Blog 11 - The Yes Men

The “Yes Men” critique of media is clever and different in ways rhetorical ways towards audience to really think deeper than what meets the eye. The main point portrayed in the film is simply that, the companies, like the prank of being a spokesman for Dow Chemical that they posed as in the film, don’t do what they COULD and have the power to do what is ethical, and not of greed (What about the victims of the Bhopal spill!?!? )and self-interest when they have such power of the economics of life’s stability and the like. This similar interest is worth noting the same argument that Noam Chomsky describes in the “Propaganda Model” that shows the very same economical power control over the masses!!

Another claim made in the film that is emphasized through the various pranks is the power of manipulation without notice. Marx’s “false consciousness” is very well demonstrated in this film as the viewers get a better sense of what really is going behind the scenes of the different companies. Again, like many other media, one needs to rethink and or be critical of claims made by even the most respected and powerful icons out there. In fact, those icons should be especially analyzed or researched before being manipulated.