Essay On The Manchurian Candidate

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The film The Manchurian Candidate provides its 1962 prominently White American audience a different perspective on the Cold War and the American media; the movie includes a chaotic scene titled “The Press Conference” in which the use of deep shots allows for the audience to realize that the information provided by the media is heavily manipulate. The placement of the movie’s characters, their actions, as well as reactions, and the placement of the props in the scene combine to emphasis the idea of the media as a median that is controlled by a puppet master. The scene filmed inside of a coat closet continues the message of a puppet master controlling and leading the speaker, as John looks to Eleanor for answers. Television and reports may have been able to inform and spread information to the public at greater speeds than before, but the information spread can unknowingly be altered. The media receives and spreads information that has been reported by men who have become objects as their agency is limited by outside forces; Director John Frankenheimer’s utilization of mise-en-scène, depth shots, and …show more content…

The idea of having of the media be completely independent from the government and other agendas, such as red-baiting was unrealistic. Frankenheimer’s statement on human agency could be reflected on his view on the media; the media focused on red-baiting and therefore the American people were given no choice but to focus on red media. The media and the American people had no agency during the Cold War, and John Frankenheimer wanted to warn the movie’s viewers about their vulnerability by teaching them about the media’s tactics and

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