Although "Team America: World Police" is an uneven movie, I admired that it used the marionette as a tool of satire. It was audacious to merge the politics and pop culture of today with an antiquated form of entertainment. And it felt totally original.
Well, maybe not. I recently stumbled over this music video for the Dire Straits song "Calling Elvis." It includes the same puppet ploy, and it was released in 1991, a dozen years before "Team America" came out.
I'm not accusing Matt Stone and Trey Parker of stealing the idea for their movie from Mark Knopfler. (Their inspiration was apparently the 1960s TV show "Thunderbirds.") But it does take some of the edge off of "Team America."
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