Midterm Films in politics

06/2025

Auteur Political Films

Films in which the director’s personal vision and style shape a distinct political perspective—treating the director as the “author” of political meaning.

Fantastical Displacement

A strategy where seemingly non-political genre elements (monsters, sci-fi, disaster) stand in for real-world political or social fears (e.g., nuclear anxiety, terrorism).

Genre

A category of film defined by shared narrative conventions and stylistic traits (e.g., horror, science fiction, drama)—each can carry political content in different ways.

Typologies of Political Films

Classifications of movies based on how they present politics—such as allegorical (using metaphor), historical (biopics, reenactments), issue-driven, propaganda, or character-driven narratives.

Political Socialization of Films

The process through which movies shape viewers’ political attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors by modeling values, norms, and modes of civic engagement.

“Unlabeled” Bottle

A metaphor for films that carry political messages without overtly branding themselves as “political”—they slip commentary into the story so viewers discover it organically.

Impact of Political Films

The measurable effects that movies have on public debate, media agendas, citizen knowledge, elite opinion (e.g., politicians quoting movies), and even individual voting or activism.

Auteur Director

A filmmaker whose personal vision, style, and recurring themes dominate the film’s creative process—treating the director as the “author” of the political message.

Formalism

A directing approach that emphasizes aesthetic form, symbolism, and stylization over realistic portrayal, using visual metaphors to convey political ideas.

Realism

A directing style aiming to mirror everyday life—through naturalistic performances, real locations, and seamless editing—so political themes feel grounded and believable.

Role of Director

The creative leader who translates script to screen—guiding performances, staging scenes, shaping the film’s look and sound, and imprinting a coherent political tone.

Role of Producer

The executive responsible for a film’s financial viability—budgeting, securing funds, and managing resources—often influencing content based on market considerations.

Movie Conventions

Personalization: focusing on an individual’s journey to reflect broader politics

Sugarcoating: wrapping critique in romance, comedy, or adventure

Allegory: using metaphorical narratives to represent real issues

Politics without politics: the “unlabeled bottle” that slips in commentary

Ambivalence: presenting multiple viewpoints without clear moral judgment

Tent Pole Films

Big-budget, high-profile studio releases designed to anchor a studio’s slate and guarantee blockbuster returns—often sidelining overtly radical politics.

Production Elements That Impact Political Messaging

Every component—from screenplay and genre to set design, music, editing, composition (camera placement), casting, character names, and even product placement—can be used intentionally to embed ideological subtext.

Actors as Politicians; Politicians as Actors

Film personalities who cross into elected office (e.g., Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura) and politicians who adopt performative techniques—storytelling, image crafting—from cinema to shape public persona.

Blacklist

The informal studio ban (1947–late 1950s) on screenwriters, directors, and actors accused of Communist ties or sympathies; individuals couldn’t work under their own names until the blacklist was broken.

Block Booking / Blind Bidding

Studio practice forcing theater chains to rent large “blocks” of films—often unseen—so distributors guaranteed distribution of both hits and lesser titles; ruled illegal in the 1948 Paramount antitrust decision.

Breen Office

The Production Code Administration (headed by Joseph I. Breen, 1934–1954) enforced the Hays Code with pre-release script approval and on-set compliance, shaping moral content across Hollywood.

Mutual Film Corp. v. Ohio Industrial Commission (1915)

Supreme Court decision declaring films were “business, pure and simple,” not protected by the First Amendment; it empowered state and local censorship boards until 1952.

Burstyn v. Wilson (1952)

Landmark Supreme Court case (“The Miracle Decision”) that overturned Mutual Film, ruling motion pictures are a form of expression protected by the First Amendment and ending state censorship boards’ power.

Censorship

The suppression or alteration of film content by government bodies (local boards, state commissions) or industry self-regulators (Hays Code, MPAA) to conform with moral, political, or social standards.

Fatty Arbuckle Trial (1921)

High-profile scandal involving comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle; although acquitted, the publicity intensified calls—especially from religious and civic groups—for stricter film censorship.

