Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Yes Man
Yes, this documentary is not to be confused with the 2009 comedy starring Jim Carey, this shit is fo reale. This is one of the best political documentaries that I have ever seen. I am sure you and Shannon have seen a lot more than I have so you may laugh at that statement but I really really really enjoyed. Its funny because it reminded me of a Jim Carey movie, The Truman Show. The Truman Show is without a doubt the most fucked up movie of all-time. Ed Harris is the director of a corporate reality t.v. show starring Jim Carey who was bought as a child and brought up in a make believe town with make believe people. They are all actors pretending to be his friends and family. When Andre first put on the movie I was a little confused on what the purpose of the Yes Man was. I thought they were just internet activists trying to mess with the hypocrisy of the Bush administration. I am not a political person what so ever. In fact, I am a little ashamed at how apathetic I am towards issues that are so important. I think it might be because I am from a closed family where no one gets in or out. This is sometimes a bad thing. But, even I think that what the Bush administration did was pretty awful and we as America look pretty stupid for not finding someone better the second go around even though the other candidates were terrible. Anyways, I thought what they were doing was incredible and incredibly fucked up. They were lying to powerful people, pretending to be people they weren't and the best part they were exposing how flawed our system truly is, which was not comforting. I thought that both men, actually everyone including the costume designer, but definitely the two main activists were very dedicated. I do not think I have the balls to go in front of people knowing that I could get in trouble and do it over and over again. I loved how they shaved their heads to look professional. I do not know if they are gay lovers but that aspect was really entertaining. I was impressed to see people backing them. It was a real struggle to find funding which is kind of like being an independent filmmaker. I think it would be nice to be Stephen Speilberg in the sense that anytime you get an idea and want to create it then you can go to Dreamworks for the money. If you some reason they said no, which I don't see happening because he basically owns it, he can say Fuck off, I'm using my own money because I have Jaws. Anyways, I really did appreciate what the Yes Men were doing. In this blog we have to discuss why the Yes Man documentary is important to look at in relation to our 48 hour film race. Everything these men did was a race to create something and pull off the impossible. Do the film race was incredible and I am so happy we didn't do it during exams because I heard horror stories of sleep deprivation from the class last year. In your defense, everyone said it was a great time though. That was one of my favorite projects and the restrictions made it even better. In the words of Todd Berliner, speaking the words of Orson Welles, "If you believe Orson Welles, (pause for dramatic effect...this worked in a room full of students) and be careful if you don't. The greatest art comes from under the greatest restrictions." I for some reason thought that was bull shit until I was watching a few movies from the HUAC period and realized they are all good even though they had to deal with incredible restrictions. The Yes Man had restrictions, the greatest one being time.
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