• by Kate Kaye , August 16, 2004

Word on the virtual street has it that Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" could be available as a PC game sometime in the future. It's just one of countless indications that people appreciate a little politics in their entertainment. And that's perhaps no more apparent than on the Web, where animations and games featuring today's political players abound.

The influx of animations and shorts on the Web "has really been in the last several weeks since the election's kicked into high gear," estimates Daniel Kurtzman, editor of About.com's political humor Web site. Kurtzman claims that his About.com content area has attracted three times its typical number of visitors since the Democratic National Convention.

Many cite the startling success of JibJab Media's animated romp "This Land" as the catalyst for the heightened interest in and development of similar Web animations. A huge hit within a day or two of its mid-July launch, the cartoon features President Bush and John Kerry exchanging zingers to the tune of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," and has been viewed at least 30 million times according to AtomFilms, its exclusive distributor. Nielsen//NetRatings reports that JibJab.com attracted over 14 million unique visitors in July, and AtomFilms drew 13.7 million unique visitors.

"'This Land' definitely opened the floodgates," observes About.com's Kurtzman, who acknowledges that the continual rise in broadband connections is "absolutely" a factor in the political Web animation boom.

Folks in need of a political humor jolt can turn to Flowgo.com, MadBlast, and Miniclip.com to catch silly diversions that take aim at top political targets. Many, such as "I Wanna Be Re-elected," pair song parodies with silly cartoon images and manipulated photos. Others, including "Kerry Workout" and "Bush Aerobics," enable users to interact with animated characters.

After "'This Land' went through the roof," explains Megan O'Neill, director of acquisitions and development at AtomFilms, the short film and animation entertainment site experienced what she guesses is a 100 percent increase in political content submissions. The company has recently released its Mock The Vote site, which houses six mini-animations including "Campaign Jukebox," in which John Kerry and the Kerryettes perform an original ditty that pokes fun at Bush's intellect, the Kerry campaign's Vietnam War focus, and even Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe woes.

One reason for the popularity of political entertainment content, says O'Neill, is the boost in youth interest in this year's election. "Because it's lighthearted, [political animation allows] you to be politically connected, but not so overwhelmed as you are when you're watching the news."

While some virtual vignettes take jabs equally at the right and left, others are clearly partisan. A host of anti-Bush animations can be downloaded from toostupidtobepresident.com. And "Straight Talk," a short film that stars Will Ferrell as a dopey Dubya to promote left-wing issue advocacy group America Coming Together, also mocks the President's intelligence.

"Animators and filmmakers tend to be more against Bush," observes AtomFilms' O'Neill, who says the majority of political animations submitted to the site target the President.

Blockdot, Inc.'s "White House Joust" game allows players to battle as Bush or Kerry. "The election has really polarized everybody, and some people are stepping up to take advantage of that," comments Dan Ferguson, creative director and cofounder of the game development firm.

Issue advocacy group, Environment2004 PAC just released its "Whack-A-Bush" game, which prompts players to prevent Bush from cutting down trees and dumping oil barrels into the ocean. Whack-A-Bush and similarly uncomplicated games like The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Republican Survivor," The Democratic National Committee's "Kick Bush Out," The Republican National Committee's "Kerryopoly," and TrueMajority's "Spank Bush" are intended as humorous ways to engage an audience in the hopes of garnering donations or registrations, rather than as serious strategic challenges.

"Nonpartisan games and products don't sell as well," suggests Thomas Williams, president of Poligames, Inc., a political game company that plans to release the digital version of its Monopoly-inspired "LiberalOpoly" board game soon. The game is targeted to conservatives, and Williams notes that "ConservativeOpoly" will be launched after the November election.

Anthony Bourgoyne, president of 80soft.com--creators of the strategic election-themed PC game, President Forever--thinks the game "definitely raises awareness of how elections work," although he doesn't necessarily think it would influence people to vote one way or another.

But could online political entertainment actually influence the election? When it's partisan, "yes," opines About.com's Kurtzman, who contends that partisan groups are "using humor as a tool to reach an [Internet] audience they might not otherwise be able to reach."