POL128 - Midterm Review

Politics and Film course at TMU.

content

the extent to which a film reflects a political context or setting

intent

the extent to which filmmakers actively seek to impart political or ideological messages

politically reflective

high content, low intent

pure political

high content, high intent

socially reflective

low content, low intent

auteur political

low content, high intent

personalization

focus on one character (biopics)

sugarcoating

to use comedy or other genres to make controversial topics more approachable

“the unlabelled bottle”

concealed topics (hidden meaning; usually to avoid censorship)

ambivalence

presenting both sides of the political content

realism

tends to imitate reality (objective view)

formalism

focuses on aesthetic forms and symbolist content (stylized view)

1909

National Board of Censorship

1930

Motion Picture Production Code (“Hays Code”)

HUAC

House Un-American Activities Committee

55

number of studios films in 1983

9

number of studio firms in 2001

6

number of studio firms in 2015

1947, 1951

HUAC investigations

1968

end of the Hays Code

“wag the dog”

purposely divert attention to something else of lesser significance

why political film is NOT a genre?

1. lack of formula

2. does not share conventions

3. variation within the genre

4. fear of labelling

1968

CARA introduced

genre

category of films that share similar themes, narrative structures, stylistic conventions and characteristics

auteurism theory

1. collective nature of production

2. director = author

3. directorial artistry exists in Hollywood and international cinema

iconography

familiar symbols in works of art have cultural meaning beyond the content of the individual work in which they appear

genre iconography

1. physical presence and attributes of characters

2. millieux (environments) in which characters operate

3. technology available to characters

generically marked film

films that rely on generic identification by the audience to make sense

generically modelled film

films that draw on and conform to existing traditions, conventions, and formulae

semantic

involves the “words” spoken in a genre (iconographic elements, narrative, incidents, visual style attitudes)

syntactic

concerns the organization of these elements into a coherent and intelligible shape

innovation of The Birth of a Nation (1915)

• longest American film (3h 13min)

• full musical score

• new distribution methods

• attracted middle-class audiences

issues of The Birth of a Nation (1915)

• promoted white supremacy (increases membership the KKK following release)

• extremely racist (stereotypes, blackface)

• women portrayed as objects

• politicians portrayed as evil, corrupt

parallel editing

two events occur simultaneously

Wag the Dog (1996) - dir. Barry Levison

• using international affairs to divert public attention from domestic scandals

• power of the media to influence public opinion

• appears to spoof the scandal of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky

• “The American Dream” is a satire of “We Are the World”

Citizenfour (2014) – dir. Laura Poitras

• documentary

• Poitras was contacted via encrypted emails in January 2013

• blacklisted by the US government due to making a film about the Iraq War in 2006

• interview with Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill on June 3, 2013

Snowden (2016) – dir. Oliver Stone

• fictional, biopic on Snowden

• flashbacks throughout his career

• stores stolen info on a microchip in a Rubix Cube

• integrates real footage

• twist = actor to the REAL Snowden

• presents Snowden as a hero

Joker (2019) – dir. Todd Philips

• genres: crime, drama, psychological thriller, origin story, character study

• political commentary (economic inequality, mental health, medicare, media)

• subversion of superhero tropes

Jojo Rabbit (2019) – dir. Taika Watiti

• genres: black comedy, satire, coming-of-age drama, war film

• absurdity and satire are used to criticize Nazi ideology, WWII, propaganda

• Hitler as an imaginary friend; Hitler Youth Rally

Modern Times (1936) – dir. Charlie Chaplin

• Chaplin’s last “silent film” (filled with SFX)

• criticism against modern society; machine age; progress

• unemployment; nervous breakdown

• picks up a RED flag, mistaken for a communist

The Great Dictator (1940) – dir. Charlie Chaplin

• Chaplin’s first dialogue film; first film with written script

• does not star the Tramp

• caricatures - Hitler (Hynkel), Nazi Germany (Tomania)

• double Xs as swastika

• famous speech spoken in english

three stages of genre criticism

1. focuses on classification and definition of individual genres

2. focuses on meaning of individual genres and social function of genre in general

3. based on the understanding of genre in terms of either ritual or ideology

ritual

regular consumption of genre films by a mass public as the contractual basis of production of meanings

Why We Fight (1942-45) - dir. Frank Capra

motivational films, sponsored by the War Department

Joseph Breen

Catholic leader, becomes head of PCA in 1934; Legion of Decency

1947

28% of films had “social and psychological themes”

1954

9.2% of films had “social and psychological themes”

Hollywood Ten

jailed for contempt

HUAC purpose

expose individuals suspected of participating in communist affairs

film noir

• dark and stylized Hollywood movies that appeared post-WWII

• male protagonists, femme fatales

• criminal acts

myth

refers to how genres work through shared cultural values and concerns by rendering them in symbolic narratives

who needs genre?

• filmmakers → attraction and retention

• audiences → categorization

• scholars → contextualization and connection

Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office

United 93 (2006), Terminator (2003, 2009), Iron Man (2008, 2010), and Transformers (2007, 2009) - utilized services

Breathless (1960) - dir. Jean Luc-Godard

• French New Wave film

• references to American cinema (Scarface)

• auteur

Alfred Hitchcock

• staple of Western cinema

• master of suspense

indie films

a “pure form of cinema” not constrained by profit-seeking