The Art of Politics
Part II - Film, TV and Theater
By Brighid Mooney

Politics have long been an important part of art, and the writers, musicians and comedians who have used their respective mediums to make political statements are only a small slice in a wide spectrum of politically influenced artists. Along with the novels, songs and comedy that have opened our eyes to the social and political issues that continue to shape the world, filmmakers, TV producers, and playwrights have also frequently had something important to say. From political documentaries and big budget biographies of some of the more famous political revolutionaries, to the sometimes more subtle political stylings of the situation comedy and groundbreaking stage shows, film, television and theater have often played a pivotal role in introducing a myriad of political and social issues to the public eye.

Many actors and filmmakers are also often rabid political activists. Documentaries are traditionally educational and supposedly objective, but sometimes they are made to push certain political ideals. In recent years director Michael Moore has become famous for making documentaries which cater to leftist politics and discuss political issues close to him personally. His film Bowling For Columbine took a close look at America's proclivity for gun ownership, while at the same time examining the relationship between that trend and violence and homicide in the United States, particularly among youth. Bowling For Columbine used the tragedy at Columbine High School as an impetus for Americans, in their grief, to look beyond simply what had happened that day and to examine why and how it had happened as well. Using both humor and some emotional video footage of the tragedy, Moore was able to get an intense reaction from most of those who saw the film, proving both that documentaries don't have to be boring and that they can be a catalyst for social change, even if those ones tend not to be quite as objective as documentaries are traditionally expected to be. Moore got even more recognition for his more recent film Fahrenheit 9/11, which sought to show its audience the close ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family, as well as what happened leading up to and after the morning of September 11. The documentary showed its viewers another side of that tragedy and the people most closely involved in it, as well as a huge number of facts that news programs in the United States widely omitted from their broadcasts. While Moore has taken a lot of criticism for the partisan leanings of his films, Fahrenheit 9/11 was also the highest grossing documentary of all time.

Sometimes dramatic films are used to tell a story in a more traditional way, whether that story is a fictional one or one based on truth, and these films often serve as something of a time capsule for a significant historical event. Schindler's List was a very successful film about the Holocaust, and Judgment at Nuremberg dealt with the war trials of key figures in Hitler's regime. Both films told dramatic stories based on real events, and through the very accessible and entertaining format of film were able to draw the public's attention back to an important time in history and to shed a more personal light on a subject that many people only knew about in the most academic sense. Judgment at Nuremberg was released in 1961, less than two decades after the end of World War II, when the tragedy of the Holocaust was still a fairly fresh wound. More than just a history lesson, the film brought up several questions, many of them unanswerable, yet still worth exploring, about the dangers of nationalism and the frightening ability of human beings to do horrific things to one another in its name. Judgment at Nuremberg also shows, to great emotional effect, to what obscene lengths fear and desperation can take people; what they are willing to do and what they are willing to overlook for the promise of a better future. Similarly, Schindler's List told a compelling true story in a way that put an extremely personal touch on something that had happened almost half a century before the movie was made. The story of the businessman Oskar Schindler, who managed to save over a thousand Polish Jews from certain death at Auschwitz, showed viewers in vivid detail the horrors of that era, but also of the inherent good in humanity that was able to persist in spite of it. The film was hugely successful and even went on to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Other popular films, such as JFK, Evita and Michael Collins, tell the stories of the lives and deaths of famous historical and political figures. Adding to the already accessible nature of film in these movies is the use of famous actors to bring attention to the story. JFK uses Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones and Sissy Spacek, among others, to explore the possibilities of what really happened in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. While the assassination of JFK, and the mystery surrounding it, is something that is still fresh in the minds of nearly everyone who lived through the event, the story of Evita may have been less known to many in North America. In this 1996 musical, Madonna took on the title role, and along with Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce, illuminated the life of Argentina's Evita Duarte and her role in the life and career of Juan Peron and the history of Argentina. In the same year, Liam Neeson played the role of Michael Collins, and though less musical than Evita, used the film to bring to life the story of a man who had a pivotal role in Irish history, by leading the IRA against the British to found the free Republic of Eire. These films, along with many others, have managed to bring a mass appeal to well-known, but sometimes overlooked, subjects in political history.

Many films have used fiction to tell a story about potentially real things. Films like Dr. Strangelove, Bob Roberts and A Clockwork Orange use satire to spin compelling fictional tales about not-so-unbelievable worlds and events. Dr. Strangelove is bitingly funny with moments of absolute absurdity, but its story about a madman-created "doomsday" machine and mankind's potential for accidental self-destruction still makes an unmistakable point. Similarly, Bob Roberts is also deeply satirical, a story about a radical right-wing folk singer turned senate hopeful who uses music to express what sometimes seems like absolutely absurd views, but are frighteningly close and relevant to today's political world. Written, directed and starring Tim Robbins, who is known as much for his political activism off screen as for his acting on screen, Bob Roberts also features acting by political essayist Gore Vidal and sheds a disheartening light on the invasive amount of hypocrisy and dishonesty inherent in politics today. A Clockwork Orange is a brutal film set in the near future which looks at the possibilities of using "aversion therapy" to brainwash prisoners into good behavior. The film raises several questions along the way about whether this is a good cure, as the treatment leaves the main character Alex ill at the mere thought of violence, and thus unable to defend himself when he is set free into a world marked by violence and brutality. It also looks at the question of whether the end justifies the means when it comes to turning human beings into "clockwork oranges," who do good not by choice, but from the inability to make their own decisions, and also explores what we lose when we allow the government to control our thoughts, emotions and actions completely.

