Rock, Flag and Dudebros

Over its runtime ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ has always been an unmistakably political and silly show. Sometimes people might believe that the more farcical elements of the show make the show less political, but in reality, irreverence is its greatest tool. Sunny, the longest running sitcom in history, balances on the knife’s edge of comedy and politics and in doing so forms some of the most impactful arguments seen on modern television. Here I’m going to write a bit about the episode from season two called ‘Charlie Goes America All Over Everyone’s Ass’ and how it has an interesting commentary on the culture of misguided patriotism and blind nationalism in America.

     The episode is fairly normal for Sunny, there’s a seemingly small disagreement between the gang, which could have definitely been handled subtly, however it soon escalates into schemes and tricks which are just all the more fun for us. Charlie is annoyed due to the lack of recognition he gets for ‘charlie work’, and then gets especially riled up because Dennis blows smoke in his face. He calls for a smoking ban, Sweet Dee agrees, Mac and Dennis think this is unamerican, factions form and quickly they’re at each other’s throats. Where’s Frank, you ask? Well Frank is off forming an illegal gambling ring, because of course he is. You might think, but writer, this doesn’t seem like a format where there’s any sort of meaningful conversation on American identity? Isn’t this the episode where a man shoots himself in the bar basement? Well, you’re an idiot hypothetical reader because this episode is full of political commentary, like all episodes of Sunny. At what point does patriotism become defined by meaningless symbols? When Charlie sings the *iconic* ‘Rock, Flag and Eagle’ (which was improvised by the fabulous Day) its comedy doesn’t just come from it being ridiculous and almost incomprehensible, but because it’s just not that far from reality. In popular culture, in a consumerist-driven capitalist country, national identity is reduced to surface level symbols like the Bruce Springsteen get-up that Charlie rocks. Even though it seems as though Charlie and Dee in this episode are trying to make the bar a better place, for them as workers and for the customers, they’re still tied to their own hyperinflated American identity and so they cannot escape the capitalist constraints that created it. To me, this parallels truly with a neoliberal mindset that is seen a lot out in the world. This idea, for example, that presumes that the intended ‘American identity’ from the founding fathers and other formative people in history, is an innately positive one. It supposes that the right-wing supporters of Trump actually aren’t holding ‘American values’ and so tying themselves indefinitely to upholding a supposed ‘American value’ which will forever be changing. Charlie and Dee don’t even care that much about getting their ban done in the bar, they basically thwart every chance they have to get it done. They care more about proving that they are more ‘American’.

On the other hand, Dennis and Mac (and Frank to a different extent) see it, similarly, still tied to a singular type of American identity, but they connect it to the fantastic buzzword ‘freedom’. When they remove all of the rules for their bar, they have an influx of customers who want to not have to worry about the normal rules of bars and think they’ve hit the jackpot and created a “utopia”. Of course, by the end of the episode this is a slippery slope to a man dying in their basement.  They are not able to create the utopia, which may happen if everyone plays fairly, because of one main issue. Frank. Ok, that’s not completely fair. There are other issues, such as the McPoyle family and the random bar goers who want to shoot up in the bar, but Frank is the big one. His gambling ring pops up in the bar, allowed by the lax environment created, and causes trouble for Mac and Dennis.

