Mr Smith Goes to Washington Movie Questions

The film portrays the government in a very negative light and shows how the senators have no real influence on lawmaking. Mr. Smith’s struggles as a senator gave the impression that the government functions completely on bribery, blackmail, and lies. The film gives a very strong message about the lack of democracy in American government and politics, along with the ignorance of the American people. Mr. Smith portrays the average American citizen: he is naïve, has faith in the democracy, and is ignorant

The main plot of the movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington is a conflict between Jeff Smith, Senator Paine, and Jim Taylor. A senator of a state passed away causing a new senator needing to be appointed. Jim Taylor a local publicist who had pull around the Senate, pressured the governor to select Jefferson Smith. He was appointed as the new Senator of the State, because everyone thought that he was incompetent, naive, and would not get in their way. However when Smith passed a clever bill that got in the way of Jim Taylor’s scandal, Jim and Senator Paine tried to do whatever they could to get Jeffrey expelled from the Senate.

The film Swing Vote is an American political culture film that relies heavily on film subtext to depict the negative attitude many Americans have towards voting, corruption inside a political election, and the spectacle of media frenzy. While the film gives a light hearted impression of a rare political snafu it is still consistent with the main themes of other political films of manipulation, money lust, and power hungry political heads that will stop at nothing for their own personal gain. We also see the political candidates merely as puppets while their campaign managers are the ones truly calling the shots. Swing Vote is a unique political culture film because due to the ordeal in the film’s plot, the politicians are at a disadvantage when they are usually the ones in power. With the tables turned we see how they construct their corrupt schemes and the direct effect it has on the character representing the American perspective. The strong symbols that convey the cultural norms in America’s political system are in need of a deeper analysis.

Imagine yourself in the shoes of Henry Clay, a man who wanted to be president, but never did become president. The closest he got to president was being the Speaker for the House of Representatives. But who was this man? Why was he important? I will answer tese questions in this one single essay!

The film, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington is an great example of what is going in the politics back then and today too. Some characters in the film are Jefferson Smith- Young Senator and the main character, Clarissa Saunders- Smith’s Assistant, Joseph Paine- Senior Senator, Jim Taylor- Political Boss, Gov. Hopper- Governor, Chick McGann- Taylor’s Assistant and Diz Moore- Newspaper Reporter and Saunders friend.

The danger of politics lead to the principal factor of checks and balances, within the government and Founding Fathers, throughout the “most crucial and consequential [decade] in American history” (27). Politics were also what lead to the quarrel between John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

4. Jefferson acknowledged the audience, Congress, in his inaugural speech. He also referred to George Washington ("our first and greatest revolutionary character"). Did he mention his predecessor, John Adams? Did he refer to Adams's policies? What do you make of this?

When protagonist Jefferson Smith very suddenly becomes a US Senator, he is portrayed as the perfect example of nominal patriotism. He has several speeches by Washington and Lincoln memorized, is the leader of a group of what are basically Boy Scouts, and spends his first day in Washington DC in awe of the monuments.

This docility and willingness to vote according to the older Senators was most likely caused by the new Senators’ fear of the political bosses. Mr. Smith, however, was sheltered from knowing that the political bosses even existed and, as a result, was not afraid to stand up for his beliefs. Mr. Taylor, a typical political boss of Smith’s time, had extreme power in his state and was able to tilt the public opinion of Senator Smith. He did this through his control of the state media and connections within the government. Taylor concocted evidence with the help of his government connections alleging that Smith owned the property intended for the boy’s camp and was only promoting the camp bill so that he could sell his own property to the government at a high price. Taylor then publicized these false accusations against Smith in the newspapers that he controlled, thus persuading public opinion and ultimately causing Smith to be accused of wrongdoing by a Senate committee. Throughout this entire entourage, Smith was too inexperienced and naive to stand up against Taylor’s political machine and resorted instead to crying at the Lincoln Memorial. Smith only returned to the Senate after Saunders convinced him that he should fight for his rights. This situation ultimately proved once again that Senator Smith was too naive to be an effective Senator. Smith did not realize that the other Senators were inclined to believe the accusations against his character, and therefore,

Summary: In Chapter 1, Hudson addresses the distorted views of democracy from modern-day Americans. He explains how separation of power within the government lessens the power of American citizens and ultimately alters the ideology behind a true democracy into what we have today.

The two speeches, “Why I Love a Country That Once Betrayed Me,” told by George Takei, and “A Time for Choosing,” by Ronald Reagan, are persuasive speeches telling their own perspective about what American democracy should be like. The purpose of “A Time for Choosing,” is for American citizens to choose whether they want freedom or security of their daily lives. While “Why I Love a Country That Once Betrayed Me,” wove little stories of Takei’s childhood to help guide the audience the idea that American democracy isn’t perfect, but worth fighting for. Because Takei mainly uses loaded language and pathos, Takei’s speech is more compelling.

Despite the rise of oppression and authoritarianism in societies, historically free will always prevails over determinism. Both Steven Spielberg and Arthur Miller in Minority Report and The Crucible, respectively, establish settings ravaged by authoritarianism as a means to embody fundamental concepts regarding the conflict between free will and determinism. Both authors use extensive imagery of religion, symbolism of characters and contrasting images of social responsibility and personal desire to draw attention to their idea that an individual always has choice and the capacity for free will despite the presence of determinism and authoritarianism in society. Spielberg and Miller use this idea as a foundation to establish universal messages connecting conflicting free will and determinism to oppression, suggesting that true freedom exists only when societies stand up to deterministic views designed to bring profit to only a select few.

Internal conflict revolves around fear that one can obtain as Winston Smith had to face the party. He wanted to maintain his values, which is his freedom of thought, trust, expression, along with the truth, as he faces conflict with the party, fighting against it to keep what he believes. Winston believes Julia is someone else, but is the exact opposite of what he believes.

It is an exemplary piece of work that truly portrays why American is no longer the greatest country in the world anymore. This movie has many hidden metaphors that portray the directors’ cynicism of the American system. When Bulworth drinks alcohol in front of the media, he instantly captures the attention of the nation. This is a metaphor of how both Republicans and Democrats, along with big business manage to exploit the media and systemically hypnotize the American people. “Everyone knows that big business dominates the two principal parties and the mass media, that things are wretched for masses of people, that race is a diversion, that social inequality is the central issue in American life?” (Walsh:

What does Truman feel about the assertion that there is an inclusive national or public interest?