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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
The comic genius of "This Is Spinal Tap" fame talks about corporate corruption, the art of the American apology and his new film, "Teddy Bears' Picnic."
Mar 29, 2002 | Rich white men -- corporate titans, leaders of industry, politicians, celebrities -- get fairly leveled in Harry Shearer's newest film, "Teddy Bears' Picnic." The movie spoofs the annual power orgy that is Bohemian Grove, the exclusive, all-male retreat in the woods north of the San Francisco Bay Area. From Enron's collapse to the unfolding tragedy of Global Crossing, there couldn't be a better time for this movie.
Perhaps most memorable as heavy metal bassist Derek Smalls in the 1984 mockumentary classic "This Is Spinal Tap," the actor, comedian and satirist is also no slouch when it comes to more serious cultural criticism. There's his weekly radio program, "Le Show," writings for the online magazine Slate, commentary for programs like "Now with Bill Moyers" -- public television's sleeper hit of the season -- and even a brief column in Salon. And Shearer's list of film and TV credits is endless.
His take on power and corruption is a nuanced one. To Shearer, what's most compelling about the Enrons of the world is that their corruption is largely circumstantial; give anyone that kind of wealth and the results won't be pretty. From the rich down to the poor, we're a partially defective species. "That's what's funny," Shearer explains. "We wouldn't be able to laugh at Shakespearean comedy today if we weren't the same flawed people that we've been for a long time."
"Teddy Bears' Picnic," which Shearer wrote, directed and executive produced, opens Friday in limited release. He recently spoke with Salon about his film, Jimmy Swaggart, Starbucks, Linda Tripp and the general state of the world.
Your film is about a bunch of white men and the havoc they can wreak. It seems pretty timely, given the state of thing like Enron, K-Mart and Global Crossing. Did you see this all coming?
It's not so much that I saw it coming, but that I see it being. It doesn't change really. There was a period last fall when I would watch the movie at film festivals where I thought, maybe people aren't ready to see this view of those in power yet. But thankfully that moment has passed. This was conceived some time ago, when it was a different group of people who were messing around like this. It seems like there are always going to be these folks. The show goes on.
It's all about flouting the rules. Doesn't it seem like everybody lives by that today?
Not everybody. The iron law is when there's this much money at stake people are going to be fairly crudely rational creatures and, rules be damned!
Then who does live within the rules?
Most people who don't have access to power and large amounts of money. Those are the two goads to cheat. I thought, when I first started seeing high-money show business, that it was a sort of iron law that the more money on the table, the worse the behavior. I haven't been around that much power but I think people, when faced with huge, insane amounts of money and seductive amounts of power, are weak creatures. And the rest of us who aren't so tempted find it easier to say, "Oh, no parking here at 9, OK. I'll move my car."
Are we just suckers then?
We're just the same people put in different circumstances. That's the difference between conventional satire, which says, "ooh, the powerful are bad people," and what I think is a more comedic view, which is, if you or I were faced with these temptations and these seductions, we might act just as badly as these folks do.
What would you say to the point that some people make, that the state of our union has never been stronger?
I think the difference between a better time and this one -- and it's strong in my mind because I'm a part-time resident of a place where it isn't true -- can be found in the relative weakness of community at this point in time. The individualist ethic has so triumphed over the community ethic. They should exist in some sort of balance but nothing exists in a balance in American society. Either it's too much of one thing or too much of another. So we right now have way too much emphasis on "I got mine," and way too little emphasis on things that bind communities together.
