Team America

Team America 29/12/2009

Poster from Wikipedia

This is the film to show your class when discussing American foreign policy. Trey Parker, the creator of South Park, shows us the Ugly American in action -- stop-motion animation style.

See how Americans, thinking themselves as superheroes (perhaps because they grew up reading The Justice League), destroy the Parisian landmarks in a minute or less. Of course, they also pat themselves on the back for a job well done stopping terrorists from blowing up the city.

This 2004 comedy film skewers not just American politics (both Left and Right), but also Hollywood, action movies, and politically-vocal Hollywood actors. It also features one of the longest gratuitous and graphic sex scenes ever in movies using marionettes as actors.

Of course watching this film from so-called Third World lens, I couldn't help but nod in agreement at the ineptness of Team America's swashbuckling braggadocio.

On second thought, though, I realized that by parodizing through their film the incompetence of American foreign policy, Trey Parker and company were also underlining their country's value for freedom, and how that virtue qualifies them to indeed act as "the world's police."