According to Auster and Quart (x) “Most movies are made without any conscious political intention, and even those that do include political themes and messages are often vague in their political perspective.” When I first read this passage I was taken aback then amused that any viewer of Hollywood films, either modern or historically, could make such an assertion. The list of films that give the lie to such an assertion is so long that a list of them here would consume the entire space of this essay. However, if we examine four films that are politically-themed, we get a good sense of the erroneous nature of this statement: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), All The President’s Men (1976), Primary Colors (1997), and Bulworth (1999). In all four of these films the political intention is conscious, explicit, and far from vague. In fact, the overriding message that comes across in all four films is that when it comes to politics absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington definitely shows that in politics power corrupts. In fact, in this film we see the U.S. Congress act like nothing more than a bunch of monied men who only pass legislation if it has enough pork barrel spending hidden in it to win them favors with their most powerful constituents. James Stewart plays Jefferson Smith, a young man who is chosen to take the place of a recently deceased Senator. The film does an excellent job at showing that most Senator’s are the puppets of those who are rich and powerful enough to pull their strings. We see this early in the film when we see the Governor call party Boss and media magnate Jim Taylor, showing that he is Taylor’s yes-man. Taylor has been working behind-the-scenes to insure the passage of a bill that skims real estate funds from the public coffers. The political machinery has been purchasing land under fictitious names. As Senator Joseph Paine tells Taylor about the new replaceme...