The CAMPAIGN
I want to take a close look at how politics are referenced
in movies, based on the idea that I believe that politics are a well rehearsed
performance. The clip I have chosen is from The Campaign directed by Jay Roach.
The movie is a comedy; it is about Cam Brady and Marty Huggins who live in
North Carolina, running for a seat in Congress. In the clip the current
Democratic Congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) and Marty Huggins (Zach
Galifianakis) representing the Republican Party are having their first debate
in their small town.
Warning: This clip contains explicit language.
After watching the clip, how do you feel Roach is trying to represent politics? If you have never seen the movie before, what would you think about this clip? I’m going to break down the scene and tell you what I think this one scene means or insinuates about politics. Not the politics in the movie, but how I feel the director are writers of the film interpret politics.
Well I want to take a closer look at the location of the
scene. It looks like the crowd is set up in a gym. This makes me assume that
the town is very small, too small to have a large auditorium or arena for the debate.
So Roach is displaying small town involvement in current political events.
Next I want to take a look at the crowd, how the Average Joe
is represented.
The first things I notice in the crowd were the blue and red
clothing and accessories. You can see who supports which side of the argument
by the color they are wearing. Red for Huggins and Blue for Brady, which is
interesting to me because the Obama/Romney 2012 presidential campaign was a
very similar color scheme. Obama who is a Democrat used a light blue in the
“Say Yes” campaign, almost the same color of the Brady supporters in this clip.
While Romney used a lot a bright red; you can see Huggins’ supporters are
wearing the same red. Can we say that there is a connection? I think we can.
It seems like the politicians have been placed in the middle
of a ring. If we compare the visual similarities of the following picture.
The gym in the film was smaller, up the set up looks very similar to the on the in the clip. the lighting is also very similar, those circular lights around the top are like the ones used in the clip.
A few of the men in the crowd started hitting each other with metal chairs. A classic wrestling move.
Do you think Roach made this debate look like a wrestling match on purpose?
I think it is a safe assumption to make. The idea that
politics are a well-rehearsed wrestling match is something I mentioned in my
last blog entry. So I find it very interesting that we are seeing it reoccur in
this clip. It is insinuating the popular phrase, ‘May the best opponent
win’. Usually politicians use debates to
give a tongue slashing to one another. But in this clip the topic gets so
intense that a physical fight breaks out. Why do you think Roach would push it
that far? I’m not sure, but I know that when I watch debates, I feel like the
people debating are on the verge of a fight. Roach is probably trying to convey
this idea.
