A Comic Evolves With the Internet

Get Your War On is a political comic strip that appears in Rolling Stone and other, less traditional newspapers. It debuted about a month after 9/11 and has since attacked our government for mainly its war-prone ways using a viciously cynical voice to do so. The strips are made from about six old clip art pictures slightly tweaked to portray office worker sheep, classier Joe Six-Packs, as frustrated, passive observers of politics.

Since Huffington Post site 23/6 came around it has been trying to achieve success in the world of liberal political satire, and trying to catch the tail of the oh-so-funny Bush administration. They signed GYWO writer, David Rees to do videos for their site. Though I’m not sure of how successful the clips have been, this medium change has also changed the comic strip.

After hearing voices put to these snarky characters and to see their red outlines smoothly move against the plain white backdrop, I realize that this is exactly how I hear the strips played out in my head. What this switch to video does is give GYWO legs. The clips will probably be e-mailed through places similar to where its characters work. Snarky humor coupled with simplistic design translates GYWO to video nicely. Here’s a clip of the latest talking about the Obama bandwagon:

“Obama doesn’t salute the flag. He throws rocks at bald eagles and eats the wrong kind of lettuce.”

It will be interesting to see how this comic holds up with its liberal stance and its anti-war message in an Obama administration. So far, it has been using the strategy of making fun of Obama on a conceptual level as opposed to attacking his direct actions. This comic was a baby of 9/11 and should be fun to watch grow up.

Fake News of Change

Since Barack Obama became the President-elect, people have been intently listening to see what he is actually going to do. In doing this, they have goals in the back of their minds. A comedy group called the Yes Men have been handing out fake copies of The New York Times today.

Handing this out to people may take some light criticism from those who think this would make people think it’s the truth like Orson Welles’ infamous airing of The War of the Worlds. But overall, this is a paper that ultimately lines up goals for Obama. I’m not saying the Iraq War will end just like that or what shown will be accomplished, but even through bipartisan eyes this looks like a much better world.

I went to the Yes Men site, and found that they are not so much a comedy group as they are a watchdog group. They define what they do as “identity correction, impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.”

Their Wikipedia entry lists their accomplishments, which range from posing as the World Trade Organization and arguing the function of the U.S.A.’s Civil War to trashing on big oil.

This is an important group because they are built up on protecting public interest and rejecting conumerism. These are exactly what we need more of today.

One may argue that the group’s deceptive tactics are ethically questionable but if they are picking on ethically questionable people, who can take issue? Barack Obama needs to be thinking about the power of these types of groups the moment he steps into office.

Enter South Park…

Last Tuesday, Barack Obama was elected to become the 44th President of the United States, and maybe more notably the first black President ever. At 11:00 on election night, Obama was officially declared to be the winner and the world watched as hysteria exploded at Grant Park in Chicago. People went nuts and justifiably so considering the amazing strides made in race relations over the past half century. Barack Obama is a man who is seen as God-like by a large part of America. It’s impossible to not look at this guy and feel inspired in some way. His story is an unusual one and seals his place in the hearts of millions. The tears of joy that were shed that night needed to come for civil rights, but this man isn’t God. Barack Obama is a politician first and South Park pointed that out last Wednesday night.

Link to Full Episode

Just 22 hours after Obama’s win South Park aired their first overtly political episode of the season. It was great, but as an avid South Park fan, I saw it to be a little too same-old compared to the rest of the season. This season has seen many movie parodies that just wear thin. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are obviously movie buffs but need not show it off so much. This episode was a take on Ocean’s Eleven, portraying both candidates as international spies, as well as others they campaigned with. This plot line, in my mind, took the back seat to the other.

This is Randy Marsh.

My friends and I revere him as the best character on South Park, among stiff competition. He is used to show all of society’s obsessions rolled into one person. He has been almost physically dependent on the Internet as well as Guitar Hero in the past, but in this episode he depended on Obama.

Randy Marsh serves as warning to Obama’s proud, dedicated fan base. This is what happens when you let an idea vault you out of reality.

Over the next seventy-something days, Obama news will fluctuate and people will lose interest. His support will probably go down and hysteria will subside. So, Obama supporters, stay engaged.

Sarah Palin will not be there to laugh at and SNL will once again be hard to laugh at. Joe the Plumber will go back to (sort of) plumbing and the sun will rise tomorrow.

This Presidency is still the most important one in many of our lives but don’t take it for granted because the election’s over. Stop extolling the virtues of Barack and start questioning him. Don’t be Randy Marsh…

The Onion or the Drudge Report?

I always go to the Drudge Report when I need a quick glimpse at what’s happening in the news. I use it because its partisan reporting contrasts my own biases as well as for a simple layout that is easy to digest that prioritizes the biggest story. Today, the day before the election, Drudge’s biggest story was this:

Yes, that is a picture of Obama flicking off the camera. It links to a nineteen second clip of Obama speaking and congratulating McCain for the race he has fought.

He itches his face or maybe goes to pick his nose, realizes he is on camera and stops. (Ring any bells?) This itch of defiance is all McCain’s supporters have to go against Obama with. I find it hard to believe that even McCain’s supporters think Obama is giving the finger to their campaign or that Drudge believes that himself. This is a ridiculous attempt at news, and it shows the downside to blogging. The gatekeeping here is clearly out of whack.

I chose to talk about this article because it legitimately looks like it could be on The Onion. I have kissed The Onion’s ass so much on this blog that my eyes are beginning to water, but there’s a reason for that. Take a look at this story they published back in 1993. It is about a forklift driver’s interview with Rush Limbaugh and its apparent significance to the public. The guy is just an average American who uses basic thinking about Bill Clinton to vilify him, while maintaining naive, untrue views of the man. Sounds familiar… In fact, it sounds dead on.

Joe the Plumber is our nation’s Roy the Forklift Driver. He is a symbol, but when used as anything more than that will fail and fail again. When Shep Smith says, “Man, it just gets frightening sometimes,” the game is over.

Who knows though? Maybe this just isn’t Joe the Plumber’s election to save. Tito the contractor?