Hitler’s Use of Propaganda

Under Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda, the Nazi regime produced films (from 1934 onward) and mandated youth viewings to indoctrinate Germans, glorify the Führer, and weaken dissent

Hollywood Ten

A group of screenwriters and directors who refused to answer HUAC questions in 1947; they were cited for contempt of Congress, jailed, and blacklisted, symbolizing the era’s ideological repression.

House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

Congressional committee (1938–1975) that investigated alleged subversion in the film industry; its 1947–1951 hearings led to the blacklist and a surge of anti-Communist films.

Local/State Censorship Boards

Municipal and state entities (e.g., New York City, Pennsylvania, Ohio) that reviewed and often cut films for age-appropriateness or moral objections before theater release.

Military’s Relationship with the Film Industry

Collaboration in exchange for access to equipment, locations, and technical advice; the Pentagon’s liaison office often vets scripts to ensure positive portrayal, visible in films like Top Gun and Battleship.

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) & CARA

Established 1968 to replace the Production Code with a voluntary rating system (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17); the Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA) assigns ratings that heavily influence marketability.

Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code)

Self-imposed studio guidelines (1930–late 1940s) dictating acceptable content—banning explicit sex, “brutal” crime detail, religious ridicule, miscegenation, etc.—enforced by pre-production script approvals and skirted via subtle innuendo, uncredited literary adaptations, or ambiguous framing.

Political Involvement of Celebrities (e.g., Clint Eastwood)

Public figures leveraging fame for civic engagement—campaigning, endorsements, public office bids—and using star power to spotlight issues or influence voter attitudes.

Propaganda

Information or media—documentary, dramatized narrative, or subtextual allegory—designed to sway political opinion; the term originates from the 17th-century “Congregatio de Propaganda Fide” (Catholic missionary efforts) and early film uses date to the 1898 Spanish-American War.

Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark thriller that bypassed the Hays Code on showing a flushing toilet, signaling the Code’s waning power and cinema’s shift toward realism and taboo subjects.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Howard Hawks screwball comedy whose risqué innuendo and battle-of-the-sexes humor tested pre-Code boundaries and exemplified filmmakers’ creative workarounds under Hays oversight.

Ronald Reagan (HUAC & Presidency)

Hollywood actor who testified as a friendly witness before HUAC, later became president of the Screen Actors Guild, and leveraged cinematic storytelling skills—good vs. evil framing, optimistic narratives—in his political career.

Sacheen Littlefeather

Actress and Native American activist who, on Marlon Brando’s behalf, declined his 1973 Oscar and criticized Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans; her gesture reshaped the intersection of cinema, protest, and representation.

Smith-Mundt Act (1948)

U.S. law authorizing State Department public diplomacy and overseas information programs (e.g., Voice of America) while forbidding domestic dissemination of government-produced propaganda.

Birth of a Nation (1915):

Griffith’s three-hour epic that pioneered narrative film but served as blatant white-supremacist propaganda—glorifying the KKK, provoking NAACP protests and local bans.

Industry Move to California:

Early filmmakers fled Edison’s patent enforcement for California’s year-round sun, varied locations, cheap land and looser legal oversight, cementing Hollywood’s studio cluster.

Thomas Edison:

Holder of key film‐camera and projection patents and architect of the MPPC; his aggressive suit‐and‐shut tactics drove independents westward.

United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co. (1915):

Antitrust decision that undercut Edison’s patent pool, freeing independents to innovate outside MPPC control and fueling Hollywood’s growth.

Progressive Era and Impact on Film:

1900–1920 reform ethos—exposing labor abuses, urban poverty and immigration fears—inspired socially conscious shorts and turned cinema into a mass public forum.

Film and American Society—Viewing Habits

23,000 theaters drawing 90 million weekly; Depression‐era audiences sought cheap escapism and communal experiences.

Andy Hardy / Gold Diggers / Gangster Films

Wholesome small-town comedies; lavish song-and-dance escapism; gritty crime dramas exploring class and moral breakdown.

Shirley Temple Films

Child-star vehicles of optimism and resilience—hopeful plots that lifted Depression spirits.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Idealistic senator exposes Senate corruption, affirming citizen-driven democracy.

Gabriel Over the White House

Fictional president seizes dictatorial power to solve crises—reflecting 1930s yearning for strong leadership.

The Grapes of Wrath

Migrant family’s Dust Bowl odyssey highlighting economic injustice and communal solidarity.

