AMERICATHON
Friday, November 20, 2009
Believe it or not, we're not talking about the waning days of the Bush administration. This is the backdrop of Americathon, a sci-fi political satire from 1979 that's hysterical in more ways than one.
President Chet Roosevelt (John Ritter) concocts a plan to save America. They'll hold a telethon, hosted by crossdressing sitcom star Harvey Korman, featuring mother/son boxing, Meatloaf wrestling the last surviving automobile, and more, more, more.
Americathon is a loud, confused, misanthropic and ultimately exhausting film, but once you see it you'll never look at American politics the same way. You see Sarah Palin, a gun-toting former beauty queen who walked away from her job as Governor of Alaska because finishing her term would be "politics as usual", and she seems just like an Americathon character come to life. In 1979, Americathon tried to imagine a turn-of-the-millennium USA that was as excessive and ridiculous and shocking as possible... And what they came up with was arguably rather tame compared to the two-term horrorshow this country is still recovering from.
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6 comments:
While I generally like your site, please, please, please, stop talking about politics. I come to sites such as this to escape puerile simpletons opinining on politics (something my profession requires me to follow too much as it is), and it is truly annoying to read your lame attempts to shoehorn liberal drivel into discussions.
Especially given that in this case, touchy-feely Chet Roosevelt is clearly a sensitive New Age guy--hardly the sort you find on the Republican side of politics.
Tempted as I am to reply with a long string of four letter words, I shall instead take the high road and suggest that if you don't like my occasional political comments you're perfectly free to stop reading them. Thanks.
Dink.
I'm trying to do you a favor; your political writing is such tripe that it couldn't even pass muster at MSNBC.
Dip.
I could also note that you don't usually give any forewarning that you're going to get political, instead leaving the poor reader to come across it like a dog turd in a pile of leaves.
My blog, my rules. Don't like it? Quit reading. Simple as that.
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