Now that the disastrous administration of George W. Bush has finally merged with the disastrous administration of Donald J. Trump, in the form of John Bolton, the notorious warmonger UnderSecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs for the aforementioned disastrous G. W. Bush administration and current National Security Advisor to aforementioned disastrous Donald J. Trump, it seems like a good time to visit that moment in American history that sparked the greatest and most controversial rock opera of the G. W. Bush era: AmericanIdiot by multiple Grammy award winning rock band Green Day.
Below is my creative retrospective review of the album in the form of a musical movie script. I wrote the treatment for this script in 2011, the script itself in January 2012, and it was pitched to Green Day for consideration in the summer of 2013, for which the band members declined in lieu of other projects. So here I am, over four years later, reviewing it again, in lieu of American sanity. This was my interpretation of the music as the story laid itself before me in my head, from beginning to end, when I heard the entire album for the first time in 2011, completely ignorant at the time of the synopsis of the Broadway play or anything else Green Day related, and it has become my favorite writing sample.
This is the original script I wrote and pitched to the band, but with only a few adjustments: replace Bush with Trump; Hurricane Katrina with Maria; Muslims with ALL people of color; the Iraq War with Syria, American troops at the Southern border, Iran, North Korea, China, Russia (oh wait, Russia’s GREAT! Unless it’s about aforementioned Syria), or any one of the many other countries Trump has managed to piss off in the last year, or just keep it as the Iraq War, ‘cause let’s be honest, it ain’t going anywhere, and I could have written this script today. American history as American Idiot in perpetuity. I hope you enjoy it.
WARNING: There are some offensive scenes and language in this script, because it was an offensive time in American history and the music in the album reflected it, and I wanted realism. Now that the disclaimer is taken care of, on to the script.
AMERICAN IDIOT
A Retrospective Album Review
(In the guise of a full-on movie script)
by
Melissa S. Webster
