Retort Magazine

         With every US Presidential Administration a characteristic type of film genre emerges to help summarise the mood and the policies that are in effect. From Hollywood the films are typically pro-American action movies that propagandise internal and external polices. This level of jingoism reached its zenith in the 1980’s with action stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis all starring in films that depicted positive endorsements of American foreign policy. This form of propaganda was not put to rest by the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama administrations. During the Bill Clinton years the weapons and bloody violence were replaced with savvy liberal political films such as Dave and the John Travolta starring Primary Colors, which painted a picture of a likable, if flawed, liberal-minded man of the people in the presidential office both to comic and also to dramatic effect. During the George W. Bush administration, jingoism and violence returned with an added pulling of the heartstrings of the post-9/11 era. Films directly concerned with 9/11 such as World Trade Center, the television movie, Flight 93, and the high octane United 93, allowed audiences to feel that the War on Terror was a just cause. However, alongside these pro-American feats were the more critical voices found in documentaries such as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko, as well such geopolitical films as Babel and Syriana, which answered the “why do they hate us?” question uttered numerous times after 9/11. So far Hollywood’s answer to the Barack Obama administration has been to pretend that nothing is amiss. Over the past four years Hollywood has lambasted the film market with pure spectacle that, much like the Reagan/Bush era, has painted America in unreal terms as the greatest and mightiest of nations. Much like American cinema of the late-sixties and early-seventies, in which independent and critical voices arose out of the dying embers of Hollywood’s epic productions, it has been down to the young independent filmmakers to capture the era and tell the real story of what it means to be young in Barack Obama’s America. This has lead to an emerging sub-genre in independent film that has been given the term Mumblecore by its main proponents.

Continue reading ~ Mumblecore in Obama’s America by Stephen Lee Naish →