by Bryan Stamp
Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?
Sometimes our political candidates act like actors and celebrities, and sometimes they actually are. But often we are only left with our imagination to explore the landscape of a country led by politicians as portrayed in the movies and TV. During this time of national politicking, I am inspired to write a little something about of my favorite election films” for two reasons: The first is by the films SWING VOTE and the upcoming DVD release of Participant Media’s own documentary CHICAGO 10, and the second is by an All Thing’s Considered segment called, In Election Movies, Playing By A Rule of Three.
Bob Mondello keenly observes this genre of films as a sub-genre of political films with it’s own sub-set of three types of electoral manipulation:
… movies with a generically political bent come in all shapes and styles, election movies are almost always about process specifically, about efforts to manipulate either (a) the media, and thereby the public, (b) the candidate or (c) the process itself.
The most famous examples are THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, BOB ROBERTS, PRIMARY COLORS, THE BEST MAN and THE CANDIDATE. Bob Mondello and Michelle Norris discuss these and others, including the lesser known Capra/Tracy/Hepburn film STATE OF THE UNION. And WAG THE DOG, which doesn’t really follow and election or candidacy, but it’s a damn fine movie (smartly adapted by David Mamet from a more ambitious book). Nothing about THE CONTENDER though, which isn’t a perfect film and not exactly about an election/campaign, but certainly worth a mention (especially in this post-Hillary era). All of these films intersect with real life (by imitating it or influencing it) either at the time of their making or later.
