September 29, 2011. Types of Political Films Political Intent LowHigh Political Content Low High...
-
Upload
nickolas-goodman -
Category
Documents
-
view
220 -
download
2
Transcript of September 29, 2011. Types of Political Films Political Intent LowHigh Political Content Low High...
Political IntentLow High
PoliticalContent
Low
High
SociallyReflective
PoliticallyReflective
PurePolitical
AuteurPolitical
Source: Christensen and Haas, p. 8
ExamplesPolitical Reflective
Independence DayInvasion of the Body
Snatchers
Socially ReflectivePretty WomenPhiladelphiaGone with the Wind
Pure PoliticalMr. Smith Goes to
WashingtonThe Candidate
Auteur PoliticalThe GodfatherNatural Born KillersAmerican Beauty
Source: Christensen and Haas, p. 9.
Differences Between Documentaries and Feature Films
usually shorter, lower production valuesmore journalistic style
narrator with interviewscamera carried into places that movie cameras
often do not go
increasing tendency for feature films to integrate some documentary footage and for documentaries to include contemporary films and popular culture
Influential DocumentariesNanook of the North
(1922)Why We Fight (WW2)Triumph of the Will
(1935)The Sorrow and the Pity
(1971)The Atomic Café (1982)
Box Office of Top 10 DocumentariesTitle Studio Box OfficeFahrenheit 9/11 Lions Gate $118M
Bowling for Columbine United Artists $21M
Winged Migration SPC $12M
Hoop Dreams FL $7.8M
Tupac Resurrection Paramount $7.7M
Roger & Me Warner Bros. $6.7M
Spellbound Think $5.7M
Touching the Void IFC $4.6M
The Fog of War SPC $4.2M
Source: Christensen and Haas, p. 229.update
Michael Moore DocumentariesRoger & Me (1989)Canadian Bacon (1995)Bowling for Columbine (2002)Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)Sicko (2007)Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
Controversy over Michael MooreBias in selection of imagesSkewed analysisUse of surprise interview tacticsUse of deception to gain access to key people
and places
Giglio Book “Why does Hollywood avoid the dogmatic
political film, the critical political biography, or the straight political drama? The reason is quite simple: political movies are box office poison. To admit that 90 percent of Hollywood films are purely commercial ventures ignores the remaining ten percent that deliver messages that can be ideological, propagandistic, historically deceptive and politically motivated.” (p. 10)
What is Propaganda?David Culbert’s definition: “the controlled
dissemination of deliberately distorted notions in an effect to induce action favorable to the predetermined ends of a special interest group.”
E.g. Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl or Salt of the Earth and The Red Menace.
Source: Giglio, p. 45.
Hollywood Ignores the NazisThere were no Hollywood movies about
the Nazis prior to the outbreak of WW2, with the exception of The Great Dictator
Most pre-WW2 movies referred to the Nazi threat obliquely in terms of spies or saboteurs
Were the Hollywood Studio heads asked to play down the threat?