Tag Archive for 'The Yes Men'

“Pranksters with a Purpose”: The Yes Men Fix the World

carla published on July 27, 2009 in celebrity and zeitgeist. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Yes Men Fix the World

Good news, SuperForest!

Well…good news if you have any sort of access to HBO tomorrow. (I’m sure you can find a way)

Tomorrow (tonight, if you are in the East coast) evening at 9pm, HBO’s Monday night documentary film series will be airing the brand new film, “The Yes Men Fix the World“! I’ve previously mentioned the Yes Men on SuperForest when they performed their newspaper hoax last November and it fills me with great excitement to see they are still working on several projects.

My introduction to the Yes Men came from an honors film class I took a few years back. During each class meeting, a student was asked to share a film with the rest of the class…the catch: it had to follow the professor’s “theme” which that year, coincidentally enough, was environmental sustainability. I saw a bunch of excellent movies but one of the documentaries I saw left a big impact on me. The Yes Men. A film that utilized humor as a means to convey staggering facts and the realities of how some large corporations operate in the United States.

yesmeninfinlandfulljpg

This morning, I learned that filmmakers Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno came out with another film, “The Yes Men Fix the World”. This time, they take on Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton and the U.S. government. As mentioned on the HBO site, “Throughout the film, The Yes Men spoof the twisted world of free-market think tanks in their crusade to call into question today’s big business methods.” Right on!

Take a look:

If you get a chance, watch or record it. Obviously, I have yet to see this myself but if it’s anything like the 2003 film, we’re in for a major treat!

  • For a full synopsis, click here!
  • To become one of the Yes Men and have the chance to participate in their pranks, click here! According to an email I got, if you live in New York and know how to sew, they need your help.

As a side note: This film will also be released in theaters starting Oct. 7 (my birthday), so keep an eye out for it if you prefer to watch it on the big screen!

With Love,
C

These Guys are Awesome!

carla published on November 12, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Meet The Yes Men; a group of activists who practice what they call “identity correction” by posing as professional spokespersons and essentially create fake websites that look similar to the ones they want to spoof. I first learned of them after the release of their 2003 film where they posed as representatives of the WTO and McDonald’s and gave a series of talks across the globe that reflected their views on how large corporations tend to act in ways that are, put bluntly, dehumanizing. If you have yet to see the film, I highly suggest you do because not only are they spreading awareness but they are doing it in a manner that is absolutely hilarious.

One of the best features of this “Yes Men Coalition” is that anyone can become a member. A few months ago I signed up to become part of the team and a couple weeks later, I learned that they were about to strike again. The Yes Men along with several other groups and organizations including the Anti-Advertising Agency, CODEPINK, United for Peace and Justice, Not An Alternative, May First/People Link, Improv Everywhere, Evil Twin, and Cultures of Resistance, all got together 6 months ago and began working on the elaborate newspaper hoax that occurred this morning.
It seems the newspaper prank has already received mixed reactions but in the end, the purpose of the prank all comes down to this. On November 4th we all made history by electing Barack Obama as our 44th President, and it cannot end here. It is up to us to make sure that those headlines come true.