The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through actions of tactical media, the Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about what they consider problematic social and political issues. To date, the duo has produced three films: The Yes Men (2003), The Yes Men Fix the World (2009) and The Yes Men Are Revolting (2014). In these films, they impersonate entities that they dislike, a practice that they call "identity correction". The Yes Men operate under the mission statement that lies can expose truth. They create and maintain fake websites similar to ones they intend to spoof, which have led to numerous interview, conference, and TV talk show invitations. They espouse the belief that corporations and governmental organizations often act in dehumanizing ways toward the public. Elaborate props are sometimes part of the ruse (e.g. Survivaball), as shown in their 2003 DVD release The Yes Men. The Yes Men have collaborated with other groups of similar interest, including Improv Everywhere, Andrew Boyd and Steve Lambert.
The Yes-Men were a high energy rock band from Melbourne Australia formed by Sean Greenway in 1995. Musically the band played a powerful Australian style of rock’n’roll, very close to the pulse of Radio Birdman and Sonic's Rendezvous Band but with a harder edge and more full-on production. Sean Greenway died unexpectedly in January 2001 and with his passing The Yes-Men ceased to exist.
Background
Greenway was pretty much a mainstay of the burgeoning Melbourne underground rock scene in the late 80’s and early 90’s. He started his career as a teenager in Foot and Mouth and then formed God (Australian band) with whom he had much success. God' (often stylized as GOD) was a rock 'n' rollband from Melbourne, together from 1986 to 1989 and comprising Joel Silbersher, Tim Hemensley, Sean Greenway and Matthew Whittle. All members were 15-16 at the time of the band's formation. Prior to God's formation, Hemensley had been a member of Royal Flush (with Roman Tucker, later of Rocket Science), Greenway and Whittle were members of Foot and Mouth, and Silbersher had his own radio show on 3RRR.
The film revolves around "The Yes Men"—two anti-globalization activists, under the aliases Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno—who impersonate spokespeople for the WTO and affiliated corporations, in order to secretly lampoon and satirize these organizations with elaborate ruses and fraudulent announcements of ridiculous corporate decisions, in front of live, unsuspecting audiences (usually comprising businesspeople, university student bodies, and/or the press). The film details the two activists' involvement in hoaxes targeting SimCopter, the 2000 G. W. Bush presidential campaign, McDonald's, and, most prominently, the WTO. The film also includes brief interviews with Michael Moore and Greg Palast.
The film premiered at the 28th Toronto International Film Festival in 2003. It was also shown as part of a special screening at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The film received a score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. It is followed by a sequel, The Yes Men Fix the World.
Don't play football We play Fenders We chop fish in kitchen blenders We're a disgrace to our gender We're the men! Always together night and day It makes our girlfriends think we're gay But who needs women when you've got friends? We're the men! The men will never let me down The men will always be around The men won't argue, scratch, or fight The men won't say, "I've got a headache tonight"! On Friday night we'll all jump in a car And blow all our money at a go-go bar Sober up for a week to do it over again because We're the men! We're twenty-one, but we act like we're ten We're as immature as we've ever been Maybe we'll grow up, but I don't know when because We're the men! We'll get together Drink together Sweat together Stink together Laugh together Cry together Live together And die together!
The man even understands consent ... This is not the real Thomas Cromwell ... Now, as Donald Trump returns to the White House, we need to be clear-eyed about the men who enable tyrants ... the yes men and enablers who will frame US law to fulfil his wishes.
The Yes-Men ... The movie features the Yes-Men’s trials and tribulations as they try to use their superpowers to win the War on Common Sense by bringing into being a Great Depression thought to be ...
