Brian Neve

Frames of Presidential and Candidate Politics in American Films of the 1990s

Abstract The 1990s saw a surprisingly large number of American film treatments of national politics in general and the presidency in particular. It is instructive to compare the way politics is constructed in such films with the legacy of such film representations since the 1930s. This legacy has been influenced by short-term trends, but two powerful motifs have been the Cold War, and the belief in democratic reform and renewal. The nineties saw greater cynicism about politics in America, and filmmakers have done more to accentuate than to redress this trend. In particular films such as Bob Roberts, Wag the Dog and Bulworth suggest the power of a military industrial complex beyond the reach of efforts at political reform. Mainstream film contrasts a politics of self-interest and incumbency against one of conviction and service, but also finds it difficult to provide realistic scenarios of renewal. This trend is related to American cultural fragmentation and the erosion of myths associated with what Lind calls “Euro-America.”

Elia Kazan's first testimony to the house committee on Un-American activities, executive session, 14 January 1952

The article discusses the nature and implications of Elia Kazans previously unpublished Congressional testimony, exploring its significance for understanding of the cultural politics of the early Cold War period.

The “Picture Man”: The Cinematic Strife of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) was the first U.S. president to have his career and life chronicled on a significant scale by motion picture companies. William McKinley may have been the first occupant of the Oval Office to be filmed and Calvin Coolidge was the first to speak on film, but neither matched the sheer volume of TR’s celluloid imagery. The first part of this chapter explores Roosevelt’s interaction with the new medium, from his emergence as a major public figure during the Spanish-American War of 1898, to his presidency (1901–1909) and subsequent public life. Consideration will also be given to the impact of Roosevelt’s writing and experience on the origins of two staple genres of American cinema—the Western and the war film. The nascent film industry, before or at the very beginning of the nickelodeon era (generally seen as dating from 1905), not only conveyed moving pictures of this highly distinctive leader to the public, but also produced early satires of his presidency. The developing film medium further recorded Roosevelt’s eventful postpresidential decade, including his epic hunting trips in Africa and Brazil (in 1909–10, and 1913), his European tour, his 1912 Progressive Party campaign, and especially his controversial last hurrah as a campaigner for preparedness and Americanism before and during U.S. involvement in World War I.