I was very young during most of the Bush years but the era was during my formative years. The old sub had some conversations about how the Bush years were even more fucked than the last 4 years. I looked back and realized how homogenous entertainment and culture was.
For example, there was a very macho edge to a lot of the TV programming back then (Spike TV, WWE was still really popular, a ton of over the top action movies). It seems like everything on TV was focused on objectifying "babes", explosions, dangerous events, and being traditionally masculine. Michael Moore got booed at the Oscars for criticizing Bush, Bill Maher's first show was cancelled for calling the US military cowards, and the Dixie Chicks got destroyed. You either rode the way of Patriotism or was outcasted. MAGA tried to revive this macho nationalism but it rang hollow and never took hold.
It was also the time Christian evangelicals (Jesus Camp) became a potent political force for the GOP.
In the background of action movies and manly TV shows, there was the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan. I feel like toughness and masculinity injected into the public by way of the entertainment industry was a way to inflate nationalism.
Do any older chapos have any specific memories of this time or recommendations of this era to watch?
The first 3 seasons of Arrested Development are spectacular. It's a mockery of the era rather than an exemplar of it, but it really couldn't have come from any other period
Seconding this. It definitely encapsulates that era and is absolutely hilarious
The TV show 24 really captured a lot of the feeling the media was trying to push during the Bush era. I wouldn't really recommend watching the show, but it did have scenes depicting torture successfully providing intel and other myths of the time.
Fantasy was really big in the 2000s as well.
If OP is also looking for "historical moments" which capture that same zeitgeist, look up the Abu Ghraib scandal. 24 existed to justify this sort of gruesome behavior. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse
The chad SBNation sabermetrician analyzing reactionary fictional propaganda vs. the virgin 538 sabermetrician attempting to predict electoral outcomes.
Fuck I forgot about 24. South Park did a 24 themed episode and that right there is peak bush years.
Might be stretching it here, but I'd count the original Iron Man. Flashy, technocratic approach to warfare that highlighted all the new exciting technologies and how easy it was to compartmentalize violence with it. It kind of blends the nascent Obama-era liberal of wanting to be the world's superpower "the right way" with the blatant "FUCK YEAH USA" energy. You can see this in the scene where he tests out the new suit on an Iraqi village occupied by terrorist, but there are zero civilian casualties. It was before Occupy Wall Street, so "billionaire savior" is unchallenged. Also it was before Disney sanitized all sex from Marvel, so Tony is play-boy who fucks instead of a concerned dad.
Similarly, I'd say the first two Transformers movies do this. Big and flashy, American military is justified by being the world police, shows how technology is increasingly creeping into our lives but is also uncritical of it. Megan Fox. (Megan Fox was weirdly a big part of the zeitgeist in the latter Oughts).
First Iron Man reminds me of the first Gulf War in the early 90's. Lots of news media types talking about all the fancy shiny new weapons systems, Patriot Anti-Missile batteries, "Smart" Bombs, the M1 Abrams, depleted uranium munitions...
For Jesus Camp-type satire, I remember liking Saved! when I saw it in the theater, and that came out in 2004.
I also watched the miniseries Generation Kill recently, and it was kind of a shock how much it took me right back to 2003. Not that I was ever in the military, but I was the right age for it, and it was crazy to me that I knew exactly what was going on in my life during the invasion of Iraq.
Oh man, forgot Saved! existed. When I think of 'satire' from that time, it's probably some godawful "(whatever) Movie" thing, because that's what peak comedy looked like if you were 12 at the time.
This twitter thread really encapsulates how batshit crazy the early 00's were: https://twitter.com/mugrimm/status/1171794187609657345
My favorite from that thread:
It turned out years later that the intelligence reports used by both the UK and US to invade Iraq were not only bogus, but many of them were sources literally just explaining a scene from the hit movie The Rock and pretending they were real.
Jesus christ, his second thread on Katrina is horrible. Especially that video where ghouls proudly explain how they gunned down black people in the aftermath.
Historical Moment:
The mission accomplished banner behind Bush when he said that combat operations in Iraq were "over"
The Yellow Cake lies as justification for invading Iraq in 2003.
Colin Powell's UN Security Council Speech to fearmonger about the upcoming invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Muther fucking Pat god damned Tillman's death/murder and coverup by US Army Rangers. There's a gut wrenching podcast about this from Behind the Bastards
Documentaries:
(Haven't watched these in a very long time, so probably going to have to sit through some very liberal vibes.)
"Out Foxed:Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism"
"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War"
"Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election"
TV Shows:
Invader Zim
Things that stick out in my memory. Supersize me, The Man Show, Fahrenheit 9/11, WWE had some really racist and nationalist storylines especially involving the wrestler Muhammad Hassan, anything South Park was doing, MXC, the Jason Bourne movies, Tom Clancy’s video games peaked at this time too.
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, lmao. That show is reactionary af, but sometimes some of the goofs are so dumb they’re funny.
Jibjab, Blue Collar Comedy Tour, the hyper sexualization of female video game characters, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, Green Day’s American Idiot, Chapelle’s Show, The Daily Show, and SNL come to mind.
Edit: Also the first couple seasons of Weeds.
Lindsay Ellis's video on Bush-era protest music captures a lot of what I remember as a Green Day and subsequently nu metal -obsessed preteen. (Not American though)
(I had System of a Down binge after watching that video and shit holds up. In fact, I think I like them more now than I ever did at the time.)
There was also the NOFX album "American Errorist", a bunch of Rock Against Bush comps and his voter drive "punkvoter", Vote or Die type shit being peddled by musicians that all failed miserably to convince anyone to do anything except for chuds to stop listening to these musicians
Additional TV show suggestions: Early seasons of the Colbert Report. First two seasons of The Boondocks.
David Cross' albums "It's Not Funny" and "Shut Up You Fucking Baby," I feel, are excellent windows into the impotent rage people on the left felt at the time.
Seconding this, especially the stuff about 9/11 in Shut Up You Fucking Baby.
