The representation of the American reality series

Résumé du document

Series where the president is represented are very successful in the United States. In the State where freedom of speech is the first amendment, movie makers enjoy creating fiction with the role of the president.
They imagine a political life at the border between reality and fiction, they freely criticize the administration policy denouncing, for example, the Iraq war. The "what if" representations in the series meet a great audience with 24 or West Wing, for example, and are mostly linked with the news. In spite of the under representation of minorities in movies, filmmakers stage a black president or a women president. They are willing to build a certain idea of presidency in the population consciousness. They break prejudices against the minorities, such as Black Americans, Hispanics and Women. The series aimed at changing the habits of people, who are used to see White men at the head of the administration.

After watching several episodes from 24, West Wing and Commander in Chief, it comes out that the representation of presidency and American policies related with war and terrorism are two relevant themes to analyze.

Extraits

[...] They represented the inability of the President to deal with the issue. The 25Th amendment is often evoked in the series as the President has to face difficult issues taking in account the public opinion and the political one represented by the Congress. The representation of the 25th amendment can be decoded as a threat for the President who could deceive the population and show his weaknesses. Thus, the plots in West Wings are directly related to the reality and follow the news of the United States. [...]

[...] In West Wing, the representation of the president is quite different. The objective of the series is to depict government's life. Filmmakers stage the President and his staff debating on political and social issues. The drama meets a great audience because they deal with actual issues directly concerning American people. The episode where Mathew Santos, a Hispanic American is the Democrat candidate for the presidency raised voices in the United States when Barack Obama runs for the presidency two years after the broadcasting of the episodes. [...]

[...] The representation of the American reality series Series where the president is represented are very successful in the United States. In the State where freedom of speech is the first amendment, movie makers enjoy creating fiction with the role of the president. They imagine a political life at the border between reality and fiction, they freely criticise the administration policy denouncing, for example, the Iraq war. The “what representations in the series meet a great audience with 24 or West Wing, for example, and are mostly linked with the news. [...]

[...] The filmmaker imagined both possible representations reflecting the reality in 2008. It seems that Colin Powell, State Secretary under the Bush administration has inspired the filmmakers of 24. Dennis Haysbert, who interprets the role of President David Palmer, has declared that he directly inspired from Colin Powell to play his role. In the United States, Colin Powell is said to be the model of Black American who succeeded in obtaining important functions among the government. The representation of a Black president might be inspired by the role of Colin Powell in the Bush administration. [...]

[...] The drama deals with themes such as homosexuality and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Indeed, the producers represented the problem of homosexuality in the White House and stage its consequences among the administration. At the beginning of the drama, they have also imagined that President Bartlet were diagnosed with a relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Following to this revelation, his private life triggered a public scandal. This episode was compared with the Monika Lewinsky affair enduring by Bill Clinton and which was considered as a shame for the American nation. [...]