tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post4519697792332705956..comments2024-03-27T07:18:39.229-05:00Comments on In Medias Res: Presidents on Film: A BlegUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-22303449018410033812008-06-03T08:35:00.000-05:002008-06-03T08:35:00.000-05:00Sorry, it's the Living Room Candidatehttp://living...Sorry, it's the Living Room Candidate<BR/>http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/<BR/><BR/>Archive.org has other stuff, mostly speeches.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-31408492898883165122008-06-02T12:35:00.000-05:002008-06-02T12:35:00.000-05:00What you want, in addition to youtube clips, are t...<I>What you want, in addition to youtube clips, are the campaign commericals. Really, can anyone top the patheticnes of Carter's 1980 "He'll do better next time" ads. Archive.org has a ton of these, among other sites. They also have a lot of good political speeches. The Nixon Checkers speech is available too. That's what you want, not movies.</I><BR/><BR/>David, that is an <I>awesome</I> idea. Thank you! (I know where to track down a fair number of old presidential election commercials, and I can think of which ones I want to use--Reagan's "bear in the forest" is, of course, a must-have. But I'm searching archive.org, and I'm not finding any Carter ads. Am I not using the site correctly?)Russell Arben Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03366800726360134194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-86284377669498495242008-06-02T11:20:00.000-05:002008-06-02T11:20:00.000-05:00Ok, I reread the post and thought about this some ...Ok, I reread the post and thought about this some more. What you want, in addition to youtube clips, are the campaign commericals. Really, can anyone top the patheticnes of Carter's 1980 "He'll do better next time" ads. Archive.org has a ton of these, among other sites. They also have a lot of good political speeches. The Nixon Checkers speech is available too. That's what you want, not movies. At least, that's what I want (and use) as a Upper School teacher. And while you are at archive don't miss "are you popular?" and "boys beware"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-12528761613180335512008-05-30T09:19:00.000-05:002008-05-30T09:19:00.000-05:00Oh man, Chris...Being There. What a great choice. ...Oh man, Chris...<I>Being There</I>. What a great choice. But what would I show? Probably some bit about the media, or wherever. I don't care, really. Any opportunity to introduce new people to <I>Being There</I> is officially a Good Thing.Russell Arben Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03366800726360134194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-64645040013281782502008-05-30T09:09:00.000-05:002008-05-30T09:09:00.000-05:00Being There.Being There.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-75066940598514575192008-05-29T14:23:00.000-05:002008-05-29T14:23:00.000-05:00Matt,Um, well, that's...interesting. Funny, too--b...Matt,<BR/><BR/>Um, well, that's...interesting. Funny, too--but probably not something middle and high school teachers are going to want to show their students. Thanks for trying though!<BR/><BR/>Rob,<BR/><BR/>I love <I>Dick</I>. (Oh, hey, and that's a line from the movie too!) It's absolutely hilarious, and what an awesome cast (Harry Shearer, Dave Foley, Will Ferrell, etc.). Unfortunately, I can't think of anything I could show from it.<BR/><BR/>Alejandro,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the link!<BR/><BR/>Christopher,<BR/><BR/>I remember the first season (it was the first season, wasn't it?) cliffhanger that you're mention, and yes, there was some good stuff there about how the tension regarding how closely or how loosely the president should be controlled by his security people, etc. I don't know; that's not in any way a major theme of the workshop, but perhaps it could work.<BR/><BR/>Jeremiah,<BR/><BR/>I'm actually kind of willing to defend <I>Dave</I>, but that's partly because I think Kevin Kline and Charles Grodin can almost do no wrong. Thanks for the reminder about <I>Thirteen Days</I>; that was a good film. I remember being bothered by their switches from color to black-and-white and back again, though--I couldn't figure out what the director was intending with that.<BR/><BR/>John,<BR/><BR/>Hmm--now, <I>The War Room</I> is a great suggestion; I may want to tak a look at that again. And that's an interesting observation you make vis-a-vis Victorian literature. Could it be that even the most powerful political office on Earth is kind of boring once it's been won?<BR/><BR/>David,<BR/><BR/>I really think I want to try to bring some sort of audio-visual media in, if only because so many middle and high school teachers are looking for that resource. But you have a point about making use of samples of a president's schedule and so forth. Presidential and political rhetoric isn't one I've thought much about for this workshop...but you have some good suggestions there. I'm going to have to dig up some Youtube clips and see what I can find.Russell Arben Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03366800726360134194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-26476358843548320082008-05-29T10:16:00.000-05:002008-05-29T10:16:00.000-05:00Russell,I don't think film is the way to go for th...Russell,<BR/>I don't think film is the way to go for this. Films are good at conveying emotional complexity but not organizational complexity, which seems to be more of what you are after here. What about daily planner entries or diaries of a typical working day? On the flip side, if you are going to do a lesson on rhetoric in the campaign. I have had good luck at using Obama's yes we can video and Huckabee's super Tuesday speech and comparing them with Romney's Super Tuesday speech. Note the I/we constructions used by the former two and the I/you constructions by Romney.