Television, while not often given the same respect as film or thought of as a "high art," is an expansive creative form, the uses of which are far-reaching. But politics has often entered into it, especially for sketch and variety shows, which use a relatively loose format to poke fun at politics and politicians through parody and satire. One of the first such shows to take a chance by expressing anti-establishment political views was the Smothers Brothers, which was one of the first to speak directly against the war in Vietnam. Since then, other shows, including Laugh In and Saturday Night Live, have used this sort of format to satirize politics while also making subtle, or not so subtle, political points. Saturday Night Live in particular has had a penchant for making politics a laughing matter, and has been dutifully skewering U.S. presidents, senators and congressmen since 1975.

One of the long running skits on Saturday Night Live is the Weekend Update segment, which takes a satirical look at the news in the style of an actual news show, with sometimes mixed success. On Weekend Update, fake news anchors tell the news from a comical perspective. Another show that has taken this idea to very successful heights is Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Taking satire to a whole new level, The Daily Show offers viewers the "fake news," as they get the events of the day as seen through a sarcastic, satirical lens. Though it makes fun of the media machine and the absurdity of our current political system, The Daily Show has attracted a large audience through its intelligent, comedic slant on the real news, and recent studies have even shown that The Daily Show's audience is actually more knowledgeable about the issues than those who simply read the newspaper.

Situation comedies are also a common place for politics to get a front seat, though this was not always the case. Early sitcoms were often shows about the perfect American family, with simple problems that could be resolved within a thirty minute timeframe. All that changed with shows like All In the Family, which used the sitcom format to deal with serious social and political issues like racism, bigotry and changing American values. Since then, other shows have also ventured into political topics. M*A*S*H focused solely on American GIs in the Korean War, and as a show lasted eight years longer than the actual war. Decades later, Murphy Brown took on divisive topics like single parenthood and Dan Quayle, using humor to soften the blow of hard politics and to get people to look at issues from another point of view. Television's use as a political stage has not been lost on politicians either, who frequently make cameos and guest appearances on popular shows. From Nixon awkwardly proclaiming "sock it to me" on Laugh In, to Nancy Reagan urging kids to "just say no" on Diff’rent Strokes, politicians are more than aware of television's powerful reach and the beneficial aspects of doing something hip on national TV, like playing the saxophone on Arsenio Hall for instance. Occasionally, a television show will have such a powerful impact on the real world public’s perception that they gain the undue attention of politicians who mistakenly take them seriously. Murphy Brown, for example, raised the ire of Dan Quayle, who publicly denounced the television show's title character, as though she were a real person, for having a child out of wedlock. One of the longest running comedy series of all time, The Simpsons, has been using satire to ridicule the social and political oddities of our culture for years and to great effect, prompting Bush part I to proclaim that "We need a nation closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons." But then, it’s easy to assume that his irony detector was permanently set to "off."

Along with film and television, theater has also frequently provided a stage for social and political issues. The Tony Kushner play Angels in America takes a close look at homosexuality in a country repressed by guilt and shame. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a parable of the communist witch hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. The play also told the story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the late 17th century and chronicled the dangers of mass hysteria and how quickly and easily something like that can get out of control. Elmer Rice's play The Adding Machine is a darkly comic play that warns against a dehumanized and mechanized society as we move forward into an age of mass technology and the proliferation of machines. Like the films that they are sometimes made into, these plays use a highly accessible and highly appealing form of mass entertainment to put forward ideas steeped in redeeming social values.

Politics have long been a motivating force for artists around the world. Given the passionate response that politics evokes, it seems inevitable that these political passions would find their way into the artistic canon of society. And considering the impact and influence of the arts on the public's perception of everything from war and violence to abortion and racism, it is clear that the arts serve a very distinct purpose where politics are concerned. By getting us to look at issues that are ignored, overlooked or denied, and often from a fresh, independent point of view, artists help to create a society that is more aware, more informed and more empathetic. And the impact of a society that actually both knows and cares is almost impossible to measure. Sometimes it takes things like All In the Family, 1984 and Public Enemy, forcing us to take a closer look at things in a way that is both entertaining and moving, for us to admit to and react to society's imperfections, proving that art is about more than just aesthetics. Besides, I would rather watch The Simpsons than The Waltons any day.

Click here to discuss this article in our new forum!