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Michael Cieply: From Campaign Flicks To ‘Civil War,’ The Political Genre Has Followed Us Down


The cut-and-thrust of political films like 'The Ides of March' or "The Campaign' is giving way to "Civil War.'

With The Ides of March, progressive filmmaker George Clooney, adapting a play be Beau Willimon, unmasked Faustian bargains behind the gleaming ideals of a “good” politician in a hard-fought Ohio primary. But, as Clooney told an audience in Toronto when introducing the distinctly discomfiting Ides of March: Films don’t lead the political culture, they follow. The artful cut-and-thrust of campaign gaming—the stuff of The Distinguished Gentleman or Man of the Year —has been replaced by a mutual, near-religious zealotry the object of which is the destruction of opponents.

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Michael Cieply

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