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ESSENTIAL // 12.05.02 GET
YOUR WAR ON GET
YOUR WAR ON Popular culture has produced a nice constant of existence for anyone born post-Watergate: Whatever the situation is, we can find a way to laugh at it. Or sell it. And preferably, we can do both. The September 11, 2001 attacks seemed to change all that for a time. Humorists were largely left adrift, not sure what to do. The prevailing wisdom was that the popular Seinfeldian self-obsessive, detached irony was dead and that it was now time to Get Serious again. Dave Letterman was back about a week after the attacks, but with a wonderful monologue about the changed city and country, and a guest list that was informative about current events moreso than being his trademark escapist, absurd entertainment. Jon Stewart's returning monologue on THE DAILY SHOW was notable for his declaration that he was no longer doing a comedy show and that they'd be feeling out what to do day by day. Bill Maher got his show POLITICALLY INCORRECT cancelled by ABC after he offhandedly suggested that suicide bombers display an element of courage and commitment to their cause through their actions that is not the same as what an American fighter pilot shows in pushing a button to release a bomb from an aircraft flying above the range of hostile fire. Think about that for a second. He got fired for stating his opinion, and because people complained that he was anti-American for having that opinion. This happened in a country that was founded on actions that were politically subversive to our then-government, the British crown, and it happened right after we were attacked precisely because we are a pluralistic society that tolerates and encourages differing points of view. Irony wasn't dead. It was right there in front of us the whole damn time. And someone, thankfully, had the balls to stand up and point it out. On October 9, 2001, David Rees used his girlfriend's iMac, some clip art, and his recollections of the conversations he'd been having with friends over the preceding weeks to create a comic strip he called GET YOUR WAR ON. He wanted to work through some of his feelings about how bad the situation really was, and felt that the prominent humorists in popular culture were not just missing the mark, but shying away from it altogether. He posted his strips online at http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html, emailed the link to a couple friends, and waited for reaction. Millions of hits, countless interviews and a book publishing contract later, I think he got the message. As is often the case with people who feel like they are wandering lost in the wilderness looking for a new voice, he had become the voice. Using simple clip art printed in red, Rees' office workers discuss and react to the September 11th attacks, the invasion of Afghanistan, the anthrax scare, the rise of Homeland Security, the Israeli/Palestinian situation, Pakistan and India-even the Enron scandal. They use simplistic, simple, foul vocabulary. And it taps into the weird-mix psyche that the country had late last year, and continues to have today. We're skeptical about entering a war on terrorism, but we want to hunt down and kill Bin Laden. We're uneasy about our own safety, yet we're even more uneasy about the powers of an agency charged with protecting us. And we're confused that we feel such a mix of emotions. It's OK to drink a lot in response to all that. I know I did. Rees, thankfully, gave these emotions a form that we could appreciate and read to realize that we weren't alone after all. Satire is a forum of humor, and humor is either funny to you or it isn't. You can't convince someone that something is funny if they believe it is not. The better measure for how successful satire is is to understand its message. It would be easy to oversimplify GET YOUR WAR ON to being anti-war or anti-Bush or left wing propaganda. Rees doesn't have a political agenda to advance through this work-he's merely offering up his observations and experiences. That's not an unpatriotic act; in fact, questioning our society and our government is actually one of the more patriotic things that a person can do in this country. You may not like the humor. You may find it to be a bit distasteful, or needless vulgar (Rees' characters swear and consume massive amounts of alcohol while sometimes viewing internet porn). You may not even agree with his opinions. But if you really read these strips, you cannot deny how perfectly they capture and skewer the national mood of the time. And that is what makes the work a perfect snapshot of a moment in time for our national mood. GET YOUR WAR ON ought to be remembered as one of the great satire works of the early 21st century. At a time when the US government contemplates enlisting cable installers and gardeners to spy on the populace and when those same government officials label any kind of challenge to their authority and ideas (thoughtful or otherwise) as unpatriotic and downright dangerous to America's security and future, you have to acknowledge the significance of this simplistic sequential art. And
for anyone out there who is wondering why they should pay $11 for
a book of comic strips that I apparently just gave you a link for
that lets you read them for free, let me point out one important
fact about this book. David Rees' royalties will be donated to landmine
relief efforts in Afghanistan. The book's publisher, Soft Skull
Press, will be contributing to this cause as well out of proceeds
from the book. We're often given a GET
YOUR WAR ON is published by Soft Skull Publishing, and has a cover
price of $11.00. This book is in print, so if your local comic store
can't get a copy for you with the ISBN code of 188712876X, we suggest
finding a better store.
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