Basic Documentary Aspects:
The Yes Men Fix The World is a comedic documentary depicting the lives of two mischievous men: Andy Bilchbaum and Mike Bonnano. The film was directed by these two men in order to enhance the message they’re trying to portray. The significant underlying theme found in the film is that people somewhat overlook the true flaws of big-name organizations! The film explores such levels of responsibility the organizations hold. For example, the film gives an in-depth explanation of Dow’s influence on the Bhopal disaster. The film is structured in a chronological manner from earliest events (pranks) to most recent. However, the events are somewhat random only linked by the fact that they are pranks on large corporations. The structure is beneficial to the portrayal of the messages in the film because it keeps the viewer guessing the extent of the next prank.
Documentary Aspects:
This film is a great example of an expository documentary. The Yes Men incorporates a narrator to help interpret what we’re watching. The documentary is structured similar to an essay, which is a key factor in expository documentaries. Furthermore, the film presents vast amounts of information on subjects that have previously occurred, wh3ich is a commonly used aspect in several expository documentaries. The perspective being transmitted in the film is that of “The Yes Men.” (Andy Bilchbaum and Mike Bonnano) However, many other perspectives are referred to such as: corporation officials, journalists and people who have come in direct contact with the Yes Men. The documentary incorporates a lot of archival footage throughout the filming process. Footage of prank scenes are often presented along side other videos regarding subjects found in the movie. For example, the film uses direct footage from the BBC interview, where one of the Yes Men pretends he is a representative of the Dow Corporation. Another convention commonly found in the film is the use of humorous re-enactments that help maintain the viewer’s attention! A good demonstration of this would be when the two are being filmed swimming in a lake to represent their levels of confusion. I do not feel the portrayed perspective was biased. I feel that the perspective used fairly represented the public suffering from such ignorance by big-name corporations.
Strengths of the documentary:
I feel that the humorous aspects of the film made it very enjoyable to watch. Also, I felt that the documentary was very consistent in terms of their use of important archival footage. The best scene to support that statement would be the scene where the two prank-artists create the candles made of wax. The scene leading up to the main event where it shows them preparing the candles was an important piece of archival footage. It demonstrates the extreme prep-work put in before one of their unique pranks and how the hard work finalizes by being significantly humorous and beneficial to the viewer.
I feel the film incorporated a lot of strong interview scenes. For example, A very thought-provoking interview was demonstrated when Andy and Mike interview the journalist in Bhopal. This interview helped the audience get further comprehend the severity of Dow’s ignorance and how the population there isn’t supported with proper necessities that could be supplied by Dow.
How it affects our culture:
A film such as “The Yes Men Fix the World,” has significant value in today’s culture. Such a film allows the viewers to get a better understanding of corporation flaws. Furthermore, the film demonstrates how one small event can become widespread so rapidly. One positive outcome that could come from this film is people becoming significantly more aware of the situation their society is in and how it may be possible to help the societies of others. However, there are negative aspects that could form as a result of this film. Corporations could become more secure in terms of what they release to the public, meaning better securities for themselves in order to keep their businesses intact.
