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Importance of political communication in national politics
The importance of cinema for society
Significance of political communication
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Introduction:
Political communication—communication with a political purpose about human interaction—takes many different forms including novels, poetry, music, television, and film, which all have their distinct advantages and disadvantages in communicating with the public. Although some political communication intends to enact or drive social changes, some political communication seeks to maintain the status quo. The film medium, which is the subject of this paper, has a much broader mass appeal than other medias and often changes the viewer’s original beliefs and perceptions when he or she experiences over an hour straight of visual indoctrination of only one view.
Over the course of the semester, we have learned about the informal process of the government. In our first paper of the semester, we analyzed how the news media coverage’s role of acting as the fourth branch of the government and its effectiveness in educating the public. The second paper involved the informal workings and strategies of an interest group, but also focused on an interest group’s structure and membership. Finally, we read several political novels to see their role and political impact on the mass public.
For this free choice final paper, I decided to analyze Oliver Stone and his two films Platoon and JFK. Oliver Stone, a three-time Academy Award winner and known as one of the best filmmakers in his generation, ignores Hollywood convention warning against making films with a message. Among some of his great films, he made the two films Platoon and JFK. In Platoon, he presents a gritty and emotional examination of American soldiers during the Vietnam War through the lens of Chris Taylor, a biographical representation of himself and so...
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...f moviegoers about the concept of war and the government’s intentions.
Works Cited
Beaver, Frank. Oliver Stone: Wakeup Cinema. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1991.
Internet Movie Database. “Titles with certificate: Vietnam:(Banned).” .
JFK (Special Edition Director's Cut). Dir. Oliver Stone. 1991. DVD, Warner Home Video. 2001.
Kurtz, Michael L. “Oliver Stone, JFK, and History.” Oliver Stone’s USA. Ed. Robert Brent Toplin. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000. 166—177.
Mackey-Kallis, Susan. Oliver Stone’s America. Boulder: Westview Press, 1996.
“Novel.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10th edition. 2002.
Platoon (Special Edition). Dir. Oliver Stone. 1986. DVD, MGM. 2001.
Riordan, James. Stone. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
In today's day and age, it's rare to see famous historical events and societal disasters not be picked apart by film directors and then transformed into a box office hit. What these films do is put a visual perspective on these events, sometimes leaving viewers speculating if whatever was depicted is in fact entirely true. I have never felt that feeling more than after I finished watching Oliver Stone’s JFK.
The focus of this investigation is the ability of leaders to appeal to human emotion through propaganda. Propaganda became especially prevalent in the United States of America during the Second Red Scare between 1947 and 1954. Propaganda assisted in the infiltration of anti-communist ideals. This examination specifically focuses on the extent to which film propaganda during this time period influenced anti-communist hysteria. The movies produced during the Cold War glorified American democracy and an evaluation is completed discussing the impact of this glorification on society. The analysis emphasizes how these beliefs infiltrated all genres of moviemaking, according to researchers of film propaganda and American politics. Several secondary sources are used to look at film propaganda produced during the era of McCarthyism and the anti-communist hysteria existing exclusively in this time period.
Oliver Stone incorporates facts such as the Zapruder film and the magic bullet theory into his 1991 film, JFK. This film is not intended to be a documentary, but rater a persuasive work of art that uses facts in order to convey fiction. Being a master of manipulation, Stone is able to alter the way in which he presents these facts, causing viewers to believe that there is a conspiracy involving the Kennedy assassination. By using techniques such as replacement of sound and repetition of footage, Oliver Stone forces viewers to make false connections and experience intense emotions. Through careful manipulation of evidence in JFK, Stone successfully persuades a majority of viewers to believe an ultimately fictional conspiracy.
Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) is a film that examines the Guadalcanal Battle of World War II, looking past the physical results of the violence, in order to uncover the deeper truths and ramifications of war. The film conveys themes and ideologies that are somewhat uncommon to war films, especially WW II films. In this dark, surreal, journey, Malick takes us inside the minds of soldiers experiencing this battle to capture a remote pacific island from the Japanese. We do not hear or see gruff, hardened soldiers, anxious to die for their country. In fact, there are no heroes in The Thin Red Line. There are only regular men, scared of fighting and scared of dying, who have been thrown into a situation that will forever change their lives. The fighting is not suspenseful or glorious just brutal. Using an ideological approach to the study of film, this paper will examine The Thin Red Line’s messages about the truths of war, and how it challenges our society’s stereotypical view of war as a valiant undertaking where brave men fighting for good battle the evil of the enemy. Consequently, the ideologies that are uncovered will then be used to look at The Thin Red Line as a war film, and how it fits and does not fit into the genre.
