1:19PM

At least that's what my clock says. That's less than an hour until your final assignment is due, and I still haven't heard from a few of you. No need to panic--just make sure you email me your essay and self-assessment by 2pm!

End of the year

Hey ya'll,

I'm not gonna make it to the party tonight (test tomorrow morning). I really enjoyed the class - good luck to Ed and all of you graduating. Have a great summer!

Best,
Julia

Thanks!

Well, oddly, Sarah got to the blog a bit before me to write the exact same thing. I found out Friday that I will be out of town tomorrow for interviews. Have a fantastic party, and thank you all for making the semester so much fun. Great class!

Erica

thanks for a great class

Hi-
I just wanted to say that I found out I'll be out of town on interviews during our party (so sad). Thanks to everyone for a great class, and best of luck in the future!
Sarah

the grand finale

Hi, everyone. For your final assignment, I’d like you to write a smart, insightful 3-4 page paper on one of the following topics (yes, I've tried to make sure that you've got a lot to choose from). You should email this paper to me at erg22@cornell.edu no later than Wednesday, May 16, at 2pm (yes, I’ve given you a few more days to work on it than originally planned). As I stated in the course syllabus, I’d also like you to include a one-page assessment of your performance in our class along with the letter grade you think that you deserve. Be honest, be candid, and don’t be afraid to point out the areas--in your thinking, in your writing--in which you tried to challenge yourself this semester.

1. On October 15, 2004, Jon Stewart appeared on CNN's "Crossfire" with Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. Although the show had aired for over a dozen years, within three months of Stewart's visit, the show was cancelled (video of Stewart's interview is here, a transcript is here). In Stewart's estimation, "Crossfire" had come to epitomize the most divisive and intellectually paralyzing aspects of post-9/11 political discourse in America, and he criticized Begala and Carlson accordingly. As of this weekend, video of Stewart's CNN appearance has been viewed almost four million times on iFilm alone. Explain why you think Stewart's criticisms have resonated so widely. What role did political satire have to play in his comments? What does this say to you about cable television, the mainstream media, and/or political debate in post-9/11 American culture?

2. On April 29, 2006, Stephen Colbert gave a controversial performance at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner (video is here, a transcript is here). Colbert's satirical humor didn't go over very well with President George Bush or the Washington press corps. What's your opinion of his performance?

3. Write a movie review of Michael Moore's 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11, a work that Moore once described as a "satirical documentary." (Unfortunately, Cornell's library system doesn't have any copies of the DVD, so you'll have to get one on your own.)

4. Using Bill Maher as your inspiration, come up with at least eight original "New Rules" for improving post-9/11 political discourse in America.

5. Write about the most original, insightful, or provocative thought you had during our course. Make sure that your paper includes an analysis of at least one of the satirical films, memoirs, characters, graphic novels, comic strips, documentaries, television shows, or newspapers that we covered during the semester. This is your chance to make a "big statement" about our course, so don't be timid.

6. Argue why a post-9/11 satirical work that we didn't cover in class would make an excellent addition to the syllabus. Who is its target audience? What are its themes or subjects? How does it relate to other works we treated together in class?

7. Write a satire that takes either Finals Week or the English 289 writing seminar "American Political Satire Before and After 9/11" as its subject. Your paper can take the form of a television or film script, a day-in-the-life narrative, or a mock-serious sociological study, to name just a few possibilities. Don't worry about being offensive, just worry about being dull and unfunny.

8. Compare the style, techniques, and strategies of at least two different satirists or satirical works that we covered together in class. In your opinion, which one is ultimately more succesful? Why? Focus on details, not generalities.

Contact me if you have any questions. Otherwise, have fun, and good luck!

Last class

Greetings from Moscow.. I just wanted to leave a post to wish you all a great last class (I finally got on to the internet). I really enjoyed getting to know all of you this semester, and I wish you all the best. I hope I can make it to the end of the year celebration. On a final note, you all should know that pretty much all stereotypes of Russians are fairly accurate, think Eurotrip & Team America.

Take care,
Gillian

Film Actors Guild in Team America

Note: Sorry that this is really late Ed, I was out of town until yesterday and wasn't able to get access to computer.

What I found most interesting about the satirical aspect of Team America was Parker and Stone's apparent agenda against actors. They seem to be really irritated with the way that actors approach the war, and more so how vocal they choose to be on the issues. Their are several cliches present in the way that they present the actors: Matt Damon appears to represent the stereotype that all actors are dumb and have nothing valuable to add to intellectual discussion. Sean Penn makes outrageous anti-Team America statements that are completely false (saying that Iraq had rivers of chocolate and sunny meadows before Team America showed up), satirizing the fact that actors often try to take a strong stance on issues that they may not fully understand.

They point they were probably trying to make through this is the political spectrum is not where actors should be. The people in Washington should be making decisions on these issues, and the army should be executing them. Actors, according to Parker and Stone, are held in much too high esteem in this country through no achievement of their own. Team America goes to great lengths to show that , while they may serve as good entertainment, their is no reason why the American people should give any validity to their stances on issues concerning politics.