I think this is my favorite joke in the whole franchise. I love that Austin's first assumption is that obviously socialism (the "good guys") won in the end.
I mean, that's one interpretation. The other one is the reality that the Soviet Union didn't always treat political prisoners particularly well, and being a former/current western spy, he was pretty smart to err on the side of caution in case they were the ones in charge.
It's honestly a great joke just because it can be so multi-layered given the character of Austin Powers being a free-love, hippy-ish, world-class spy. He genuinely could have both genuinely hoped that communism won, but also a smart tactic to potentially avoid being sent to a gulag, knowing that if he was wrong, the potential repercussions would probably be less severe.
It's been years since I've seen them movie but I recall having a third interpretation of the joke.
I thought Austin has assumed the communists won because prior to being frozen he felt that USSR had a stronger standing in the cold war and would be the more likely victor, regardless of Austin's personal opinions on communism and capitalism.
To expand on this, you could also imply that Austin assumed the capitalists lost because he was frozen. He knows he's a great spy, what chance did capitalism stand without him fighting for it?.
I don't intend to rewatch the movie because my life experiences since then have made it impossible to enjoy media that uses homophobia and transphobia as common punch lines, but I can still agree that it's a great joke, a great movie for it's time, and cleverly written.
What we swingers were rebelling against were uptight squares like you, whose bag was money and world domination. We were innocent, man! If we'd known the consequences of our sexual liberation, we would have done things differently. But the spirit would have remained the same!
The thing that weirds me out is that Austin Powers was frozen for 30 years and when he woke up, society had changed so much between the 60s and the 90s that he was hilariously out of place.
If the movie were made today, he'd be frozen for 30 years to go back to... the 90s. Obviously a lot has changed with technology since then, but the societal differences aren't as visible.
It seems like it'd be a movie where Austin barely understands the Internet and cell phones - and does stuff against social norms like trying to smoke in a restaurant.
The attitude towards LGBTQ+ folks is a lot different compared to the 90s. Back then "gay" was an insult I heard at school all the time, and it was a huge deal when Ellen came out.
21 Jump Street already went down this joke path in 2012:
https://youtu.be/zuQiTE20nkQ?si=2GbiPQ41tFoTo7hE
And that's basically the half way point between today and the first Austin Powers movie.
If the movie were made today, he'd be frozen for 30 years to go back to... the 90s. Obviously a lot has changed with technology since then, but the societal differences aren't as visible.
nothing changed after 9/11
Could probably squeeze a couple minutes of comedy about him taking his shoes off at the airport and bombing Iraq.
Culturally we are as different today from the 90s as the 90s was to the 60s. Political Polarization, social media and 24 hour news cycles making things that wouldn't even have been B stories back in the 90s suddenly known across the nation if not the globe, changes on Abortion rights in the last 10 years someone waking up from the 90s would wonder if society had somehow backslid. Technology has definitely changed how society operates now as much as it did from the 60s to the 90s. And as another commenter said, 9/11 and the emotional scarring it did throughout the 2000s and how radically it made a more security conscious and tilting an entire country towards xenophobia.
Wait, what? Were you alive in the 90s? It was radically different. We were in a world we didn't want but we still respected the government. We fought for our individualism. We wanted to be judged on our merit rather than our piercings or tattoos or baggy clothes. It mirrors the 60s in so many ways.
The biggest societal difference was the Internet. Our connection was through the people and events. We took pictures here and there and we could share them. But it's not like it is now. You would trust the local doctor if you had a big lump on your neck if they had a diagnosis. Rather than going on to the Internet and finding some obscure disease to seem cool.
It's such a big shift it's hard to encapsulate in just one statement. It's a big discussion.
Our attitude on homosexuality is wildly different.
The question "Homosexuals should have the right to Marry (agree/disagree) was asked in the GSS in 1988, 2004, 2021, and 2022.
People who answered "Agree" or "Strongly Agree"
2022: 67% 2021: 64% 2004: 30% 1988: 11%
The movie came out in 1997. In 1996 and 1998 (and many other years), the GSS asked people's opinion on the morality of gay sex. Nearly 70% found gay sex to be immoral.
Can only speak to the UK, but in the 90s women drinking pints of beer was so radical that they got their own name - ladettes, which also tied into the Girl Power movement (might have been third-wave feminism adjacent? Idk)
These days if a woman drinks a beer nobody would even bat an eyelid, it's just such an unusual thing to think that was ever considered not normal. This is just one case, but it's indicative of one way that society has progressed. There are many more examples of such societal changes.
Your statement prompted me to think back to when the BBC used to run stories on the dangers of uppity Ladettes and what that might mean for the establishment.
Idk some dude dressed like Cobain eating Pizza Hut and using homophobic slurs? Wait, only the Pizza Hut is anachronistic…
just a really smart tactic. Knowing that only one of the victors would tolerate him saying something so anti-the-system, it's better to err on the side of bowing to the authoritarian regime when you've just woken up naked and afraid somewhere inside a secret government facility. So hilarious, and a brilliant move. Well done, Austin.
"Everybody votes for a dictator." -Number 2, The Prisoner
This was my thought, while also being a funny bit.
Ah good ole Pascal's Wager.
I really would love an Austin Powers 4. I'm a sucker for his sometimes absurd jokes.
The pentaverate has a lot of similar humor, you might enjoy it.
I've thought about this joke a lot in the past 8 years or so. Hits differently now than it did in 1997.
Won? You mean stalemate.
Nah, the capitalists won. The USSR is gone, China is only communist in name, Vietnam is rapidly adopting the blueprint of the new Chinese economy, NK has never become anything, Laos is still more in line, but is also moving the direction of it's neighbors.
And yet Russia is currently fighting for more influence in Europe, trying to destabilise countries with misinformation, bots, spies, etc - causing extremist parties, both left and right wing, to rise (partly by helping them with misinformation campaigns, partly by directly giving them money), polarising the population, and will probably successfully annex Ukraine if Trump gets elected (which isn't unlikely currently), allowing him to start the game he's been playing with Ukraine since 2004 with the next country.
The time to lay back and stop worrying about the cold war isn't here yet. There has been a break, but it's fully running again.
One first reaction is riskier than the other. I wonder if his decision was made consciously.
Most politically consistent median voter.
Yall sure that ain't j.d. powers?
