The NRA and Ted Cruz Tried to Appropriate Beloved TV Shows. The Best Solution Might Be to Let Them.
by Boobie
In 1984, Bruce Springsteen was on his way to international superstardom on the back on his new album Born in the USA. The record’s sound, with its shiny 80s production, was a departure from his prior work, which ranged from jazzy folk to grandiose rock n roll to stripped down storytelling. This distracted a lot of people from the fact that the lyrical content hadn’t changed all that much and, famously, Republican president Ronald Reagan asked the Boss’s permission to use the song on his re-election campaign. Springsteen declined, because he felt that his use of the track was reductive and manipulative, but it would have been a lot funnier had be allowed him to use what was actually a protest song about the country’s shortcomings while campaigning, as an early example of what’s now known as a “self-own.” Luckily, even after years of publicity and rumination about how dumb it would be to use this song as a flag-waving, patriotic anthem, Republican candidates are still trying to use it.
This is relevant because, on Wednesday evening, the NRA similarly used pop culture against its creators’ intentions, tweeting a gif from beloved NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. This usage was immediately rebuked by showrunner Mike Schur with a co-sign from star Amy Poehler and, later, Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza:
This is an understandable reaction, and one that feels good not just for creators but for sympathetic fans of the work. If I created something, and then someone I hated tried to use it for themselves, I’d probably react pretty strongly — As it is, I get mad when I tweet at Neil deGrasse Tyson that he’s a dumbass nerd and people with names like DeplorableMagaNaruto like it. The problem is that because the political right has given itself so entirely to the sorts of trolls who thrive on “liberal tears” and making people mad, lashing back is likely to have the opposite of the intended effect.
On Thursday, this proved true (just as a friend predicted), when Ted Cruz made the below statement at the Conservative Political Action Conference dividing the Simpson family into political parties. Cruz may look like a blobfish, but he (or someone on his staff) does have a certain amount of social media savvy, so I doubt that the timing is coincidental.
To which the Simpsons fans and creators responded similarly to those of Parks and Rec. Which, again, I understand and sympathize with! However, I think it’s best to just point out the self-own without the fire and brimstone, so as not to give them more motivation to appropriate art that isn’t meant for or supportive of them.
Take Parks and Rec for example. Guns and gun advocates aren’t all that prominent in the show, despite it featuring Ron Swanson a libertarian caricature who probably helped radicalize a bunch of dumbass white teen and twentysomething dudes during and after the show’s run (raises hand timidly). There are, off the top of my head, three prominent instances. The first is an episode where the gang goes on a hunting trip and Ron ends up getting shot in the head (and Donna’s beloved Benz gets a window shot out). The second is when Ron gets frustrated while playing an arcade hunting game and Donna takes him out to shoot a real gun, which he’s good at — in other words, a guy with a gun gets mad and goes out with a gun to relieve that anger. The third is when Leslie is running for city council and one of the fringe candidates is a gun nut who wants to arm everyone and put guns on cars. This is the show the NRA wants to make reference to while thanking their nut job spokesperson? Let them!!!! That is easily more embarrassing than an old man hearing rock song called “Born in the USA” and assuming that the song means the USA is good, because these shows are far less ubiquitous and less easily mistakable for being in line with policies that they’re clearing no supportive of.
The Simpsons comment, which unfortunately sparked arguments like this one among people who talk like they learned English by binge-reading Wonkette and refuse to let the 2016 Democratic primary die, is an even more cut-and-dried instances of self-ownership. Luckily, rather than get mad about it, one Simpsons contributor, former showrunner Bill Oakley, sort of what I’m suggesting and just let the own marinate:
In the 1940s, the writers of the Superman radio program co-opted Ku Klux Klan passwords and rituals in a story arc in which Superman defeated the hate group. They undermined them not with righteous but sanctimonious vitriol but by making them seem ridiculous and laughable. When dealing with opponents who thrive on your sanctimony and anger, dismissive ridicule that suffocates the story may be the vest prescription.