Our Daily Bread

Urban couple’s cooperative farm saga endorsing collective action over individualism.

The Wizard of Oz

Black-and-white Kansas vs. Technicolor Oz; Depression-era allegory about home, courage, and self-belief.

Gone with the Wind

Civil War epic centered on Scarlett O’Hara’s fierce self-reliance and nostalgic Southern identity.

Upton Sinclair’s 1934 CA Gubernatorial Run (EPIC)

Socialist-leaning “End Poverty in California” campaign that energized debates on public welfare and reform.

Good Neighbor Policy

FDR’s 1933 initiative to strengthen U.S.–Latin America ties, shaping Hollywood’s pro–pan-American film content.

Casablanca

1942 wartime romance in Vichy Morocco, allegorizing the shift from neutrality to fighting fascism.

Citizen Kane

Orson Welles’s 1941 debut critiquing media power and elite corruption while innovating cinematic form.

Film Noir

1940s genre of moral ambiguity and cynicism, defined by shadowy lighting and postwar disillusionment.

Rockefeller Office

The Rockefeller brothers’ RKO–Latin America division (1935–43) that aligned studio output with the Good Neighbor Policy.

Office of War Information (OWI)

WWII agency (1942–45) that issued propaganda guidelines, supplied combat footage, and steered Hollywood war messaging.

Office of Censorship

Established December 1942 to vet and restrict domestic and exported film content for wartime security.

Confessions of a Nazi Spy

1939 Warner Bros thriller, first major studio film to expose Nazism as America’s looming threat.

Trends in the Movie Industry

Weekly attendance plunged as television became dominant; studio theater monopolies broke up, multiplexes emerged, and independent, experimental filmmaking rose.

Beach Party Films

Mid-’60s teen musicals (e.g., Gidget, Beach Party) that blended surfing culture, youthful romance, and light comedy as escapist counterprogramming.

Vietnam War and 1960s Films

Rarely depicted until late decade—Green Berets (1968) and Longest Day (1962) stand out; most major war dramas would wait until the ’70s to seriously tackle Vietnam.

Hays Code and Changes

Officially advisory by 1966 and replaced in 1968 by a ratings system, paving the way for stronger language, sexuality, and social critique.

Blue Movie

Andy Warhol’s 1969 underground “art porno” that challenged censorship and blurred lines between art, erotica, and free expression.

Issues Films Begin to Grapple With

Stanley Kramer’s socially conscious studio pictures (Judgment at Nuremberg, Inherit the Wind, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) brought civil rights, justice, and ethics into mainstream cinema.

The Graduate (1967)

A surface romantic comedy that beneath the laughs—via its aimless hero and alienated youth—captures generational malaise and suburban disillusionment.

Counterculture (Easy Rider; Wild in the Streets)

Easy Rider’s outlaw-biker odyssey and Wild in the Streets’ teen-political satire epitomize ’60s anti-establishment values, drug culture, and generational revolt.

Industry Changes / Viewing Habits

Television’s rise and antitrust rulings broke studio theater monopolies, while 1950s audiences demanded both family-friendly musicals and topical Cold War dramas.

Monster/Alien Films (e.g., The Day the Earth Stood Still; Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

Sci-fi parables warning against militarism, blind conformity, and the perils of ignoring moral obligations to humanity.

Ayn Rand and the Movie Industry

Founder of the Motion Picture Alliance, her 13-point “Screen Guide for Americans” championed individualism over collectivism; her film adaptation of The Fountainhead glorified creative integrity.

Salt of the Earth

1954 labor-strike drama made by blacklisted filmmakers; its pro-union, female-empowerment themes drew violent opposition and near-total distribution bans.

Twelve Angry Men

Confined jury-room drama where one dissenting juror exposes prejudice and insists on reasonable doubt—celebrating civic duty over mob conformity.

Anti-Communism

McCarthy-era paranoia fueled HUAC investigations, blacklists, and a surge of films portraying the Red threat as both external and domestic subversion.

1950s Political Films (Dr. Strangelove; Fail Safe; On the Beach; Seven Days in May)

Nuclear-age thrillers that dramatized Cold War brinkmanship, civilian vulnerability, and the fragile line between civilian government and military authority.