'Get Me Roger Stone' - The Dark Art of Curdled Laughter
- Isobel H
- Aug 1, 2017
- 2 min read
There is something undeniably comical about Donald Trump. He might be just sharing a palantir with some buddies...
Or resembling Ursula the Sea-witch holding little-mermaid-Mitt-Romney hostage...
But the man makes us laugh. Then cry. Then laugh some more, eyes wide and unblinking. We cannot even believe we’re laughing because we know how despicable and dangerous he is, persecuting and brutalising so many vulnerable groups. But the fact remains, we’re still laughing.
Cue Roger Stone.
He dresses like a cartoon pimp, has Richard Nixon’s face tattooed on his back, and he has been at the epicenter of American politics since the 1970s. The Netflix original documentary ‘Get me Roger Stone’ tracks his starring role as the ‘Dirty Trickster’ of American politics. He is the mastermind of the disinformation revolution, all the way from Watergate to Make America Great Again.
Watching this documentary is like being strapped to the front of a train – eyes streaming, facial skin a-flap, screams ripped from your gullet by the sheer maddening velocity. And then you hear yourself laughing. Stone spews clichés at terrific speed and hurls obscenities better than an episode of Jeremy Kyle. He’s not just larger than life, he distorts reality around him like a lead ball on a rubber sheet. Watching someone who surpasses stereotype so bombastically can’t help but elicit a laugh. The amorality he flaunts does nothing to stop the laughter, because it's the source of it. He is at once terrifying and hilarious in his shamelessness, within the documentary itself he is compared to the Joker because he so clearly revels in the performance. But even this comparison is inadequate, the Joker never started the Torturer’s Lobby.
Perhaps the worst part about how funny this documentary is, is the fact that Stone has engineered that laughter. The outrageousness, the moustache-twirling über-Republican villainy, it is all constructed for the very purpose of entertainment and it thrives off scorn. Normally laughter undermines authority - it's why tryants and despots are so quick to persecute dissident comedians - but Stone has effectively found a way to neuter that. By laughing at him you are realising nothing that Stone does not already parade to the world at large makes you feel oddly complicit – but you keep watching because it’s fascinatingly funny to know how he pulls it off.
Basically 'Get Me Roger Stone' is a brilliant documentary. It shines a light on America’s tragic descent into ludicrousness, not laughing is not an option.
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