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My wife is a high school teacher. She will be teaching a unit on Satire (for the 1st time). She's going to want to show some movie clips that clearly show satire. Can anyone recommend some good, clean, satirical movies?She would really like ones that satire consumerism and/or materialism, and also ones that satire High school politics/clicks.
Follow Ups:
> She would really like ones that satire consumerism and/or materialism>One of my favorites in college in the early 1970s was "Putney Swope" which is exactly what you're describing. It is available on DVD.
> and also ones that satire High school politics/clicks.>
H.S. politics - "Election" with Reese Witherspoon.
Yup, I saw Putney Swope in college too. It was pretty subversive back in the day.It might be a little too "70's" for today's teens. Seeing it not too long ago, some of it hadn't aged to well. But it's undoubtedly Robert Downey Sr.'s best effort.
From Publishers Weekly
Free enterprise runs amok in Barry's satirical near-future nightmare: the American government has been privatized and now runs most of the world, including "the Australian Territories of the U.S.A.," where the book is set. American corporations sponsor everything from schools to their employees' identities, and literally go to war with one another. By taking a drink at the wrong water cooler, Hack Nike, a merchandising officer at the athletic shoe company whose name he bears, is coerced into a nefarious marketing plot to raise the demand for Nike's new $2,500 sneakers by shooting teenagers. Hank becomes responsible for the death of hapless teen Hayley McDonald's; he and two top Guerrilla Marketing executives, both named John Nike, are soon pursued by the ruthless Jennifer Government, a former advertising executive who is now a federal agent with a personal ax to grind-and preferably to sink into the cranium of her hated ex, one of the John Nikes. Barry tosses off his anticorporate zingers with relish; his sendup of "capitalizm"-a world where fraud is endemic and nearly everyone (except the French) is a cog in vast wealth-creation machines-has some ingenious touches. The one-joke shtick wears thin, however, and is simply overdone at times ("I'm getting rid of Government, the greatest impediment to business in history," says John. "Yes, some people die. But look at the gain!"). Barry's cartoonish characters and comic book chase scenes don't allow for much psychological subtlety or emotional resonance. Still, if it's no 1984, this breezy, stylish read will amuse the converted and get some provocative conversations going.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
(nt)
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
Plus...your wife HAS to show the scene from The Great Dictator with Chaplin tossing the giant balloon-globe of the world - it's one of the most famous moments in all of movies. Another great Chaplin satire clip would be one of the factory/assembly line scene(s) from Modern Times. (Both these movies have sound, BTW.)Clueless might be another good "high school" one. (You can argue whether it's parody or satire or merely clever adpatation but I say it's all three.)
Preston Sturges' comedy Hail The Conquoring Hero is brilliant.
I confess a real fondness for Robert Altman's The Player, as nasty a take on movies and consumerism as you're likely to ever see.
So she wants to stay away from social/political satire??? Too bad.
I would be tempted to play the "just one more bite" scene from Monty Python's Meaning of Life", bits of Life Of Brian and Brazil & A Clockwork Orange complete. This would undoubtedly get me fired.
Thinking of satires...
An Ideal Husband
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise
Bullets Over Broadway
Wag The Dog
Three Kings
Muse
Bulworth
Brazil
Oh Brother Where Art Thou
The Charlie Kaufman Trifecta:
Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless MindAlas, I think these are all "R" rated.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - The bit with the two peasants in the field arguing about democracy; the trojan bunny, the witch trial...Sleeper has a bunch of good scenes
Young Frankenstein
/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/
...
Young Frankenstein, History of the World part One
Monty Python: the Life of Brian
Lindsay Anderson; Britannia Hospital
Unmatched
... and bite sized as well.
If you want something.... more adult.... (which I knwo you didn't ask for) try an American comedy that I think only lasted one season called ACTION... its a scathing look at the film and entertainment industries. Brilliantly biting the hand that feeds.
NOT for the littlies though.
re
That's the first film that came to mind when I saw the first post.
... make pretty good satire on consumerism.
Dr. Strangelove.
Does satire have to be funny? I am thinking that the PLanet Of The Apes series is a satire of human values. And Logan's Run or any of the similar sci-fi films about insulated consumer societies are easily viewable as satires. The Running Man? Was that another one?
Of course there is always The Trueman Story.
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