Comparison Of Primary Colors, And The Ides Of March
The films Primary Colors (1998), Election (1999), and The Ides of March (2011) are focused around political campaigning having one major theme in common: political campaigns reveal one’s true character as well as shape it. Primary Colors and The Ides of March both focus on candidates and campaign teams who are running for the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination. Although Election is instead about high school students running for student body president and the teacher who oversees the government and election, it still delivers the same message. All of these films center around corruption in politics and especially campaigns. Movies such as these have a positive effect on political culture because they encourage citizens to hold politicians
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In Primary Colors, The Ides of March, Election, and even The Contender, every main candidate has been involved in a sex scandal, and these play incredibly large roles in the potential success of their campaigns. If Tracy Flick had not been in a sexual relationship with a teacher, Mr. McAllister would not have cause to fear what would happen if she won the election. As for Stanton and Morris, the idea of a man cheating on his wife with a child and impregnating her is one of the most immoral, irredeemable acts to the American people. Stephen states this eloquently when he tells Morris “you can start a war, you can lie, you can cheat, you can bankrupt the country, but you can’t fuck the interns.” In The Contender, it is not only Laine Hanson’s supposed sexual activity that makes the American public see her as untrustworthy, it is also the fact that she was involved in a love affair while her husband was still married to his first wife, making her “the other …show more content…
It is clear by the manner in which each narrative is shaped that the producers of the films are making a very clear statement on the role of corruption in politics – the political system is almost irreparably damaged and convoluted. Unless the system changes and undergoes major systematic changes, which would be near-impossible given the extensive system of checks and balances in the US government, the corrupt political network will continue to grow and worsen in
In Primary Colors, The Ides of March, Election, and even The Contender, every main candidate has been involved in a sex scandal, and these play incredibly large roles in the potential success of their campaigns. If Tracy Flick had not been in a sexual relationship with a teacher, Mr. McAllister would not have cause to fear what would happen if she won the election. As for Stanton and Morris, the idea of a man cheating on his wife with a child and impregnating her is one of the most immoral, irredeemable acts to the American people. Stephen states this eloquently when he tells Morris “you can start a war, you can lie, you can cheat, you can bankrupt the country, but you can’t fuck the interns.” In The Contender, it is not only Laine Hanson’s supposed sexual activity that makes the American public see her as untrustworthy, it is also the fact that she was involved in a love affair while her husband was still married to his first wife, making her “the other …show more content…
It is clear by the manner in which each narrative is shaped that the producers of the films are making a very clear statement on the role of corruption in politics – the political system is almost irreparably damaged and convoluted. Unless the system changes and undergoes major systematic changes, which would be near-impossible given the extensive system of checks and balances in the US government, the corrupt political network will continue to grow and worsen in