Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Relevant Movie For Today

Last night my human was in tears and frustrated.  A project she was working on just wouldn’t come together.  After a few back and forth emails with a friend, she decided to let the matter go, sit back and relax with a good movie.  It is the relevance of the movie to today’s political climate that struck me, a dog, and I feel the need to talk about it.

The movie was “State of the Union” starring Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn and Angela Lansbury.  I was amazed at how Angela’s character, a newspaper magnate, was determined to make her choice for POTUS the Republican nominee and therefore, President.  Nothing would stop her machinations in getting what she wanted.  She chose the politicians that would “bring him around” to the party line and get him the “delegates” needed to win the nomination.

I realize the movie is a dramatization, but think about it just a moment.  Most writers are inspired by something they’ve seen or heard.  Somewhere the author of the story witnessed the lengths the media of the day would go to in their attempts to control the political climate.  Isn’t that what we are seeing with today’s media insisting that Mitt Romney is the only republican candidate that can beat Obama? 

“Candi, isn’t what she’s doing in this movie the same sort of thing that they’re doing today?  When Spencer Tracy spoke from his heart, the people responded and that terrified ‘those in charge’.  Isn’t that what they did to Sarah Palin and Herman Cain?”

“Good point, Shasta.  In 2008, the media did everything within its power to make her look inept.  The GOP did everything in its power to make her ‘toe the line’ and, in doing so, thus gave the White House to Obama.  If the people had been allowed to hear ‘the truth’, we may have seen a different outcome.”

“So how do we take that power away from the media and politicians?” I asked.

“We (the people) have to be louder than the media, Shasta.  We have to use the power of the ‘new media’ and spread the word about conservative candidates on all levels of government.  We have to stand up and tell them what we think, just like Katherine’s character did in the movie.  Just like the ‘grip’ at the end who asked, ‘Are you any different than them?’  We have to decide that we will no longer allow the media and D.C. tell us who to vote for or why,” Candi said.

Although movies are “entertainment” and “dramatizations”, if you actually pay attention to the plot and sub-plots, you can learn something.  You can see the truth that no one wants to face.  You just have to look.  I would ask each of you to consider watching “State of the Union”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and “Meet John Doe”.  Each addresses the power of the media and the political machines that are still prevalent in today’s society.  I would ask that you not only watch and listen to the movies, but that you look at them with an open mind to see if you can come to the same conclusions that we came to.  That today’s media and political elite are STILL trying to dictate to us, the people, WHO to vote for.

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