dChan
Anonymous ID: e0cd10 July 30, 2019, 12:23 p.m. No.7262524   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2531 >>2613

An OVERVIEW OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY IN HOLLYWOOD (CINEMA)

 

Propaganda. War. Disney. Warner Brothers. Stanley Kubrick. Matrix. Dirty politics.

 

I will be focusing my digging on political ideology in films and television FIRST, then political documentaries.

 

Early giants such as D.W. Griffith, seen as a pioneer of the film industry, made films that were both “films an audience would want to watch as well as be sources of instruction and enlightenment” (pg. 4 Cogan & Kelso). Griffith often made movies that championed the poor from wealthy interests, such as A Corner of Wheat (1909). Even films like Bannister Merwin’s The Usurure’s Grip were made in partnership between production companies and organizations as early as the 1912; in this case, the Edison Company and the Russell Sage Foundation. The Usurure’s Grip (1912) was about a couple who fell further and further into debt until they were rescued in the film by the same company that funded the production of it, playing a pivotal role both on and off screen. This was perhaps the first precursor to modern television and the current state of advertising.

 

WWI would have a lasting impact on the film and television industry. While Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and Mary Pickford had worked on war bond drives, many were “disillusioned wit the war in it’s aftermath” (pg. 6 Cogan & Kelso). Having begun with light material in the 1920s (The Big Parade, by King Vidor 1925), Chaplin’s films became ever more political, until “his socialist views would later cause him to become a controversial figure in the U.S. until he was forced out of the country in the 1950s” (Pg. 6 Cogan & Kelso).

 

Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Griffith incorporated UNITED ARTISTS as a joint venture on February 5, 1919… A distribution company all to themselves so they would not need to fold to a production company’s concerns when it came to political films. Each held a 25 percent stake in the preferred shares and a 20 percent stake in the common shares of the joint venture, with the remaining 20 percent of common shares held by lawyer and advisor William Gibbs McAdoo. McAdoo was, at this time, son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson. Hiram Abrams was its first managing director, and the company established its headquarters at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City. UNITED ARTISTS is today owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (50%) and Annapurna Pictures (50%).

 

By 1927, filmmakers had already begun to face a new form of censorship, in form of the Hayes Code (no evil could win in films, no partial nudity, no drugs, etc). This was both a limit in political and moral aspects, as many previous works were deemed unacceptable to the American public. This was the first time the industry attempted to reign in some of the maverick writers, producers, and directors who wished to push the limit and challenge studios with controversial films. The Hayes Code would be followed for several decades.

 

The influence of Frank Capra on political films and pop culture is “incalculable”. Forbidden (1932), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) are all prime examples of outsiders taking on political corruption.

 

(continued)

Anonymous ID: e0cd10 July 30, 2019, 12:23 p.m. No.7262531   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2536 >>2613

>>7262524

WWII drastically changed the field of film making once again, as many of those working in the film industry wanted to do their part for the war effort. Most films during this time focused on war and patriotism. WARNER BROTHERS were “particularly keen for U.S. involvement in the war” and were in full production as soon as the decision was made (Pg 7 Cogan & Kelso). Casablanca (1942), Hitler’s Madmen (1943), and The Hitler Gang (1944) were major war films Warner Brothers worked on. Others were designed as pure propaganda, such as the pro-Russian Mission to to Moscow (1943) or The North Star (1943). The US Government began using the best American talent to educate American soldiers on the reasons they were fighting. As many were isolationists, the government knew it had to be both informative and entertaining. The result was the Why We Fight series, directed by Frank Capra with animation from WALT DISNEY (Pg. 8 Cogan & Kelso).

 

(Yes you read that right, Disney worked with the US government in order to make pro-WWII propaganda films)

 

This was done by equating Nazis to American gangsters and often telling “half truths in order to convince the troops”. Although the films were not very effective (according to later studies), this set off a chain of events, sparking “American training films” that would be used in schools and civic groups for the next two decades.

