Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Entertainment › Movies (Theatrical) › Are There "Positive" Political Films?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Are There "Positive" Political Films? - Page 2

post #31 of 45
11/26/05 at 2:08am
When I first saw the title of this thread the film that came to mind was The American President.
Reply
post #32 of 45
11/26/05 at 7:33am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
malcom x?

How are politics or politicians shown in an overall positive light in MALCOLM X?!

The film implies the government was partly responsible in his death even!

NIXON?!

THE CANDIDATE?!

Do these films show politics or politicians in an OVERALL positive light?!

Is my thread THAT unclear? Or are there simply not that many movies that do this?
Reply
post #33 of 45
11/26/05 at 9:45am
Quote:
GANDHI does NOT show politics and politicians -- either British or Indian -- in a positive light


This set me thinking that there is proabably no film about colonialism which can show a politician in a convincing positive light. Any politician who is pro-colonialism of course falls foul of the modern mood, and any on the other side will almost inevitably be seen as unrealistically nice.
Reply
post #34 of 45
11/26/05 at 11:03am
i was being sarcastic

i was going to mention another film like one of the waco conspiracy films, or a michael moore film but i didn't want to set off a bunch of nonsense.

I am also thinking conjunction junction how a bill becomes a law, whatever that cartoon is called i like that one!
Reply
post #35 of 45
11/26/05 at 11:39am
There are probably a number of films that show politicians of the American side of the American revolution in a positive light. For example, 1776, Johnny Tremain, etc.
Reply
post #36 of 45
11/26/05 at 4:54pm
Quote:
conjunction junction how a bill becomes a law


Uhh, that would be "I'm Just a Bill", "Conjunction Junction" was about ... uhhh... conjunctions (and, but, or, nor).

Jeff - A child of the seventies ... (singing) "Weee the people, in order to form a perfect union..."
Reply
post #37 of 45
11/26/05 at 5:20pm
yeah, i don't remember the name of the cartoon, people remember "conjunction junction," but "im just a bill maybe not so much."
Reply
post #38 of 45
11/26/05 at 6:05pm
Quote:
that would be "I'm Just a Bill"


Of course, the counterpart to this is the Simpsons' "The Amendment Song" that shows the government in a less than ideal light.
Reply
post #39 of 45
11/27/05 at 2:10am
If they were showed on too much on the "positive" light it wouldn't come accross as realistic to me. Yeah, not too big of fans of their "kind".
It's funny you asked about this. EW just had an article how Hollywood avoided political themed movies after 9/11.Now they have a bunch in the works and some will be released soon. I have a feeling they won't too "flattering".
Reply
post #40 of 45
11/27/05 at 5:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
how a bill becomes a law, whatever that cartoon is called

Right, the Schoolhouse Rock stuff. Not exactly films, but all the "America Rock" bits from that series ARE very pro-politics, pro-government. Don't want to engender cyncism in children of tender years! Of course, some of the songs about expansion in the West completely blip over Native Americans, so these 'toons DO engender quite a few half-truths.
Reply
post #41 of 45
11/27/05 at 9:47am
Quote:
the saint he appears in that film.

If you're looking for a film that shows a politician in a positive light, one portraying a politician as a saint would serve nicely I think.


MichealBa - most political dramas need conflict to make an interesting film for the viewer. People have listed films where the 'hero' of the film is portrayed positively, most of these films have their political opponents as villians.

Here's your question: What films depict politicians or politics in a wholly or even mostly "positive" light?

If you meant the main character, I think Malcom X meets that criteria. Gandhi, and The Candidate do as well.

Do you a mean a film where every single politician is shown in a positive light? You didn't make that clear in your question, but there won't be many of those, they'd be pretty dull films.
Reply
post #42 of 45
11/27/05 at 10:23am
Thread Starter 
I don't think there's a single politician shown in THE CANDIDATE in a wholly or almost wholly positive light, "Bill McKay" included.

And Malcolm X wasn't a politician (an elected representative in a system of government), unless the term is figuratively stretched quite a bit.

I think Haggai, who posted above, quoted and understood my original question best:

Quote:
Michael's original post specified that he was NOT talking about movies that "show a few singularly exceptional untainted individuals," which would unquestionably rule out Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, where the entire Senate is stacked against Mr. Smith.

And that would rule out Malcolm X and Bill McKay and Gandhi, etc.

The type of film like THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is what I'm talking about. A film that OVERALL shows the majority of politicians and the majority of a political system in a positive light. Exceptions that show the negative minority side, something that could fuel the drama, would be acceptable as long as they are clearly indicated to be the MINORITY. So, not EVERY politician has to be positive, but the majority will and so will the entire political system too, overall and in general.

Maybe there really are VERY few films like this?
Reply
post #43 of 45
11/28/05 at 5:46am
Per Michaels's last post, any movie about politics, will necessarily depict politics in manifold ways—examining issues from several perspectives. It follows that movies about politics that do not portray some aspects (perhaps many) in a negative light will not work as drama (or comedy).

Further, a movie does not have to have its central character as a politician in order to be about politics. Gandhi for example (as has been pointed out) was not a politician in the sense that he held office or even ran for office. Regardless it would be nitpicking in the extreme to argue that he was not political and that any reasonable depiction of his life, must necessarily include politics.
Reply
post #44 of 45
11/28/05 at 6:44am
Thread Starter 
I wasn't interested at all in whether a political film "worked" or not. Bad or good, I was just interested in a list of films that showed politics or politicians in an overall positive light. That's it.

GANDHI is about politics, surely. But it doesn't show politics or politicians in an overall positive light.

Oh well.
Reply
post #45 of 45
11/28/05 at 7:07am
It is very difficult to have someone with power, ie, a president, etc. in a role as a true protagonist without having a political antagonist. The reason for this is because if you have someone of significantly lesser power as his antagonist, the movie would be boring.

Let's face it, a movie about a great political leader (either party) and their dire struggle with a crazed letter writer from Spitoon, Illinois. It just isn't that motivating. You have to have a protagonist with an actual challenge; so you can do it with a foreign antagonist (like "13 Days") or a domestic one, but it's hard to do it without an opposing political force.

I'm sure their are some childrens movies where the politician is basically Deux Ex Machina, and serves as the lever for terminating ill toward a protagonist.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Movies (Theatrical)
Home Theater Forum › Home Theater Forum › Entertainment › Movies (Theatrical) › Are There "Positive" Political Films?