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-10036976997665245352008-05-29T08:02:00.000-05:002008-05-29T08:02:00.000-05:00For campaigning, perhaps The Candidate would work....For campaigning, perhaps <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068334/" REL="nofollow"><I>The Candidate</I></A> would work. Perhaps <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094562/" REL="nofollow"><I>Tanner '88</I></A> as well, which has the added advantage of being episodic. And as for a documentary, there's <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108515/" REL="nofollow"><I>The War Room</I></A> . . . <BR/><BR/>Curious: somewhat as you suggest, there's a paucity of films that purport to show The Truth about actually being President. It'd be interesting to know why that is. It reminds me of something my Victorian Lit. prof told us with regard to marriage-plot novels: all the interest lies in the chase. The Victorians' take was, to paraphrase Tolstoy, that all married people are married in the same way.John B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06358811061653958120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-87634456006913230052008-05-29T06:00:00.000-05:002008-05-29T06:00:00.000-05:00I've met many people who don't like politics and d...I've met many people who don't like politics and don't know much about it, who love either Dave or the American President. That has to be some sort of clue to "why Americans hate politics" (if in fact they do). The American President is one of my conservative, apolitical mother's favorite flicks!<BR/><BR/>Dave drives me up the wall. The veiled left-wing full-employment message is fine by me, but the scene where his two-bit accountant does a late-night comb through of the federal budget is too much. <BR/><BR/>You didn't mention Thirteen Days. It's a pretty decent look at real life events, and gives some indication of how the White House can work. It will also make you thank God that GW Bush was not in the White House at the time. Curtis LeMay would have had Bush eating out of his hand.<BR/><BR/>Jeremiah J.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-53841934692607458612008-05-28T22:51:00.000-05:002008-05-28T22:51:00.000-05:00As far as the West Wing goes, I recommend the clif...As far as the West Wing goes, I recommend the cliffhanger episode where there is the shooting. I think it provides meaningful insight to the real behind the scenes issues of the president, such as the order of succession issue, and also having stations at hospitals on assigned emergency routes, and even a fun tid bit involving secret service protocol. <BR/><BR/><BR/>Also, while it doesn't have to do with so much the Presidency...All the Presidents men with Hoffman and Redford is a classic in that sort of theme as well. <BR/><BR/>Let me know when this is, If I have the cash I may take the train down.Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13424247835859201144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-25218438795615562152008-05-28T16:16:00.000-05:002008-05-28T16:16:00.000-05:00You can find lots of examples from TV series, film...You can find lots of examples from TV series, films and other media discussed and classified in the article "<A HREF="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurPresidentsAreDifferent" REL="nofollow">Our President Are Different</A>" at the <A HREF="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage" REL="nofollow">TvTropes Wiki</A>. Warning: dangerous time sink.Alejandrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09286094437163724803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-21775119109463429182008-05-28T16:01:00.000-05:002008-05-28T16:01:00.000-05:00Well, don't forget "Dick"... the movie which mocke...Well, don't forget "Dick"... the movie which mocked Nixon by making "Deep Throat" a pair of teenage girls who walked his dog and fed him hashish-laced cookies. <BR/><BR/>I think that explains everything, actually. ;-D<BR/><BR/>Seriously, though, didn't you notice that only the first three seasons of "The West Wing" were penned and guided by Sorkin, with others picking up after that? I lost interest at about the same time you did. <BR/><BR/>I don't actually remember anything really specific from those years, except that, yeah, vaguely there was a lot of maneuvering and back-and-forth about issues, but nothing which really showcases the electoral process.<BR/><BR/>One thing you might showcase, if it's still active when you teach, is CNN's delegate calculators, though they do keep removing sliders for states as the primaries happen.Rob Perkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618647194288598056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7907752.post-62758577856505471612008-05-28T14:06:00.000-05:002008-05-28T14:06:00.000-05:00I'd recommend this, but some might find it inappro...I'd recommend this, but some might find it inappropriate:<BR/><BR/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbRom1Rz8OA<BR/><BR/>I, however, found it brilliant. <BR/><BR/>Unfortunately I don't have any serious suggestions. When I was in the peace corps I worked with school teachers (English teachers) back for additional training and found it very rewarding though also sometimes frustrating (they tended to exhibit the vices of their students when acting as students themselves, it seemed.) When I wanted to show them something about politics (and school life) in the US I showed them _Election_ though I doubt that will work for you since it's about a _Student body_ president.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com