 

After the war was over, film makers turned to other issues, such as the plight of returning veterans (The Best Years of Our Lives 1946). By the late 1940s however, Hollywood began to shy away from controversial plots once again, as the Justice Department’s Antitrust Laws hampered down. By the 1950s, a lot of movie villains weren’t even of this Earth. Films of the 1950s: Cold War and Alien Invasions. Here we had a wave of science fiction, often mixed or along side anti-communism motifs. The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) was one of the first films that can be seen as an allegory, not only of alien invasion but also alien ideology in a way that resembled communism, but still being open to interpretation depending on which side of the isle one was on. Many films touched on the nuclear age, aliens, and ideology that lead to the loss of humanity (Godzilla, The Thing).

 

A Face in the Crowd (1957) was the first attempt to merge politics with not just films, but television. The end of the 1950s were a transitional period between old media and new, the new being much more experimental. The 1960s and 70s led to more and more controversy, as independent films continued to push the limits and challenge the status quo… fitting to other events we know from the 1960s. Hollywood was no longer shy in approaching complex social problems. Russ Meyer’s camp classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) or The Trip (1967) were all about hippies, drugs, and free love. Other films were more explicitly political and well made, though Meyer’s work was a decent example for the decade. As the 60s progressed, we had films like James Bond Dr. No (1962), or The Manchurian Candidate (1962)., where communist agents almost doom America.

Anonymous ID: e0cd10 July 30, 2019, 12:23 p.m. No.7262536   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2613

>>7262531

 

A major turning point for political films was the work of Stanley Kubrick. More radical and subversive than any political film before it, Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) presented a chaotic and paranoid script that audiences enjoyed. A classic Cold War film must also be mentioned, James Coburn’s The President’s Analyst (1967). Despite being at war in Vietnam, Hollywood avoided making movies strictly about war, with the exception of John Wayne’s The Green Berets (1968). This would be the last major film to be made about Vietnam until the 1970s.

 

Race and the civil rights movement was in full swing during the 60s as well. Films like In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) furthered the civil rights discussion in America, largely regarded as positive. Race films quickly turned into a “blaxploitation” craze as the 1970s rolled around. Shaft (1971) and Foxy Brown (1974) did not exactly further civil rights.

 

Tim Robbins brings us into the 90s, with left leaning abrasive angry political films like Bob Roberts (1992), Dead Man Walking (1995), and Cradle Will Rock (1999). Some looked to the past events and presidents, such as Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995) and the conspiracies surrounding John F. Kennnedy in JFK (1991), films that had problems finding funding and partners to release it, but ultimately changing the political landscape in Hollywood.

 

As the Clinton era began in 1993, more films were given the green light, “leading to some of the more overt nonwar related films of the past several decades” (Pg. 14 Cogan & Kelso). “The concept of the liberal President, wise and all knowing, became a reality (at least in film) in Dave (1993) and The American President (1995), where the presidents are shown as decent people, surrounded, as in a Capra film, by schemers and political hacks” (Pg. 14 Cogan & Kelso). As the 90s progressed, some films targeted the corruption of large industries, such as the Warren Beaty vehicle Bullworth (1998). “The optimism of the Clinton years seemed to lead to new optomism among the major studios” (Pg. 14 Cogan & Kelso). Even the Clinton sex scandals could not damage the left’s fascination of Bill Clinton, such as Primary Colors (1998). However, the hypercritical Wag the Dog (1997), which suggested a president may simulate a war in order to escape a sex scandal, indicated that by the late 1990s the cynacism of the late 1970s had not been totally dissipated. A perfect example of this was David O. Russel’s Three Kings (1999), a film still review by today’s standards.

 

“The first Matrix (1999), directed by the Wachowski Brothers, can be read in many different ways” (Pg. 14 Cogan & Kelso), but to many Marxist critics, it was not difficult to decode the film as an attack on capitolism, a wool pulled over the eyes if you will (much like John Carpenter’s They Live 1988). Another film, The Truman Show (1998) both satirizes the public’s fascination with reality shows and critiques a world where product placement is the norm, a world full of mindless idiots going about their day.

