The Real Puppets

Taking Jonathan V. Last's advice, I recently went to a screening of Team America: World Police. He is certainly right about the movie parodying the overblown Hollywood action genre. Last also correctly points out that all sides are victimized by Trey Parker and Matt Stone's sick, twisted, but darkly funny minds. The uber-patriotic theme, "America, F--- Yeah!" will be ringing in your head for days. That said, it was clear on Saturday night at the Georgetown Loews that many in the audience were hoping for another Bush-bashing filmfest. The president wasn't mentioned once. Instead, they were treated to horrific caricatures of Hollywood's outspoken liberal elite: A Michael Moore puppet, hot dog in hand; Alec Baldwin speaking of America's new ally--a man of peace--Kim Jong Il. Not to mention Janeane Garafalo. Tim Robbins. Susan Sarandon. Sean Penn. And they all get clobbered.

Devout disciples of Parker and Stone also came out in droves and applauded the audacity and low-brow humor of the movie (which is obscenity-ridden and quite graphic--even for puppets). But the rest of the Georgetown crowd groaned through much of it, waiting for some humiliation of the president and Republicans that never came. When Baldwin goes on his self-important tirade, there were hisses. I heard one man's voice actually say, "This is wrong."

Maybe it's because conservatives have long put up with their favorite actors and musicians and their opposing political viewpoints that we take most jokes in stride. But these liberals in the audience could barely contain their disgust. As the lights went on and half the crowd applauded, the other half just sat there, some with looks of disgust, refusing to accept this unjust rendering of Hollywood's "political conscience."

Who knew they could be so thin-skinned?