A Site Worth Seeing: JibJab.com
During the 2004 election, the world turned to a flash cartoon of Bush and Kerry pointing out each other’s faults to the tune of “This Land.” Now during this year’s presidential race, we once again turn to JibJab.com for more political satire.
Created in 1999 by two worn out brothers, one an investment banker and the other an animator, the site began to skyrocket after a sketch of the Founding Father’s heads on animated bodies rapping about writing the declaration of Independence.Since then, the site has produced such political cartoons as “What We Call the News,” “Second Term” and “It’s Good To Be In D.C.” all to the tunes of well-known American folk songs such as “Oh Susannah.” None of the the videos produced by Jib Jab take a clear side of Democrats or Republicans, unlike other political videos. Instead it makes fun of both parties.
And even though Jib Jab has yet to make a video about the upcoming election, it has been busy with other movies including “Big Box Mart,” a story about a man, consumers and corporations, and “Nuckin’ Futs,” a year in review done in song and dance. The Jib Jab team even produced a music video for a “Weird Al” Yankovic song, “Do I Creep You Out?” And although the tunes may be catchy, some of the songs just fail to reach the standard by the original videos.
Jib Jab also features a “joke box” where users can upload any “jokes” from funny videos and written jokes to funny pictures and audio files, making it one of the largest joke databases. Anyone can browse through these jokes by choosing from one of the many sections. Users are allowed to “Jib” a joke (Give it a thumbs up) or “Jab” a joke (Give it a thumbs down).
What really makes the site unique, and not just a YouTube wannabe, is the “Starring You” section. Pre-made e-cards and movies feature characters with no faces, allowing any person (and up to five friends, in some cases) to insert their face and star in their very own video.
The process is simple: Upload a photo of whoever is to be in the movie, cut out the head using the tools provided, then select the jawline (where the mouth will move up and down), pick which face goes with which character in the movie and enjoy. These range from doing “La Cucaracha” to being a loose cannon cop with a seemingly unlimited amount of weaponry. The movie can be sent out to anyone for 30 credits ($3), but making and watching it is free.
So before “Jab-ing” Jib Jab make sure to give it a good “Jib-ing” first, because Jib Jab is worth taking a look around (even if it is only to see politicians sing and dance).