Sometimes, the methods of propaganda people use are obvious, in other cases, the propaganda can be discreet and propagated through subconscious cues. In The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell writes about an experiment that was conducted on the 1984 presidential race between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale to see what makes someone persuasive. The results of this experiment can be analyzed in the context of the spread of propaganda (Gladwell 75). As explained by Gladwell, the experiment was conducted over the eight days before the election in which a group of psychologists videotaped three national evening news broadcasts. The news programs were anchored by Peter Jennings at ABC, Tom Brokaw at NBC
Different forms of media are created constantly, sometimes even to address an idea in order to educate the audience, so they may learn from past mistakes. In today’s society, there have been countless films, where an idea was discussed or shown that educated society. Genres such as literature, theater, and film influenced today’s society as demonstrated by the movies the Crucible, which addressed false accusations with no proof, and The Day After Tomorrow, which addressed the debated issue of global warming’s effects.
Society tends to associate propaganda films with issues such as Nazi Germany and their film messages for their country; however, it is also possible for small independent companies, groups of like-minded people and individuals to use the media of film to incorporate messages for our society (The Independent, 2010). These messages are often in relation to changes that individuals should make in order to improve the standards by which they live their lives and changes to everyday habits that will benefit the individual, the individual’s family, a group of individuals or even a single person (Barnhisel and Turner, 2010).
Furthermore, this goes to show that popular culture and political communication, far from being distinct realms of study, are ‘closely – even inseparably – entwined. Political communication is a form of popular culture, and popular culture communicates political ideas and values.’ (Street 2012: 81). We may further argue that popular culture may potentially provide ‘an alternative to established forms of political communication’ (Street, Inthorn and Scott 2011: 352) by providing an ‘alternative sense of community’ (Hermes 2005: 11).
Rosenstone, Robert. "JFK: Historical Fact / Historical Film." American Historical Review. 97.2 (1992). 24 Nov 2003. <http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=9205110376&db=aph>
To begin with, this paper was written with the intent to provide a full analysis on the movie Black Hawk Down. Over the course of the following paragraphs, I will establish a base as to why I think this movie is important to history, as wells as provide an in-depth overview of the narrative, and the translation of the story into a film. Since there are many different characteristics that make up a great film, the following text will provide what I think to be the strongest elements of the narrative, mise-en-scene, character development, and overall reception of the audience.
In turn, when votes are changed, different public officials are elected. The government officials are the men and women who make the laws and generally run the country. The mass media is at the beginning of a long chain, but nonetheless, the media has a powerful effect on politics in the United States. Works Cited
The main aim of this report is to analyze the impacts of changes in the media concerning the societal and individual view of politics and politicians. The report also describes significant milestones in mass media since the year 1960 and examines the impact of mass media on how people think politically. The report then considers the effect of technological advancements in mass media and the effect on the results of elections. The use of mass media has increased over the last fifty years in that it is a primary medium through which supporters of various campaigners share their ideas and views concerning politicians and different political parties. Through social media, behaviors and performance of several activists have brought
This highlights that the audience makes a choice when accepting or rejecting media influence, placing the onus of the shaping of one 's actions on the individual (Hall 1973). Lilleker (2006) extends this, arguing that the postmodern audience is not as homogenous as the previous generations and therefore are more likely to rebuff media influence, questioning the perceived audience passiveness presented by the hypodermic syringe approach. Although the approach is, to a degree, too simplistic in order to account for audience interpretation and does view audiences as passive, which has been argued to not be the case (Lilleker, 2006), it does hold some merit. Particularly when looking at the ‘Bobo Doll Experiment’ the short term effects of the media, whether it is by language or by actions disseminated to the masses, the findings are too strong to be ignored.
Policymaking is a political process which is affected by various social and economic factors (Hofferbert, 1974) and media systems play an integral role in shaping the social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs. Media systems act as the primary channels between those who might want to influence policy and the policymakers '' controlling the scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of information. Textbook policymaking follows an orderly sequence where problems are identified, solutions devised, policies adopted, implemented, and lastly evaluated (Mazamanian & Sabatier, 1989). In reality, the policy process is more fluid, where policies are formed through the struggle of ideas of various advocacy coalitions (Sabatier, 1991) in what has been described as a policy primeval soup (Kingdon, 1995). The policies, on which the media focuses can, and often does, play an important part in determining the focal issues for policymakers.
The cultivation theory suggests that “the cultivation of attitudes is based on attitudes already present in our society and that the media take those attitudes which are already present and re-present them bundled in a different packaging to their audiences” (Griffin, p.366). The Truman Show is an excellent example of the cultivation theory as it gives us an interesting insight into the effects that the media has on society. It is no secret that the media has altered our way of living. From the fears they can instill from the news we watch, to the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the sports we watch and even our political opinions are all influenced in some way shape or form by the media.