The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - 5 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, Decemher 8, 2009 - 5 Corporate imposters The Yes Men bring their social crusade back to the big screen in 'Fix the World' The list disease By Andrew Lapin I Daily Film Editor. Who are the Yes Men? If you ask them, the two public hoaxers and pro- vocateurs with the aliases of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno will tell you they're physical manifes- The Yes Men tations of the conscience Fix the World the corporate world should have. Ask anyone else Tonight, at the and you're just as likely to Michigan hear they're nothing more Shadow than barbaric stuntmen who leave trails of social destruction in their wake - not unlike the very corporations they're targeting. Bichlbaum and Bonanno specialize in imper- sonating representatives of powerful com- panies and making fools out of themselves in public, whether that involves giving erroneous statements to the press or presenting insane ideas at shareholder's meetings. They present their stunts and then gauge the reactions to them from the corporations, the general public and the specific subset of the public the corpo- rations have already damaged through their own real, non-impersonated actions. The Yes Men's latest movie, "The Yes Men Fix the World," plays like a greatest hits collec- tion of their shenanigans and acts as a sequel to 2003's "The Yes Men." In the six years since that first film, the pranksters have grown more ambitious, so they're now able to blanket their guerilla satire under the cover of "fixing the world." Indeed, with all the exposure they're giving themselves in these movies, not to men- tion their appearances on countless news chan- nels, the big unanswered question is 'Why they haven't been recognized yet. The movie is technically a documentary, inasmuch as it's mostly composed of real foot- age of the Yes Men performing their schemes. However, Bichlbaum and Bonanno, who co- direct with Kurt Engfehr (editor of "Fahrenheit 9/11"), mash truth with fiction in a manner that alternates between admirable and obnoxious. Because tteir entire goal is to use lies to expose the truth, in some ways they're justified in only - electing footage that pertains to their owne narrative - hence the doctored chronology of events they rely on. But the enveloping staged scenes, in which they retreat to their "secret He thought it was the perfect disguise, until he had to run. underground lair" and go swimming in their movie. But amazingly, the audience buys into business suits, are overly twee and patronizing. the idea and asks questions about the phony Yet it's when the Yes Men are in their ele- device's further applications. ment, going to any lengths to pull a ruse on Even in noteworthy segments like this, it's people, even for only a few minutes, that the hard to guess what exactly the Yes Men are film and the reasons for making it really shine. satirizing. The willingness of rich people to buy Bichlbaum goes on the BBC on the 20th anni- ridiculous things to ensure their own safety? versary of a Union Carbide-caused chemical Well, OK ... but making that point doesn't seem spill in Bhopal, India to announce that Dow worth all of their effort. And that's ultimately Chemical accepts full responsibility for the what's so hard to stomach about the Yes Men: incident, forcing Dow to issue a statement say- Even when they succeed, it's difficult to tell, ing they have no intentions of donating any- what they've accomplished. Some would even thing to rebuild the city. He also poses as an argue they've harmed the world more than fix- ExxonMobil spokesperson at an oil conference ing it, when the adverse snowball effects of the to announce the productioq of candles 'made targeted companies' plummeting stock prices out of human flesh. are taken into account. And, in the film's most blisteringly hilari- So the Yes Men's stunts are certainly making ous segment, the pair debut the."Halliburton the worldtake notice. Maybe once they find a SurvivaBall" to a roomful of fascinated inves- way to channel all of their audacity and creativ- tors. The ball, a giant, inflatable insect-like pod, ity into a constructive rather than destructive appears to be straight out of a Charlie Chaplin project, some fixing could actually begin. our favorite entertainment publications have recently fallen victimto a sweeping epidemic of "Best-of-the-Decade- itis." This seemingly harmless disease deludes the carrier into believing that he or she hears the voices of the thousands of films released over the last 10 years, all begging ANDREW to be organized LAPIN into sequential - order. "Rank us!" they cry. "Rank us, Richard Brody of The New Yorker! Only you have the power to properly analyze every one of our benefits and flaws. Only you can provide the definitive answer to which of us will thrive in memory and which of us will languish in cinematic purgatory." . The worst part of this disease is that it's contagious. Once one newspaper, blog or random guy in his parent's basement starts doing it, everyone suddenly realizes how much they, too, need a list of their very own. A list to be coddled, cared for, protected against the harsh winds of all those other disagree- able critics who totally got their own lists wrong. A list that will be remembered by the adoring public forever, or at leastuntil the next list comes out later this afternoon. The Michigan Daily may very well have one of these lists within a month, too. That's still up in the air. I don't know what having our own list will get us, exactly. All of your adoring affection? Or maybe Roger Ebert will be so impressed with our pointed film criticism that he'll invite us to be his escorts at Cannes. Seems unlikely. . I've surprised myself with my own bitterness at all these 2000s- end lists. Normally I love lists, like my esteemed colleague, fellow columnist and sworn enemy Josh Bayer. All you have to do is prime me and I'll rattle off my favorite Spielberg movies, documentaries and ragtag-sports-team-wins-the- championship films, just like that. But it's something about the mass conglomeration of all these lists, all at once, being positioned as life- affirming proclamations of human- ity's belief in the power of film that disturbs me just a tad. Not one "best of the decade" list is more superb than any other, though a select few are more inane than the rest. Entertainment Weekly, still my favorite magazine despite their unquenchable "Twi- light" obsession, recently came out with their list of the decade's top 100 ... things. As in, theytook movies, TV shows, books, fictional characters and music videos from