|
MIKE JUDGE
Director, Writer, 'Idiocracy'
Rarely does a movie come along that is so cutting, baron of hope and true to life that the movie goer laughs themselves into a sad coma, but Idiocracy did it in 2006. This movie, scuttled by Fox, the distributor, and sued by Costco, Starbucks, Fuddruckers and even the estate of Stanley Kubrick, the movie was a stark look at the realities of America's ever increasing devolution into a cesspool of ignorance, cheap laughs and banal humor and crass celebrity.
Idiocracy, for the 98% of the world that never got a chance to see it, was the most cutting indictment of American society produced in recent memory. You can read my thoughts on the movie here, after I saw it for a second time when I took my sister to the Alamo Drafthouse. Set five hundred years in the future, the unraveling of society was extrapolated out into a obtuse, dumbed down future where Starbucks gives out handjobs, the President is an ultimate fighter-porn
star, and the most average man alive today becomes the smartest man alive while being denigrated by the inbred idiots of the future for 'talking like a fag'.
Mike Judge not only brought us the wonderful satire of Beavis and Butthead, but has satirized the horrors of office life in Office Space and made living in Texas and America all the more tolerable with the continued success of King of the Hill. Each and every subject Mike Judge has satirized has been with deadly accuracy and a kind heart.
I wonder when the full release of Idiocracy hits the video stores on January 9th, if the general population will be offended or delighted by the rather bleak, but truer than life outlook presented before them. I still cringe when I see frat boys reenact their favorite Beavis and Butthead moments, not realizing they themselves are the target of Judge's slings and arrows. If satire is produced, I wonder what it means when it
hits its target so accurately they don't realize they are bleeding?
And so, I dub Mike Judge Schliefkevision Hero of the Year for 2006, for continuing to press on, in the face of a constantly eroding intelligence among his audience, and in light of the horror story upon horror story that plagued the production of Idiocracy. The movie's working title was 3001, which caused a stir with Stanley Kubrick, and the final cut of the movie, clumsily edited due to Fox pulling its funding and essentially trying to shelve the rushed production, which featured insanely hysterical and blatant cuts
on Carl's Jr, Starbucks, Fuddruckers and Costco.
Keep up the good work. |
2006 Hero of the Year:
Mike Judge
|
|
Runners up who didn't quite make the cut:
First Runner Up:
Stephen Colbert
For delivering the most sincere biting and sarcastic speech mocking a sitting president and press corps that was ever delivered.
Second Runner Up:
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
For making a trip to the United States reveal all the infinite possibilities this country once had to offer, in front of an embarrassed President and his wife. Third Runner Up:
Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut
The American who ate 52 hot dogs in Nathan's Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest on Independence Day. Despite finishing second to the reigning Japanese National Champion, Joey
pushed the envelope and personally beat the old record by 15 hot dogs (all in 12 minutes), proving America still is a place of liberty, justice and competitive eating habits. |
