Thursday, May 20, 2010

Yes Men

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (in real life Jacques Servin & Igor Vamos) fancy themselves serious anti-globalization activists in their film “The Yes Men Fix the World.” Part performance art, part political activism these two men aim to out corruption of who is really profiting from Hurricane Katrina. They critique what Servin and Vamos call "free-market cult" of businessmen who value money over human life. In their documentary-style film, they chronicle the disputes, victories, and defeats of mimic high-level executives to mockingly infiltrate conservative systems. The film opens with the Yes Men posing as DOW council appearing on the BBC to erroneously proclaim that DOW will pay millions in retributions to comfort Indian civilians following an industrial disaster in Bhopal. Their pranks work as an analysis of the media because they expose the things that are wrong with the media.

They expose the lies and corruptions all in a very self-destructive type of way.
The critical tool that seems to be most aptly aligned with the Yes Men would be Habermas’s idea of the Public sphere, which is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems. By bringing issues hidden issues out in the open they provide a chance for open dialogue that otherwise would have been impossible.

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