     Frank here seems to represent the most extreme of right-wing libertarianism, almost the grim realisation of Ron Swanson’s politics in the hands of the wealthy. If society had no rules (basically libertarian capitalist politics) then how could extreme avarice and imbalance in society be… stopped? Dennis and Mac are fine with the freedom that makes them both money (and lets them see under women’s tops, perhaps linking hypersexuality of women to a capitalist society at a stretch) but when it could mean trouble for them in the form of an illegal gambling ring they start to talk to Frank about setting “boundaries”. In his reactionary manner Frank accuses them of sounding like Stalin, reflecting the way that communism is demonised and conflated with anything left of centre-right in order to allow for concessions to the wealthy. Here we even see Mac say he doesn’t even know who Stalin is, showing how he is being adjusted to see. The pair eventually compromise with Frank and let him continue if he moves into the basement, hiding from the customers the seedy underbelly of what ‘no rules’ mean. In this utopia they’ve created, they’re relying on a sound base structure, that everyone has the same resources (which Frank has more of) and that everyone will respect each other. Frank is allowed to continue gambling and making money dangerously, as long as he is hidden from the customers who are made to believe they are living in a fun, ‘free’ society, when in reality they’re drinking on top of a crime scene. In the absence of the so-called “Stalinist” rules, everything becomes more dangerous. Now a smoking ban isn’t Stalinist. We know that, and the show knows that. Just like we’ve seen with the new rules about COVID-19 protective mask mandates around the globe, the people who say their rights are being taken away by the new requirement are just categorically wrong. All that happens is they wear the mask if they want to go to one place and then take it off when they leave or go someplace else. Similarly, smoking bans aren’t anti-freedom, because if you want to smoke then you could just go outside and smoke somewhere else. It doesn’t infringe on your rights; it’s actually just stopping you from ‘blowing smoke in someone else’s face’. One thing I do want to comment on is the ending of the episode. Sorry to RCG, but I don’t agree with how it’s solved, but I get why it happens that way. When they say they’re going to call the cops, I completely get why that is the punchline for the ending, because of course Dennis and Mac must realise that they are unequipped to deal with ‘society’ themselves, but an interesting commentary could have been that the cops themselves aren’t ‘dealing’ with anything. Things such as basement gambling rings DO happen, and they’re not magically solved by slapping a law on them. It’s like stealing, people still steal when it’s illegal. Sure, a few might not throw caution to the wind, but saying that cops can stop people stealing ignores the issues beneath it in society. The reason that people steal or gamble. In the episode the gambling ring that Frank has set up in the bar is made up of him and Vietnamese men. This is an interesting choice as we find out that his ‘time in Vietnam’ was actually making sweatshops which killed many people, creating an interesting parallel here. This suggests that he holds power over these people or could imply that he is now gambling with them, literally gambling with their lives at the end of the episode, to keep that power dynamic from when he was a sweatshop boss. I say this to say that if these Vietnamese men are just workers then of course their gambling isn’t just for the sake of it. People gamble for money, thrill or desperation. Usually all three. If someone doesn’t have much money, then they might become embroiled in a circle of gambling to try and make ends meet or for some alleviate stress, which always leads to further desperation. Without getting too far off topic, I say this to show that although the cops might break up this one gambling ring, they’ve obviously not curbed future gambling rings set up by Frank, and not helped with root causes of unsafe gambling. We can assume nothing happens to Frank as he appears in the next episode okay and the general format in IASIP is that the characters don’t really face consequences, especially Frank. Maybe he wasn’t arrested or maybe he was able to pay for his bail and so got out of jail. The fate of his fellow gamblers is not confirmed, but it’s likely they were arrested, or at least fined, which just shows the inequality that even exists in the society with those ‘stalinist’ rules. This isn’t too deep, I’m not saying it’s copaganda (ok maybe a little bit) but it really does show where a few blind spots we have in media, even more recent tv shows and films frequently use the police without questioning or criticising their authority and hopefully now we can open a better conversation into why that can’t be a stone unturned.

In conclusion! Ok, the gig’s up. I cannot possibly conclude this episode because it’s really too complex to have a decisive line to summarise it. My takeaway is about the toxicity of ‘American identity’ in pop culture and political debates because of how it clouds everyone’s views and stops them from seeing outside of their own set of ‘American values’ but maybe your takeaway was how talented Charlie Day is, and that’s very valid also. As long as the popular discussion hinges on staying true to American ideals, there is little room for growth and seeing the opinions of people you think are not that American ideal. ROCK FLAG AND EAGLE!