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Chapter 1
Setting the Scene: A Theory of Film and Politics
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the difficulty in classifying political films as a
genre in the apparently uncontested manner in which other film genres exist both as
objects of film criticism and scholarship and as marketing categories exploited by the
industry. After considering some of the reasons why political films are considered
problematic as a genre, the political film typology is introduced. The typology suggests
four categories and a continuum for considering the ways that all films, even those that
might seem not at all political or those that seem like hybrids at most, can be classified
as political. In this sense, the political film genre is fairly unique since we argue that all
films are political. This is especially true in the overlap between what is meant by
political and what is meant by ideology. The key categories involve political content and
political intention.
Objectives for Chapter 1:
1. Describe what film genres are and how political films have difficulty being
categorized as a genre.
2. Suggest four reasons why critics and the film industry do not consider political films
a genre in the same way as other genres.
3. Describe some studies that point to measurable political effects certain films have
on viewers.
4. Offer a brief understanding of the distinction between the terms “political” and
“ideological.”
5. Establish a typology of political films based on political content and political
intention.
6. Discuss critical approaches to identifying political meaning in the films that are low
in either or both political content and intention.
7. Explore the means by which political films may theoretically affect the political
system, along with a series of potentially mediating factors.
Discussion Questions for Chapter 1:
1. Why is it difficult to say political films constitute a film genre in the way westerns
or comedies are genres?
2. What is the dialectic of genre conventions and variation that seems most to
apply to political films? Put in column A the relatively “fixed” or static conventions
and in a parallel column B those conventions that might be altered but not so much
so that it would be impossible to characterize the film as an example of the political
genre. (Examples for A: Main characters are politicians, government officials,
investigative journalists, or judges. White House, mayor’s office, or public
institutional setting like a school or army base or courtroom. Plot conflict pits
good characters against bad with the bad engaging in corruption or subversion of
public institutions for personal gain, and the good standing for unbiased search for
truth, or loyalty to a group of people or system or even symbol representing
something larger than the individual. Conversely, the good may stand for the
individual fighting the corrupt, dense, or incompetent characters as they enforce
institutional policies at the expense of individual fates. Examples for B: Main
characters are involved in private businesses like Wall Street executives or energy
company officers. Settings may change from state houses and city hall or other
government locations like the C.I.A. headquarters to corporate offices, a country
store or central coffee shop where people gather and discuss issues affecting their
community, or simply a group larger and more public than a family, for example.
Plot may involve emotions, romance, trust, and betrayal of a very personal nature.)
3. Define the political film typology in your own words. What is the difference, for
example, between politically reflective and auteur political films?
4. Based on movies alone what do you think the typical politician is like? Indicate
which specific films inform your perception. Now consider the opposite of your
perception. For example, if you said that politicians are usually corrupt or slow-
minded in many films, can you think of counter-examples? (For example: biopics
that turn historical figures into saints.)
5. Can you locate a current example of fantastic displacement? (Other than those
also listed in the text, which are: 1990s–2010s eco-disaster films standing in for
climate change anxiety, depleted natural resources, and fear of pandemics;
technology-obsessed films like Terminator and Transformer franchises stand in for
increase in sophisticated body prosthetics.)
6. Why (or why not) are films likely vehicles of political persuasion?
7. Screen “The Old Way and The New”
(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/origins-of-the-political-ad-woodrow-
wilsons-1912-campaign-film/) and discuss with students what political values it
espouses and how the use of the new technology of film speaks to the ad’s view of
“new” political positions. Is the “old way” really “old?” How do current new media,
including films, continue to be used by political groups?
Assignments for Chapter 1:
1. Before students have read this chapter, ask them to write a 2-page essay defining
political films as a genre: how do they know they are watching a political film? After
they have read Chapter 1, ask them to revise their essay using the chapter as
reference. Or ask them to write a separate, second brief essay that simply explores
how their ideas about political film genre have changed in light of what they have
read.
2. Ask students to go online to a movie site like Fandango.com or Movifone.com and
read descriptions of the films currently in release. Then ask them to find one
example of each quadrant of the political film typology, writing a one-page
explanation for why they think the description qualifies that particular film for that
political category. (Categories: politically reflective; politically pure; auteur political;
socially reflective.) If they are unable to find a film that fits one of the categories, ask
them to speculate why that might be the case: are socially reflective films unpopular
in the age of superhero, comic book blockbusters? Or ask students to use the
IMBD.com site to refresh their memories of movies they have seen in the past few
years and have them draw from that pool of films to fill out each category.
3. Assign students into groups and ask them to decide upon a film currently in release
that they reason to be an example of a pure political film. Each group then devises a
basic questionnaire about what moviegoers anticipate the film to be about and why
they are choosing to attend the film. Include a question that asks whether the
moviegoer shares a particular political point of view s/he anticipates seeing
addressed in the film. Each group then devises a post-film questionnaire asking
whether the film met audience expectations and whether it changed or reaffirmed
those expectations. Each group writes a summary of what they expect to find. Send
them out to a local theater over the weekend to conduct the informal survey. Have
them write up their results with special focus on how audience answers conformed
to or diverged from their predictions.
4. Ask students to research gender, race, class, or sexual orientation stereotypes and
write a brief summation of their results. (Or in class ask them to jot down their own
stereotypical ideas about these identity categories and then ask them to research
them.) Then assign them to view on their own a film in current release relevant to
that group. After viewing the film, they should now write an essay analyzing how the
film reinforced, challenged, or in some way nuanced their research findings.
Following are Internet resources that provide basic, easily accessed information on
stereotyping for use in or outside class. Please check them out before assigning them
to students.
a. This website provides a basic overview of gender stereotyping:
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15910/1/List-of-Gender-
Stereotypes.html
b. This gender stereotype study was produced by the U.S. Department of
Education: http://www.campbell-kibler.com/stereo.pdf
c. This brief article mentions a few specific stereotypes attached to the
“working class:”
http://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/stereotyping-
the-working-class/
d. This brief article addresses more dehumanizing stereotypes associated
with poverty: http://theconversation.com/class-stereotypes-chavs-white-
trash-bogans-and-other-animals-22952
e. This website includes visual examples of how racial and ethic stereotyping
accrues through media representation: http://racist-stereotypes.com/
f. This essay addresses stereotypes of African Americans, including
“Mammy” and “Sambo” et al.:
http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/links/VCU.htm
g. This site links gender stereotypes to sexual stereotypes and includes a brief
interview with Carol Gilligan: http://www.psychalive.org/sexual-
stereotyping/
h. List of stereotypes about gay men: http://queereka.com/2012/01/09/13-
myths-and-misconceptions-about-gay-men/
i. More on queer stereotypes from Association of LGBT Issues in Counseling
in Alabama: http://www.algbtical.org/2A%20STEREOTYPES.htm
