‘Transformers’ Movie Jabs Bush
EmailllABC’s Noah Kotch reports: Early in the new Michael Bay film "Transformers", opening over the July 4th weekend, the President requests a late night " Ding Dong" while reclining in his bedroom suite on Air Force One. We never see a face nor hear a name, but there’s no mistaking his exaggerated Texas twang.
We won’t spoil the plot – yes, there actually is a plot — but it’s this request for a Hostess treat that inadvertently lets the serpent into the garden or, should we say, the decepticon into the larder.
President Bush is getting plenty of knocks these days but his fleeting portrayal in "Transformers" — as a Ding Dong-craving, disengaged figurehead — may sting a little more than the usual. Not only is this movie likely to be one of the biggest Hollywood summer releases in memory, it also comes from a director known for flag-waving and patriotism. Michael Bay is not exactly Michael Moore.
The movie contains Bay’s usual reverence for American troops — this time in the Persian Gulf. But the regal and leaderly role he’s accorded presidents in past movies isn’t there in "Transformers . " This time, with the world in crisis, the President just gets sent into a bunker.
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Bay may be the director but the Movie is a Spielberg production, no?
And we all know how *his* politics run, no?
(Anybody remember his portrayal of government types in ET?)
Posted by: Felix Torres | July 1, 2007, 6:26 pm 6:26 pm
It’s still a free country Felix. And everyone is entitled to their opinion and to speak their mind. So you don’t agree with Bay. The majority of the world does. So live with it.
Posted by: Ron | July 2, 2007, 5:59 pm 5:59 pm
Even a machine knows incompetance.
Posted by: sandra l | July 3, 2007, 2:30 am 2:30 am
Wow, how edgy of him. No one has done that before
Posted by: hh | July 3, 2007, 10:32 am 10:32 am
I’m a big fan of President George W. Bush. I’m sick and tired of people attacking him. I loved Transformers in the ’80s. Why should I have to deal with Bush insults during a movie? I’m there to have fun not to get upset. It had nothing to do with the plot anyway. Bush is doing his best to help keep the US safe. Anyway long time Transformers fans hated the movie anyway. Hollywood messed up again. Leave Bush alone. He’s a good man and a great president. Bush and Cheeney in ’08!
Posted by: Mike | July 10, 2007, 11:46 pm 11:46 pm
Wow you guys are so off base. The political messages in this movie are extremely pro-war and pro-republican.
The supposed ‘jabs’ at Bush are nothing more than good-natured ribs with the same tone as the jokes Bush makes about himself.
On the other hand we have the following in support of the war:
-the portrayal of Iraqi civilians as very accepting of the American presence complete with cliche little Iraqi boy following the troops around
-lines like (and I’m paraphrasing) “He’s a soldier and he won’t give up until the job is done”, “we must finish what we started [the robot war]“, “no sacrifice, no victory”, “a necessary sacrifice to bring peace to this planet”, “freedom is the right of all sentient beings”
-a covert and evil government wing that hides secrets from the Secretary of Defense (who is portrayed in a very positive light in this movie by Jon Voight)
I feel that the inclusion of this is Bay’s way of symbolically shifting the blame for the “bad intelligence” about the WMDs away from the Bush administration to shadowy government bureaucrats. And then there was that line about that guy’s “enormous government salary” which was a thinly veiled republican attack on ‘big government’.
As the article says, Bay is “known for flag-waving and patriotism” and in my opinion it certainly shows in his latest movie.
Posted by: James Martens | July 22, 2007, 2:35 am 2:35 am
couldnt agree with you more James, but you forgot about the cars, the whole movie was one big commercial for american built cars…forget global warming, buy more cars and keep the american economy going even if it means destroying the earth
Posted by: Matt | November 2, 2007, 9:28 pm 9:28 pm