There isn’t anything further and closer to the heart of cinema than politics. Movies are pretend; no matter how they might provoke meaning and change in viewers, they’re insignificant when compared to the social and economic power of government. And yet, there’s a lot about the film world that reflects our real world and the politics that rule it.
I’m not just talking about documentaries that explicitly explore politics as their subjects, like the Sickos and Obama’s Americas, because regardless of their literal content, all movies are political. And Hollywood’s politicians—powerful people like Harvey Weinstein, who’ll do whatever it takes to stay on top, or Rich Ross, who’s put on public trial for business gone awry—aren’t just butting heads with one another, they’re actually vying for our votes.
Moviegoers cast their votes every single weekend, if not two or three times a week. With every click of the remote to purchase a flick On-Demand, every dollar handed over at the Cineplex ticket booth, even every time the channel isn’t changed when a trailer pops up onscreen, viewers become voters. And here’s how:
Incumbency
Whether or not you saw Taken 2 or Alex Cross this past weekend is a question of incumbency. Terms in Hollywood are far shorter than the ones in D.C.—usually about seven days—and even at their longest, with Titanic reigning for 15 weeks, a movie’s staying power pales in comparison to that of Commander in Chief. Every weekend, some new candidate is ready to topple whatever movie’s been sitting pretty since the previous Friday.
Yet the real incumbency dilemma lies in this: committed to not sleeping this weekend, do you vote for Scott Derrickson’s Sinister or for the established Paranormal Activity 4? With a franchise vote, a viewer knows what he’s getting. It might be a little better or a little worse than Paranormal Activity 3, but there’s still going to be a good deal of paranormal activity involved. It’s the same thing with the Presidential race: Obama offers voters the same killer demon that’s been haunting the White House for years, whereas Romney offers a brand new one!
Party Loyalty vs. Keeping your Distance
In the first week of September, Bill Clinton stepped up to the podium at the Democratic National Convention to rally voters for Barack Obama. Clinton’s heavily ad-libbed endorsement was widely regarded as far more rousing and inspiring than the President’s own address; indeed it was the trump card of the whole convention. Analysts and journalists quickly proceeded to point out similarities between the two presidents, which Obama embraced, capitalizing on party loyalty in the same way that Alex Cross never fails to mention that it’s the child of director Rob Cohen of The Fast and the Furious.
Yet sometimes movies and politicians find themselves working endlessly to distance themselves from their associations. Witness the way Mitt Romney handled the question directed him at last week’s Town Hall debate about what distinguishes his candidacy from George W. Bush’s. The Republican Party hopes Bush will be the furthest thing from voters’ minds on Election Day. Likewise a little over a year ago, when three Snow White flicks were in development at the same time, studios quickly moved to differentiate themselves. Both Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman took on drastically different personas while Disney’s adaptation was indefinitely postponed.
Crossing Party Lines
This past weekend Tyler Perry was put front and center as the hero in an action/crime thriller, and it seems to have been a misstep. Maybe you’re wondering what happened to his wig and dress, or maybe you just don’t buy him as anything but a funnyman (considering Alex Cross’s disappointing $11.7M debut, you probably don’t). Toeing the party line is a dangerous game, with movies and politics endlessly struggling to consistently do one thing so viewers don’t dare think they’ve got a flip-flopper on their hands. Which is why Summit would rather you not notice Perry at all…
Hiding the Dirty Laundry
Since trailers are how movie campaigns put their strategies into action, check out the one for Alex Cross. Its first headline touts author James Patterson, the second references director TK’s The Fast and the Furious, and then at the very end the name Tyler Perry flashes, a necessary afterthought. Trailers and political campaigns ads direct voters’ attention to very specific things, hiding anything that might pigeonhole a movie or candidate. Alex Cross won’t call itself a Tyler Perry movie and Barack Obama wouldn’t label himself a liberal; what’s not in a trailer or a campaign ad is just as important as what is.
Getting Out The Vote
Voters like my grandfather head to the movie theater every single Saturday morning. Rain or shine and no matter if it’s Hotel Transylvania or Argo on offer, movie people go to the movies. Come election season, dedicated voters do the same, habitually heading to their local schools and firehouses to cast their ballots. The most important task though, and the real dilemma facing both movies and politics, is to actually get more people involved. How to get people who aren’t coming to the voting/ticket booth to actually show up? This is where all of the above tactics come in, from crossing party lines to playing the incumbent card—anything to convince those apathetic voters to show up at the polls.
Right behind non-voters are the swing voters, people who, on a Friday night, decide between a movie and cosmic bowling, as well those people who stand in line arguing with their date over which flick to see. The key for snagging swing voters is to peddle four-quadrant movies—and play bipartisan politics. The most successful movies, like the most successful politicians, are usually ones that can appeal to the largest possible audience—men and women, young and old.
Yet some movies do well to hone in on one subculture or fan base…
Targeting Key Demographics
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Magic Mike both target specific audiences: older folk that have been otherwise ignored in today’s movie marketplace, and women who weren’t being treated to enough shirtless men. Campaigning is all about appealing to the right voters. Trailers like the one for Alex Cross zero in on an intended, or ideal audience, splicing together clips and headlines that attract fans of the action/thriller genre fans.
That said, popular genre films like The Avengers and The Hunger Games know that the right voters are all voters; similarly, Romney’s not going to bother convincing a tried-and-true Mormon Republican to throw a vote his way—because he’s already got it. Campaigns face the tricky task of targeting potential audiences without alienating their secured audiences.
Movies and politics differ here, as political campaign ads tend to negatively skewer their opponents in order to “steal” their voters, making themselves look the more bipartisan (or multi-quadrant) by comparison. Imagine if an ad for this weekend’s Cloud Atlas simply consisted of bad reviews of Chasing Mavericks, Fun Size, and Silent Hill 2. Would such negative advertising work? Well, the tactic is leaking into other markets already, with companies like Samsung parodying the hype for the iPhone in a commercial that claims it can do what its competitor can’t. Will movies be next to jump on the trash-talking bandwagon?
The Independents
There’s a lot of talk right now about the Presidential race, but let’s not forget about the countless local elections that decide the everyday going-ons across the country. Not as many people turn up for town council elections or even congressional ones, but these reps are the men and women who most directly influence life at home. A sizable number of great indie flicks debut every weekend, but they open in only a few scattered theaters, and compared to a large Hollywood release a very small percentage of viewers take in Werner Herzog’s latest gem at the local art house. But an indie film’s performance, while not reported in the mainstream headlines, seriously impacts the film industry on the local level. Loyal voters will trek out to the theater this weekend to decide between The Loneliest Planet and Pusher, and their votes will make a big difference in the highly concentrated and influential indie film community. What happens locally trickles up; these are the movies that go on to win Oscars, and churn out candidates (actors) who eventually compete in the big show.
The Mirage
Movies and politics both exist in the realm of show business. What you see on screen or on stage isn’t always necessarily what you get, and there are a lot of writers and directors and editors behind the scenes of both. But where movies are largely a fantasy, an escape from reality even when they’re shedding a light on it, politics are a front for something else entirely—the government, laws, freedoms, wars. A big show is put on to get people to see movies, to get them to stay in their seats, to Tweet about it all, but we all know it’s a show. Monday’s final presidential debate was a very different type of show, mainly because its consequences are real. When the campaigns are over and the winner remains in office for longer than even the most successful blockbuster, the show becomes very real indeed.
So which ticket will America buy? We’ll have to wait a little while longer to collect and scrutinize those ballots, but in the meantime don’t forget to cast your votes this weekend at a theater near you.
