Blog 5-From Chapter 8 of Entertaining the Citizen

Dramatization: Plots in Politics: Chapter 8

American society feeds off "Movie of the Week" type stories such as Hillary Clinton's public humiliation.  Her campaign managers framed her story as a triumphant victory over her setbacks.  For instance, p. 105 states that these managers wrote, "They tried to get her to back down on teacher testing. She wouldn't.  They tried to make her give up after the health care reform failed. she kept working...." This type of framing is very present in our society, because we feed off of these morally reassuring, happy ending type styles, where the wrong do-er is later humiliated by the victim, who in this example is Hillary Clinton. 

Hillary Clinton is not the only political figure whose campaign team has taken advantage of the use of narratives in promoting candidates.  Another candidate who has told a story is our very own Barack Obama.  When giving a speech, he talks about how he grew up with his grandmother raising him, and talks about her recent death.  When doing so, he tells her story as well.  Between the her story, and Obama's story of living with her, this speech is used to connect with the audience, and is used to relate to the audience, one which is made up of a melting pot of individuals and different types of families.

Chapter 8 compares journalists who scamper around trying to be the first to get coverage of these politicians to horse races, where the losers must fight their way back , or otherwise simply disappear or fade away (p. 106).  This "horse race journalism" is one way or showing how narrative frames the outlook on politicians, when showing the candidates differences.  This proves how it matters in our society how much coverage a politician has in order for them to be properly recognized, and in a sense, it seems like a popularity contest. 

Another concept from this chapter is one from pg. 106 which talks about how the "cinematic and narrative nature" can offer an entertaining and realistic view of politics.  The example the book uses is "The West Wing." The one i'd like to use is from the movie "Armageddon."  In this clip, the president of the United States is trying to decide what to do in the event that a meteor is going to crash into earth.  In the movie, he sends for a drill team to be shot up into space to drill a hole into the meteor and split it.  It is apparent that in these types of stories, the presidential position is very dramatized, and very often inaccurate, as a president most often than not would not leave the fate of the world up to a drill team.  Would he or would he not address the entire world that this was the last decision before the entire world might vanish?

The following video clip also shows the participation and "struggles" faced by women. In this case, it is the woman allowing themselves to release their men to go off and save the world, whether it is Liv Tyler's (Gracie's) father or another crewmen's wife (the one  who is stereotypically waiting with her child at home.)

One last example of a concept from this chapter is that of conspiracy, talked about on pg. 108.  The book defines conspiracy as "an often uncoordinated expression of doubt and distrust" which results from citizens perceptions of the government and the economy, developing out of their control and understanding (108).  The book gives the example of a fictional story, Robin Hood, where the hero, Robin Hood displaces the sheriff as the hero, and the real life situation of the Watergate scandal.  These justice and truth based stories also follow the narrative concept.  This has to do with politics because each campaign story is structured the same, where the candidate tries to obtain the most votes while the journalists are trying to track down the candidate.  An example of this is Jesse Ventura becoming governor of Minnesota.  Pg. 117 explains, "excitement always wins over reality." In all reality, Jesse Ventura probably wasn't the best choice for governor (in my opinion.) However, the dramatization of him being an entertaining figure before hand heightened his "story" and in turn, he obtained more voters. Not only was his story told by his previous acheivements, but the people bought into his story by wearing those famous T-Shirts that said, "My governor can beat up your governor."

The bottom line is, people like narratives.  When a politician uses stories and entertainment to dramatize their role as a politician.... people will vote!! The more drama, the better.

Blog 4

Women in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking

 

Women in classical Hollywood who wanted to work in film production were often times limited to careers of “feminine” jobs.  Our textbook lists a few of these jobs as secretaries, minor assistants, and script girls (p. 217.)  Very few women became motion picture directors and producers or screenwriters in previous decades, and there was a standard to a particular feminine behavior, which was often different from one era to another.

Although the standards differed from one era to the next to what a woman female character should play on screen, in a modern day society, females often have the same roles that women in classical Hollywood times.

For example, a current movie, “Iron Man,” which is based on an all-time classic comic book series, contains very stereotypical roles to the classical Hollywood era.  Iron Man, the man who can pretty much obtain anything he wants with his powerful iron suit and rescues innocent citizens, is the male hero of the movie.  

However, there to do his busy work is Pepper Potts, the super assistant.  There would be no Iron Man without her.  When Iron Man is off saving the world, his female assistant is “manning” his luxurious home, doing is busy work, and basically staying out of his way unless he calls on her for help.  There is a scene in the movie where he sees her for the first time dressed up in a gown, and views her with a sexual eye.  This is an example of the woman basically being the assistant around the clock unless she is viewed as a sex object, where then it is okay for her to stop her feminine job. Though the movie is twisted in the fact that Iron Man falls in love with her, Pepper still maintains the role of the passive woman similar to classical Hollywood film, where one can see that “good women” are like Victorian models usually virginal daughters who if they work at all do womens work (p. 218). Pepper  was seen in her dress in a very virginal light, for it was the first time Iron Man had ever seen her showing much skin, and not in secretary type clothes. 

Iron Man is just one example of how Classical Hollywood Film is similar to that of contemporary film.  From the way that films sell best with male action heroes, to women primarily taking on stereotypical femenist jobs, contemporary and classical film are more alike than different.