Osama bin Laden in popular culture

Osama bin Laden has been depicted and parodied in several films and TV shows, and some other media. Notable examples include:

• Dispatches: The Saudi Tapes - a 1997 TV documentary that features an interview with Bin Laden. Director: Gwynne Roberts. Production Company: Roberts and Wykeham Films.^[1]
• Bin Laden: The Early Years - a 2001 TV documentary. Director: Jon Blair. Production Company: 3BM Television.^[2]
• The World's Most Wanted Man - a 2001 British documentary. Director: Rob Carey. Production Company: Uden Associates.^[3]
• Bin Laden: The Failings of a Manhunt - a documentary film alleging that French soldiers could have killed Osama bin Laden twice but didn't because no orders came from US commanders.
• Dispatches: Bin Laden's Plan Of Terror - a 2001 TV documentary. Director: Eamonn Matthews. Production Company: MBC Midlands.^[4]
• The Chaser's War on Everything - earlier episodes of this Australian comedy series parody Osama bin Laden's videos with altered, humorous subtitles.
• "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants" - episode 74 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired November 7, 2001. It is the first episode to air after 9/11, as well as the American invasion of Afghanistan; it dealt with the latter and only tangentially made mention of the former. It has been nominated for an Emmy. Bin Laden also returns in subsequent South Park episodes "Cartoon Wars Part II" (live action), "200", and "It's a Jersey Thing".
• Osama Bin Laden: Behind the Madness - a 2002 comedy.^[5]
• Panorama: The Hunt For Bin Laden - a 2002 TV documentary. Producer: Aidan Laverty. Production Company: BBC TV.^[6]
• Meeting Osama Bin Laden - a 2004 documentary.^[7]
• Targeted: Osama Bin Laden - a 2004 documentary.^[8]
• Industrial metal band Ministry's song "Khyber Pass" (which takes its name from the mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan) from their album Rio Grande Blood poses the debate that Bin Laden would've been, in fact, a Bush administration ally, specifically on the verses "Some say he's livin' at the Khyber Pass; others say he's at the Bush's ranch".
• Postal - a 2007 comedy film based on the 2003 video game. In the film, bin Laden (played by Seinfeld's Larry Thomas), who inexplicably speaks with an American accent, is portrayed as a priss who has been hiding out in Arizona since 2001, and has become tiresome with his anti-American threats, feeling that "nobody's listening anymore". He is also played as being a close friend and possible lover of George W. Bush, who has been helping him stay hidden. The final shot of the film features bin Laden and Bush skipping hand-in-hand in a field while dozens of nuclear bombs go off in the distance.
• Grindhouse, the 2007 film's feature segment Planet Terror, features a scene where antagonist Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis) reveals the origin of a mutation that has affected he and his renegade squad. Muldoon and his men were infected by a deadly biochemical agent being harbored by bin Laden, who Muldoon admits to executing.
• Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? - a 2008 documentary.^[9]
• The American TV show Family Guy has shown bin Laden several times. In uncensored versions of "Road to Rhode Island", bin Laden is seen attempting to evade airport security by singing a show tune, as Stewie has just successfully done. In "PTV", bin Laden is seen cracking up whilst attempting to record a threatening video message to the USA. After considerable dialogue and banter amongst the co-conspirators, Stewie is revealed to be present and he proceeds successfully to attack all the al-Qaeda operatives, including bin Laden. Osama bin Laden is also briefly referenced in "Peter's Daughter" when a suicide bomber arrives in Paradise to discover the 72 virgins awaiting him are all male nerds and geeks. He yells "Osama" as he realises he has been tricked.^[10] "The Big Bang Theory" briefly references his death.
• In the American Dad episode Bush Comes To Dinner, Steve and Roger try to coax the truth from George W. Bush as to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, but their scheme ends in failure when they get him drunk. At the end of the episode, he is seen in an office building.
• Devil's Advocate - a Dutch reality television show where the world's worst criminals are "tried." The April 8, 2009 show featured bin Laden and created controversy when the "jury" acquitted him.
• Tere Bin Laden (English: without you, Laden) - 2010 Bollywood comedy film
• Holy Terror: An upcoming graphic novel by Frank Miller.

References