There’s a very special excitement MUNers feel when our beloved pastime is referenced in pop culture…and even more when entire television episodes are dedicated to the hilarious inner workings of Model UN conferences. Occasionally these episodes produce a few good laughs and a moment or two of relatability. However, more often than not, I find myself disappointed by the episode’s portrayal of MUN and frustrated at the creators’ obvious lack of research/experience.
For example, MUN rules and procedures are thrown out the window in many episodes. Although most of these TV episodes didn’t meet the MUN accuracy mark, I will give them all an A for effort – because most MUN delegates themselves don’t even know what’s happening at conferences sometimes! Here is the definitive ranking of Model UN TV episodes from least to most accurate.
Community: “Geography of Global Conflict”
In the second episode of season three of the hit comedy series, Community, Annie Edison discovers her rival Annie, Annie Kim. The two girls each form their own Model UN clubs to win the favor of their political science professor. However, Professor Cligoris states that there can only be one Model UN club and forces the two clubs to compete in order to determine which one will remain. Although not run as a traditional MUN Conference, I must commend Community for its unique “MUN-Off”, during which two separate UN committees competed to see which one could succeed in solving a series of crises.
Professor Cligoris’s description of the purpose of MUN was spot on: “to pass resolutions, follow procedure, and maintain order.” However, the delegates in no way achieve those goals. Parliamentary procedure was essentially non-existent in this simulation. Not to mention the fact that the delegate of the United States doubled as chair during the committee.
Community repeated the same mistake that every single TV show made – NONE OF THE DELEGATES ACTUALLY WROTE RESOLUTIONS! Maybe I’m the only one who gets irked by this lapse in MUN knowledge, but resolutions are the foundation of Model UN. Without resolutions what’s the point of MUN? Every MUN episode I’ve watched, including Community, seems to pass “verbal resolutions” as opposed to traditional documents that are voted on by the entire committee.
Community’s MUN episode did have one shining moment of glory: the crisis updates. Although most crisis directors don’t draw updates from a jar, I’ll give Community a pass, because the way in which they presented the updates was a hilarious parody of the most ridiculous aspect of most MUN conferences. Final score: 4/10. Sorry Community.
The Simpsons: “Das Bus”
Although there isn’t a full episode of The Simpson’s dedicated to MUN, the Springfield Elementary Model UN Club is a recurring element in the show. The club was first formed by Lisa and is referenced in many episodes. For the purpose of this analysis, we will be looking specifically at its appearance in the 15th episode of Season 9, “Das Bus.”
During this episode, the Springfield Elementary Model UN Club is on its way to a conference when they become stranded due to a broken bus. Although viewers never get to see the actual conference, they do get a taste of MUN in the first few minutes of the episode as the club meets to prepare. My first observation was the attire of each delegate – not our beloved Western Business Attire, but rather country-specific garb. Although some delegates wear costumes to fit certain personas in crisis or specialized committees, you rarely see GA delegates dressing in their country’s traditional wear. I unfortunately had to subtract points for the lack of WBA and possibly offensive clothing.
However, I do give the delegates some extra points for staying in character. I was truly impressed at the use of parliamentary procedure, specifically when Lisa calls for a “Point of Order.” Few Model UN TV episodes use correct parliamentary procedure, so this came as a pleasant surprise! I also appreciated the episode’s allusion to Nikita Khrushchev’s famous speech at the UN in 1960 when he banged his shoe on his desk in protest. Similar to this historic moment, the club’s advisor pounds his desk with a shoe in order to get the delegates’ attention – a more dramatic take on “Decorum Delegates” I suppose.
Overall, The Simpsons provides viewers with a small taste of what badly behaved middle school MUN delegates look like…with elementary knowledge of parliamentary procedure. I give The Simpsons a 5/10 , which may have been higher if we actually saw them in action.
Parks and Recreation: “The Treaty”
The first grievance I have with most MUN TV episodes is their lack of specification on what type of committee they are representing. Is it a GA? A specialized? Perhaps a crisis committee? Usually, the committee is a messy hybrid of the three.
In Season 4, Episode 7 of Parks and Recreation, “The Treaty”, Leslie and Ben help run the Pawnee Central High School Model UN Conference. Leslie refers to the committee as a Security Council, but it’s clear that there are way more than 15 member states present. That was a major red flag for me. Anyone who knows basic information about Model UN knows that there are 15 members of the security council. At the beginning, I assumed the committee would be more GA style, but as the episode progressed, it edged more into the crisis zone with Andy trading Finland’s military to Kenya for 50 lions. I can see this happening in a real crisis committee, but only with the approval of a very lenient crisis director.
The Pawnee High School MUN Conference obviously did not know how to run a proper crisis committee, because there was no actual crisis staff – the entire committee was a free-for-all of delegates making “treaties” with each other. The use of the term treaties as opposed to resolutions or directives is honestly blasphemous. The only time a “Resolution” was mentioned was towards the end of the episode when Ben asks the committee to vote on a resolution condemning Denmark. Any Model UN delegate would know that there are certain rules of procedure that must be followed when voting on a resolution…not to mention the fact that the resolution has to actually be written first.
If you look closely, you will also realize that the delegates were in one, perpetual unmod – there was no actual moderated debate! The only realistic aspect of the episode was the abandonment of the original topic (the food crisis) and the onset of a world war. I also give the writers of this episode an extra point for the iconic quote: “I kind of want to roll up my sleeves and make geopolitical problem solving my b****” that makes for a good MUN Redbubble sticker. I can also see a MUN committee actually having a Delegate of the Moon. I give this a 6/10.
Never Have I Ever: “…Started a Nuclear War”
Placards! Parli pro! Power delegates! Oh my! Never Have I Ever truly takes the cake on its portrayal of an overnight MUN trip. When the MUN team is short one delegate, Devi volunteers herself to get out of her household chores. What follows is a masterfully crafted Model UN TV episode complete with internal team drama, nuclear war, and more than a few relatable moments. It’s clear that the writers of this episode either did an immense amount of research or actually participated in Model UN themselves. What first stood out to me was the MUN conference itself. The other episodes referenced in this article didn’t grasp the true atmosphere of a high school MUN conference (granted, no TV show can accurately capture the chaos of thousands of delegates milling around a hotel lobby), but Never Have I Ever had the most realistic portrayal, as the students of Sherman Oaks High School travel to UC Davis for an overnight MUN conference. This is also the only episode that had a real chair. How can one even think about recreating a MUN committee without a chair?!
Although there were some lapses in parliamentary procedure, the chairing during this episode was impeccable compared to that of other episodes. Minor details like the placards, yielding to the chair, WBA, and constant mention of gavels filled me with satisfaction. Ben and Devi’s power delegate personas were also extremely relatable as they set their sights on winning Best Delegate from the start. When Ben started his speech with “honorable chair and fellow delegates” my MUN-loving heart actually melted. And of course, like all good committees, this one ended in all out nuclear warfare. I felt seen. I felt heard. I felt understood on a very deep level. Never Have I Ever gets a 9/10. They get the gavel for sure!
No TV show can perfectly replicate a Model UN committee because, after all, who really wants to watch 20+ minutes of teenagers squabbling over short term and long term solutions. However, I commend the writers of each of these TV shows for giving MUN a moment in the limelight. MUN delegates are a tough crowd to please and no show will get it right, but even the tiniest amount of representation matters. Now creating an entire TV show dedicated to Model UN…that’s something I can get behind!