Anonymous ID: e0cd10 July 30, 2019, 12:24 p.m. No.7262543   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2613

It would seem that the end of the 1990s brought a resurgence of well made films that questioned the nature of politics, but that would all once again change after September 11, 2001. While some films have been extremely critical of U.S. Foreign Policy, such as Syriana (2005) or Team America: World Police (2004), these films seemed to be the anomaly instead of the norm (according to Cogan & Kelso, Pg. 15). Oliver Stone finally made his movie about George W. Bush, titled W. (2008), which critics claimed was not as biting as expected. The Tom Hanks vehicle Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) pushed the limits once again, addressing state secrets, treason, and profit from war, fighting men like Osama Bin Laden long before they turned against the United States. George Clooney’s film Goodnight and Goodluck (2005) hit a nerve. Other films looked at contemporary politics like The Kingdom (2007) and the overtly political Rendition (2007).

 

 

An OVERVIEW OF THE POLITICAL HISTORY IN HOLLYWOOD (CINEMA)

 

Pat Roberson. CBS. ABC. The Simpsons. Matrix. Dirty politics.

 

The British man John Grierson was accredited with founding the documentary style of film making we know today. Michael Renov called it “the more or less artful reshaping of the historical world” in 1993. Documentaries are often interchangeably referred to as nonfiction film, yet the line between fiction and nonfiction is inevitably a blurry one. To Grierson, the documentary involves “the creative treatment of reality” (Grieson 1966). Like Hollywood, these directors often change certain aspects or add music, setting a tone to the pictures played. Furthermore, one must choose what to include – and exclude – thus not being very effective in translating over to real life, or objectiveness.

See it Now, by CBS, was one of the first programs available in documentary format. In 1958, it was cancelled and replaced by CBS Reports. A book written in 1969 by Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the President brought to discussion whether a President (Nixon at the time) should be sold like a product. Readers were exposed to the shaping of a president to becoming a likable TV commodity. To accomplish this, McGinniss claimed Nixon’s advisors carefully planned each of his TV appearances. Historians are overall not conviced by his claims, saying he hand-picked evidence to support his claims.

 

Pat Robertson on CBN founded The 700 Club, first broadcast in 1966. It was political in its nature, and was later picked up by ABC and Trinity Broadcasting. Although the show claims to be apolitical, Robertson has used the space to voice political concerns.

 

The real kicker came in 1989. The Simpsons, but not in the way you think. Commercials came out against John Kerry’s service (or lack thereof) in Vietnm that really, really started a discussion. Although the advertising did not reach many people, the word of mouth became viral. Kerry did not fight back enough to prevent his political campaign from being damaged. It took Kerry two weeks to respond, not by advertisement, but by speech. The results of the “swift boat attack” forced Kerry to focus on defending himself against an advocacy group and not an opponent. Many people this played a vital role in George W. H. Bush’s re-election.

 

Televised wars were partially seen during Vietnam, but it wasn’t until the first Iraq war where satellite images were broadcast to viewers. During the 1970s and 80s, war came closer to families at home, not geographically, but through their television sets. During this time, the Nixon tapes were being fought out over the televsion.

Anonymous ID: e0cd10 July 30, 2019, 12:30 p.m. No.7262629   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>2719

>>7262613

 

SAUCE

 

https://books.google.de/books?id=exnm6T0ALvsC&pg=PA364&lpg=PA364&dq=Ross,+Steven,+ed.+Movies+and+American+Society.+Malden,+MA:+Blackwell,+2002.&source=bl&ots=plh7ZM-2oN&sig=ACfU3U1E0FufBiajh0-JZ8buoIk6VuLnYQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjiwuLMh93jAhVHL1AKHRAuAXEQ6AEwBXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false