Constructing the Reality of Politics: The Campaign

1
Constructing the Reality of Politics The Campaign

• Politics in Film
• Joe Braunwarth

2
Bob Roberts

• Intended to be a Satire
• Pre-Movie bullets
• Why the documentary format/reporter?
• How prescient is this movie? Have events
  overtaken the movie?
• Note how the news media cover the campaign.
• Note how the campaign is presented through other
  media
• Note background and image of Roberts
• Why the construction of an image around family
  values and national pride?
• Why does the take, make, and win theme resonate
  with those who cant?

3
Mediated Campaigns

• Campaigns are dominated by media events
• Ads
• News (featuring staged Photo-Ops)
• Talk Shows
• Debates
• Think about how are these depicted in the films
  we see here?

4
Roberts and the News Media

• How does the media cover the Roberts campaign?
• Present material from official sources without
  question or commentary (Wag the Dog)
• Why dont they pick up on the misleading aspects
  of the Roberts campaign?
• Norm of objectivity
• Emphasis on what people want to see rather than
  what they need to know (Network)
• Emphasis on scandal even when proven to be false
• Emphasis on the Horse Race of the campaign
• Think about these topics in the context of
  Postman and Network

5
Roberts and the Media

• Through what other media does Roberts present his
  campaign?
• Ads, songs, videos, debates guest appearances
• How would you describe Roberts campaign ads?
• Misleading and lacking specificity
• What is the significance of Roberts folk songs
  and music videos?
• Songs are all old liberal folk songs with the
  words changed
• Rather than attacking racial injustice or fight
  poverty and war, is a full frontal attack on
  1960s idealism attacks the poor and homeless,
  anti-war activists, hippies, drugs
• Note the opposing view presented on Cutting
  Edge and by Buzz the Reporter

6
Roberts and the Media

• Note the different rhetorical style of the
  debates, which one plays better?
• Why is it important for Roberts to appear on the
  comedy show? (this was originally written as a
  short subject for SNL)
• Increasingly important to appear on these types
  of shows

7
Campaign Necessities

• Must have the fire in the belly to put up with
  the long duration and intense scrutiny of the
  campaign
• This deters otherwise qualified candidates
• Money is a necessary but not sufficient
  ingredient for electoral success Must either
  have it or be able to raise it
• Whom does this exclude?
• Third Parties, Working Class advocates, etc.
• How is this reflected in the films we are going
  to see?

8
Image

• What is Roberts background?
• Wealthy and Well-Connected (Almost universally
  necessary for major political office)
• What kind of image does Roberts construct?
• Sincere believer in restoring intangibles like
  national pride, family values, etc.
• Consider why these things are stressed over more
  substantive policy positions
• Are widely valued but unspecific
• Reflects the emphasis on imagegtsubstance in
  contemporary campaigns and politics in general

9
Saffell Article

• What are the three primary factors that determine
  for whom people will vote?
• party identification, issues, and personal
  characteristics of the candidates
• How is this reflected in the movie?

10
Prescience?

• How was this movie prescient?
• Prescient satire of how a relatively small
  portion of the voting public makes a Roberts
  phenomena possible
• Predicts the appeal of an ultra-conservative
  political and economic policy even to those who
  have nothing
• Note the parallels between the first Gulf War and
  the recent one as a source of generating fear,
  etc.

11
The Message

• One review calls this film a scathing critique
  of the views, motives, and effects of
  conservative, populist politics in America
• How so?
• Audiences negotiate the media
• Can you see other interpretations of this film?
• Does this seem so scathing today?
• Or has political debate moved to the right?

12
Mockumentary

• Why the documentary film (Note the use of
  hand-held cameras, etc.)?
• Interesting narrative device, vehicle by which to
  see the reality behind the image of the candidate
• Somewhat falls apart under the weight of the
  melodrama toward the end
• What is discovered about Roberts character by
  the documentary film maker?
• Somewhat cynical and vengeful
• Why use a reporter?
• Common tool to present political information,
  well see this used in other films
• Also emphasizes the potential for a watchdog
  rather than a lapdog press
• Why is Buzz not taken seriously?
• Again image, etc.

13
The Candidate

• Story of a brash, young, idealist who gets
  involved in politics in order to get his liberal
  message out
• Can say what he wants because he cant win
• What happens when winning becomes a possibility?
• Why does this happen?
• Does it necessarily have to happen Maybe there
  are questions that cant be raised in a political
  campaign?
• Why the emphasis on imagegtsubstance?

14
Politics is Bullt

• Why does the race becomes more about politics
  than the message?
• When he has a chance of winning, he gets
  swallowed by the political machine
• How is this demonstrated in the movie?
• The laughing fits, the skewing of the stump
  speech
• In the final scene, when his father says, youre
  a politician now, what does he mean?
• That politics is not noble civic virtue but about
  manipulation
• Is it necessary that politics be manipulative?
• Would this manipulation be necessary if the media
  provided more substantive information and the
  voters were better informed?

15
Politics is Bullt

• What would happen to a candidate who ran a
  substantive campaign on specific issue proposals?
• How does this film relate to the Braunwarth media
  reading (reader)
• Emphasis is on packaging the campaign
  spingtsubstance
• Would this campaign be possible in a typographic
  age?

16
What do we do now?

• What is the answer to the what do we do now?
  question?
• Emphasizes the disconnect between the campaign
  and the need to govern and the concern that
  success in the former doesnt necessarily mean
  qualifications in the latter
• Is this message accurate in your experience?
• Is voter cynicism justified?
• What role does the wife play?
• She figures out the game early on
• Does your opinion of the candidate change when he
  and the woman leave the hotel room?