US election funny viral video fever

2012-11-02 10:07

Jean Barker

I am nervously looking forward to the end of the elections. Nervously because I'm scared Romney will win. Looking forward because my phone number used to belong to someone called "Varoon". I used to just get texts from some guy in Texas who wanted "Varoon" to come and watch porn with him and drink beer. Now I'm instead constantly getting automated calls from interest groups and political parties wanting to survey me. I almost miss the guy from Texas.

But luckily, there's a cure for my irritation: Viral election videos. So here they are, along with a quick summary of what they have to teach us about what Americans with a sense of humour are feeling right now:

Americans are sick and tired of the elections

If you've had enough of the constant squabbling, blatant showmanship and posing of the candidates, and the millions of dollars being spent on making a decision that should not cost the US this much, then you and 4-year old Abigael Evans are on the same page. Abigail broke down after listening to election coverage on NPR on the way to a grocery store. Her mother filmed her while she wept and then posted it online. Nice parenting there... "I'm tired... tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney", Abigael blubs. So are we, kid. So are we.

Kids like Obama more than Romney because Romney will cancel Sesame Street

In "Kids React", a selection of cute kids reacts to election video coverage. Few of them know what the difference is between republicans and democrats - and one of them didn't know what the candidates' names were. But for the most part, these kids hit some uncomfortable truths: "Democrats believe in voting and Republicans own land". "He's a good actor", says one kid as he watches Romney on screen. Most of them really just don't want to talk about politics at all, and wish the war would be over...but some of them don't believe it ever will be. They grew up with it, and have never known an America in peacetime. But more outrageous than the war, for them, is Romney's threat to cut funding to PBS, who screens Sesame Street. This, most of the kids say, is just unacceptable.

Romney is all about the money (but he won't show you where his is)

If you don't know Gagnam Style, the hit Korean satire song about a Seoul neighbourhood full of flashy dandies and their hot women, then this song should still make perfect sense as a satire of Mitt Romney - and it's especially funny because the women in it aren't hot. In it, Mitt prances around showing off how rich he is, touring his wife's stables and lazing in the sun.

Women should vote for Obama (or against Romney at any rate)

Comedy star Lena Dunham's Obama campaign advert "my first time" went viral last week. In it, she talks about her "first time"...voting. For Obama. It's a little corny, but was going down well, until people noticed the similarity between this advert  and Russian President Vlad Putin's earlier one. Somehow, seeing Putin's vaguely porno-toned campaign, which is much less tasteful  made Obama's ad seem a bit "off".

If you vote for Romney you could get sucked into a tube that leads to... China

This is one of my favourites. Homer Simpson goes to vote in this hilarious video that mocks some states' attempts to block legal voters from the poles with new laws, Romney's tax returns, and Romney's "invention" of Obamacare. Always hard for me to understand how the same company that makes Fox News makes this great programme.

Okay, now, I know what you are all thinking...

Where are the hilarious anti-Obama viral videos?

Well I Googled it. Nothing except that Clint Eastwood thing that you've all seen and that frankly, made the Republicans look stupider. Oh wait. Here's one. Only 70k hits, but it'll do. And it's sort of funny. Sort of... In this video, a scary-looking National Rifle Association member urges us to protect freedom against Obama, who wants to tighten up gun laws. What's up with this? Do Republicans have no sense of humour - or is Google broken? 

- Watch all the videos on one page here.

- Jean is a screenwriting/directing dual MFA student in California, USA. She tweets as @jeanbarker and blogs pictures of signs and more, here. She will be back.

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