the past 10 years and lumped them all together into a giant stew of hierarchical madness. Finally we can determine with absolutely cer- tainty that, not only was "The Lord of the Rings" this decade's crown cinematic achievement, it was also exactly six slots better than Beyonc6's "Single Ladies" video. That's not a list; that's pop-culture heroin, a giddy sensory overload that grants a temporary high and a long-lasting pain. But even the "serious" lists are probletm-starters. Even as they exert their own individual opinions, the critics who make them are naturally eager to prove that they, too, loved universally acclaimed films like "Children of Men" and "WALL-E." So when you read enough of these and see the same movies over and over, slightly reordered, your awareness of the decade in film is actually shrink- ing, not expanding. You're gradu- ally, subconsciously honing in your sights on the repeat customers, which were most likely the films you've already seen, thus mak- ing them easier to debate among friends and enemies. Look, I know "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was awesome. I don't need The Onion's A.V. Club asserting it was the most awesome among all the awesomes for me to know this. And say you're angry about their 15th favorite film, "Y Tu Mama Tambien," not being rated higher. Why, just head on over to Michael Phillips of "At the Movies," who The only good list is a dead list. rated it fifth on his own authorita- tive list that's so important it has to be unveiled week-by-week. Prob- lem solved. Now, instead of debat- ing the merits of the film, you're more than welcome to debate the merits of the lists. (These are all critical sources that I greatly admire, by the way. The list-mak- ing spirit just boils my blood.) I will point out that there is a difference here between the year- end best-ofs and the decade stuff. I firmlybelieve in the importance of year-end celebrations because they're deliriously in-the-moment. The movies are still fresh inour minds and we're just bursting with the desire to share them with the world. And no worries, because any truly great films we leave out will find a wayback to us eventually. But the decade list undermines this system by saying that now that we've had time to "reflect on the past years" (i.e. dismiss the 2009 releass as too recent while unfairly legendizing the 2000 releases), we can finally name, once and for all, the only films worth remembering. And in the process of nitpicking the truly excellent from the merely very good, we're forgetting why we love movies so much in the first place: the sheer thrill of discovery that comes from watching something unfamiliar. So here's my Best Film of the Decade: Any movie you haven't seen yet. Lapin came in 12th on our best Arts columinss of the year list. Console him at alapin@umich.edu. Old formula, new haircut By BRIGID KILCOIN Daily Arts Writer "Hey, I'm proud to be a fuckin' guido!" These immortal words from cast mem- ber Mike make one thing clear: JerSey Shore If you've been Thursdays heartbroken at 10 p.m. since A&E's MTV "Growing Up Gotti" went off the air, MTV's new reality show "Jersey Shore" will fill that void in your life. "Jersey Shore" follows eight Italian-American 20-somethings as they spend a summer in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. It's like "Real World," but with more hair gel. "Jersey Shore" begins with the cast moving into a house that serves as a monument to New Jersey stereo- types: Wall decorations include a giant Cadillac emblem, an over-, sized painting of the Italian flag and a Scarface poster. There are eight cast members, most of whom come equipped with an absurd nickname: Angelina (or "Jolie"), Jenni ("J-WOWW"), Mike ("The Situation"), Nicole ("Snookie"), Pauly D ("DJ Pauly D"), Ronnie, Sammi ("Sweetheart") and last, but not least, Vinny. The paper- thin plot in the two-hour premiere follows the cast as they train to work in a T-shirt shop on the shore and gossip about various intra- house hookups that have occurred. The cast of "Jersey Shore" is its primary drawing point: The train wreck potential is so immense that it creates wonderfully awful, infinitely quotable television pep- pered with use of the word "guido" and gratuitous profanity. Spoiled princess Nicole is the center of many of the episode's funniest moments: She states that life in the shore house is "totally weird" for her because she's used to being the center of attention. Luckily, she reclaims some of her lost glory by climbing into the house's hot tub clad only in a bra and leopard- print thong. Angelina is shocked: "Wear a thong bikini, that's a little bit more classier if you're going to wear anything at all!" Classiness in hot tubs, and lack thereof, is a major focus of the pre- miere episode. J-WOWW raises the question to her housemate DJ Pauly D, who has brought several girls over for a late-night hot tub rendezvous: "How are you goingto be 29 years old and make out with three 20-year-olds in a hot tub?" The Pauly-hot tub dynamic raises further problems, as Sammi ques- tions why her male housemates are bringing "trashy skanks" to her home. "Jersey Shore," is unique among most reality programming because the producers seem in on the joke. While the show will undoubt- edly raise ire from Italian Ameri- cans who want a more flattering pop-culture portrayal, the cast unashamedly, blissfully embraces the lifestyle expected of them. One opening montage shows every male in the hast throwing mountains of hair gel and protein power into their suitcases. And multiple peo- ple discuss their personal tanning beds. The Jersey shore is presented as a panacea for the cast members: Vinny talks about the struggles of centerpiece. Mike's assistance being underage at the Jersey shore, with the cooking upsets DJ Pauly stating that it's "21 long years of D: "Girls are supposed to cook, and anticipation to go to these plac- guys are supposed to eat, you know what I mean?" MTV's other reality shows are Sp u t fairly interchangeable - low-' "I'm proud to be budget, generic programs - like a fuckin'guido' "NEXT" and "Parental Control" a g squeezed in between reruns of "The Hills" - but "Jersey Shore" is nothing if not memorable. It's not es, and once you get there its the high art; it'll never get nominated sweetest fuckin' place on earth!" for an Emmy or lead to debates Italian stereotypes also pop up. over different plot layers. But if the The cast sits down for a family din- ultimate purpose of TV is solely to ner of Italian sausages and peppers entertain, "Jersey Shore" succeeds with a Bible serving as the table on multiple levels. 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