Essay 2 Outline - Yes Men

Thesis: Society sits back and doesn’t question what goes on around them. People need to get involved and challenge what they see and experience.

Intro

The Yes Man consists of two anti-globalization protesters, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum.
-Who are the yes men? What is their goal?
-Brief background on mike and andy
-Identity correction

One of the Yes Men’s most known projects is the mockery website for the WTO, gatt.org.
-How did the WTO project get started
-Their gatt.org website
-Email invitation to various then decided to go to one of them Yes men were born in Salzburg Oct 2000(kingsnorth) not real important only one sentence
-Got an email invitation to attend a textile conference at Tampere University of Tech in Finland Aug 2001

With this opportunity to expand their message, Mike and Andy turned this WTO project into documentary film.
-What form did the work take?
-Documentary film
-Through the film the audience was able to see each step: preproduction (months of planning) and production (the conference, reaction of people or lack thereof)
Presentation powerpoint with a surprise prototype of their idea (beyond the golden parachute)

The participants, being highly educated listening to their presentation, did not even question this outrageous idea.
-What did the participants not do anything?
-Suit (kingsnorth)
-Important org wto (kingsnorth)
-They are educated ppl phd

The Yes Men wanted to point out how problematic liberal economics can be.
Yes mens intention for this project?
-Everything they say is “merely logic taken to its most extreme” and this is the point of the WTO project. Exaggerate and mirror what the people you are talking to are already saying. It is to point out the how problematic liberal economics can be (kingsnorth)
-Ex of logic to the extreme: Arguments at wto was valid CW, India, ect (beyond golden)
-Ex of problematic liberal econ: Gandhi, third world sweatshops (kingsnorth)
With the artistic eye catcher of shock (kester) they hoped to get people to understand their views about organizations like the wto and their potential negatives

Along with not getting a response from the participants at the conference, they did not get introuble or fined for the project OR Although they did not much of a response from the participants at the conference, they did have to deal with some legal issues.
-Consequences and results?
-Nothing really happened
-Gatt.org is still up and running
-They have done wto projects since then so they keep getting invitations
-Did they get fined for impersonation? Look up

The WTO project can be seen as a new genre of art.
-Kwon – is it new genre? What criteria of success and failure are posed?
-It starts out with a radical idea that will mock and test society.
-Then the viewers of the documentary can see what is the flaws of people as a whole, as a society.
-With a new genre of art comes a type or trial and error.
The Yes Men did not get the exact result they wanted but there were successful aspects.
-Success – movie viewers can see how society doesn’t question authority enough, just because they have nice suits on and are from the big bad “WTO” doesn’t mean that they can’t have bad ideas
-Failure – people at the conference gave them no reaction. They didn’t get yelled at, kicked out or even questioned; they just politely applauded.


Conclusion
-Thesis: From the beginning the viewers of the documentary are fully aware of the upsurd idea the Yes Men present at the conference but the participants at the conference don’t even question the outrageous idea all because it is coming from people in fancy suits from a big corporation. Society does not question authority nearly as much as it should.