What separates good films from bad films is the Director’s ability to present a snap shot of reality leaving the viewer captivated by the story, Alan J. Pakula directed a classic film with heavy insight about the 1972 Water Gate scandal. All the Presidents Men is a very well written film by award winning script writer William Goldman, who took the audience on a trip into the world of investigative reporting.
In world where you are only as good as the next headline, Bob Woodward played by Robert Redford is an inexperienced journalist working for the Washington Post, who was selected to take on a burglary story pertaining to the five men caught at the Water Gate complex. Bob Woodward arrives at a local courthouse where the five men are standing trial, while going into his routine in seeking core information obtain detain for the story. He discovers that the men had used spy bugging devices in their burglary attempt and James McCord, one of the five men reveals to the judge that he recently left the CIA. A confession that ultimately connects him all the way to President Nix...
In conclusion, the movie All the President's Men is a precise depiction of the Watergate scandal. This is visible through the representations of Bob Woodword and Carl Bernstein, the events that took place to reveal the crime, and the steps that ultimately ended Nixon's presidency.
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.
Just like every Moore movie, it shows people looking stupid to humorous effect and it shows the heroic tales of common people who have suffered tragedy. And Moore blames their plight on the rich and powerful. In his other movies, the presidents of General Motors and the National Rifle Association, for instance, bear the brunt of his blame. In this movie, it's George W.
There are many accurate depictions of the political process in this movie, but there are also some areas where this movie was just being a people pleaser. The American President accurately portrayed the rolls of the media, the effects of polling, the impact of primaries, and it showed the process of introducing a bill to congress. However, it also was being a typical Hollywood movie at times. This was mostly true in the cases where the President came off being naïve, when he through caution into the wind for a girlfriend, and at other times, like when he was to dignified to join into the smear campaign.
[1] Watching Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995) and the director’s earlier film JFK (1991), it is difficult to have kind thoughts about Richard Nixon. Stone’s investment in the figure of the president manifests itself in two ways: first, in the director’s fixation on Nixon as a symbol of the corrupt political landscape after President John Kennedy’s assassination, and, second, his fixation on Nixon as a symbol of a failed patriarch or an ineffective father figure who led the country into further turmoil. Stone has argued that he hoped to elicit sympathy for Nixon, but I will show that the director’s emphasis on Nixon as an epic tragedy, especially in conjunction with the Beast thesis, does not allow for sympathy or understanding of the man or his politics.
Bitter about the evolution of the corruption of society, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell plays the official hero clinging to old traditions and reminiscing about the old days in No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Delusions of a peaceful utopia during the time his grandpa Jack was a sheriff has left Bell looking at the world through hopeless eyes; a world on its knees with only one explanation for its demise: Satan. Not necessarily a religious man, Sheriff Bell, when asked if he believes in Satan, remarks: “He explains a lot of things that otherwise don’t have no explanation. Or not to me they don’t” (218). Throughout No County for Old Men, Sheriff Bell is determined to save Llewellyn Moss in order to prove that justice can be served in a world now drenched in decay. Throughout the book and the film adaptation, the audience can see Sheriff Bell, a tormented old man, sink deeper into his bitterness and his hope sizzle away in the Texas heat.
All the King’s Men, written by Robert Penn Warren, is set deep in the south during the 1930’s. This is a story of the rise and fall of a political titan. Willie Stark comes from poverty to become the governor of his state. He forces his enemies into submission by blackmails, repeated threats, and bullies them. He creates a series of liberal reforms that lay heavy tax burdens on the rich and lifts the money issue off of the poor farmers. His foil character Sam MacMurfee persistently searches for way to ruin the career of Willie Starks. Sam MacMurfee has thugs and powerful political allies deep in his pockets. The two characters remind the reader of corrupt figures in politics such as the famous Boss Tweed.
