly, suicidal Michael Moore. Alec Baldwin, Liv Tyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and many other actors who have spoken out against the war and the current administration are presented as being utterly incompetent. They are incapable of understanding politics or expressing intelligent ideas. For example, Baldwin tells his fellow actors to repeat what they learn from the news as their own opinions. They are members of the Film Actors’ Guild (F.A.G. for short, we’re constantly reminded). F.A.G. tries to stop Team America by joining with Kim Jong Il to – ironically – promote peace. Toward the end of the film, in an attempt to stop Team America, Baldwin shouts, “We can’t look weak and powerless! Every actor grab a gun!”
But can critiques leveled by puppets be taken seriously? Recent efforts to get the masses involved in politics have become increasingly low-brow. Instead of dissecting complex issues, we learn about them from jokes on late night television shows or P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die” campaign.
Consider the Beavis and Butt-head antics of Team America. The theme song refrain is “America! F--- yeah!” and this kind of obscene language (including one particular derogatory name for gay men) makes up the majority of the dialogue. It’s this sort of low-brow humor that made the directors famous in South Park. It’s also most appealing to adolescent boys.
Parker and Stone manage to make a puppet movie incredibly disgusting. Limbs are savagely ripped off, spewing blood. After a discussion about the three kinds of people in the world (none of which are suitable for print), the main character vomits incessantly. There’s also a five-minute scene in which two of the characters engage in some really creepy puppet sex.
They also play off the limitations of using marionettes. They walk and dance with intentional goofiness. When one puppet attempts to point to another’s heart, she stops a foot short. Later, she pokes him in the eye, instead of touching his face. When our heroes are attacked by Kim Jong Il’s “panthers,” two black housecats fill the screen.
The result is a very funny, but also very lighthearted jab at American politics. But is this low-brow takeover the best way to inform the public? Parker and Stone have the ability to reach huge audiences – including young voters – but rather than engage them in thoughtful discourse, they knock ‘em dead with gross-out humor. The message gets lost in the joke. Viewers might guffaw at the clever one-liners, celebrity caricatures, and exaggerated action movie techniques, but do they take away anything memorable from the film?
Perhaps, rather than listen to well-reasoned arguments American audiences would rather watch movie heroes puke all over the sidewalk anyway.
Christy Boldenow can be reached at .
