Monday, October 24, 2005

Anna Froula: "America, Fuck Yeah!"

“America, Fuck Yeah!”: Patriotic Puppetry in Team America, World Police



A paper presented by Anna Froula for the 2005 English Department Colloquium

Friday, October 28 2:00-3:00 p.m.
University of Kentucky
Room 245 Patterson Office Tower

Come early for refreshments!

Released mere weeks before the 2004 election, Team America, World Police received mixed reviews from critics attempting to polarize the politics of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Inspired by Jerry Bruckheimer’s formulaic action films, these patriotic puppets fight for a government-sanctioned, corporation-sponsored paramilitary group, and their logo consists of an American eagle’s head gripping the earth in its beak. Salon.com’s Charles Taylor exasperatedly charged the film for being “so determined not to have a point of view that it cancels itself out in the manner of those CNN ‘debates’ where two talking heads from opposing sides gainsay each other for five minutes.” Yet as it satirizes both the warmongering of Bush administration neoconservatives and the futile peacenik stance of liberals, the movie stands as resistance against a sharply divided American response to the “war on terrorism.”

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the publicity, Thiavi!

Michael said...

I assigned it as extra credit for my students. I think you should get a few as they seemed excited by your topic.

Michael said...

I assigned it as extra credit for my students. I think you should get a few as they seemed excited by your topic.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Thiavi.

I'm sorry I didn't come by earlier, but I did see some of your students come in. What did they think?