Richard Nixon's first term as president will always be connected with the Watergate scandal, the biggest political scandal in United States history. Various illegal activities were conducted including burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, sabotage, and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents to help Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. There were about 40 people charged with crimes related to the scandal. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty. Watergate involved more high-level government officials than any previous scandal. It has been etched in the minds of millions and is still being recalled today when faced with the present day scandal of President Clinton. In All The President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, former Washington Post reporters, recount, illustrate, and analyze the Watergate scandal time and their work in reporting and revealing these events for the newspaper.
Just as with “All The President’s Men”, one can investigate the ethical issues in accordance to the SPJ Code of Ethics. Set in 1992, during the besiegement of the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, American and European journalists risked their own lives to report on the tragic and horrific incidents that took place. Flynn, an American journalist, and Henderson an English journalist, are the two main journalists who are featured in the film. Since the journalists are in the middle of a war scene, their lives were inherently in constant jeopardy. In order to report on the incidents that are occurring, they often found themselves in the middle of a shooting or in the aftermath of dead bodies lining the streets. Flynn and Henderson are both passionate about their work; Flynn especially is determined to catch the best story at all costs. Whereas, Henderson begins to find himself emotionally attached to one of the victims in Sarajevo. In the midst of life threatening chaos and terror, both Flynn and Henderson sought the truth and reported it. They were both courageous and respected the lives of whom they were
On March 3, 1915 the movie The Birth of a Nation was released at the Liberty Theatre in New York City. This film was financed, filmed, and released by the Epoch Producing Corporation of D.W. Griffith and Harry T. Aitken. It was one of the first films to ever use deep-focus shots, night photography, and to be explicitly controversial with the derogatory view of blacks.
The book I read and am doing a presentation on is called Saving Private Ryan by Max Allen Collins. Saving Private Ryan is about the heroism of soldiers of soldiers and their duty during wartime, World War Two. This story is to remind you, the reader, that war is nothing but hell, orders on the front line can be brutal, and absurd. The story is set in Europe of 1944, as the Nazis are still advancing and taking over cities and countries. On June 6th, 1944, Captain Miller, and hundreds of other men leave Europe to accomplish one mission, Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day. When they get there, there will be a new task awaiting them.
Woodward and Bernstein's undertaking constructed the cornerstone for the modern role of the media. The making of the movie about the Watergate Scandal and the ventures of the two journalists signify the importance of the media. The media’s role as intermediary is exemplified throughout the plot of the movie. The movie is the embodiment of journalism that guides future journalists to progress towards the truth, no matter what they are going up against. It was the endeavor of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that led them to the truth behind the president’s men. They showed that not even the president is able to deter the sanctity of journalism in its search of truth. The freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and people’s right to know account for the same truth that journalists pursue; the truth that democracy is alive and will persist to live on.
The influence of the media on women is not unknown, but it was especially prevalent in the 1960s. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes, both professors of sociology, “Media images of women and men reflect and reproduce a whole set of stereotypical but changing gender roles” (quoted in Mahrdt 1) and, as society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. It shows what life was like for the women who lived during a time when the “feminine mystique” controlled society.
American History X (1998) illustrates how segregation is aggravated by missing father figures as well as the herd mentality of the characters in the film. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the herd mentality states that people need a concept or a worldview to adopt in order to give meaning to their lives. This herding of people who choose to adopt this certain ideal or ideals in effect causes the stifling of individual thoughts or creativity because everyone chooses to think a certain way (Floyd). This mindset that people are attracted to is not always chosen or forced but is rather seen as an obligation because of loyalties certain people have to others.
What lies in the world of politics is a world of fear. Or so for the ones who cross Francis Underwood, the main character in the Netflix original series, House of Cards. As season one starts off, Francis Underwood captures the true essence of what the entire show is about, “There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things”(Script: reddit.com). As he finishes this line he brutally kills a dog lying on the street, who had just been injured after being hit by a car. He continues on, “Moments like this require someone like me. Someone who will act. Who will do what no one else has the courage to do. The unpleasant thing. The necessary thing” (Script: reddit.com). Through persuasion, manipulation and down right corrupt politics, House of Cards displays a unique spin on the world in Washington, one that some may believe not to be far from the truth.