Michael Moore is soon to be diving headlong back into politics with his next politically-charged documentary since 2016. Fahrenheit 11/9 (not to be confused with Fahrenheit 9/11 from 2004) tackles the Trump era in his usual comedy-meets-doomsday fashion.
No matter what you might think of his documentary content or his politics, there’s no denying that films (and broadly, media) have ripple effects on politics through the effect they have on viewers. Everything we see and hear affects our views on the world in which we live and persuasive films and documentaries are often designed to do just that. Although in some cases, political shifts are an unforeseen effect. Let’s examine a few films that had a profound effect on social or political issues in the U.S., whether they meant to or not…
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Race relations in America today are increasingly tense and likely to stay that way, but not for lack of trying by highly skilled filmmakers like Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, Ava DuVernay, Steve McQueen, and Ryan Coogler, among others. Lee’s Malcolm X is a contender for this list as well, but I chose Do The Right Thing for its lasting, and shockingly similar parallels to the present-day trials of being black in America.
On a hot day in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Lee stars as a pizza delivery guy and dad who ends up inciting the riot with police that culminates in violence. It’s influence has only increased over time; it’s now taught in school and was selected for the National Film Registry in 1999, the first year it was eligible. The film offers a window into the extreme fear of a person of color living in America, especially in communities of color targeted by law enforcement. That fear isn’t easily seen if you aren’t a part of those communities or willing to put in the effort to find out. Do The Right Thing still holds that mirror up to society for us to see.
Philadelphia (1993)
Putting saint Tom Hanks in any film is likely to make us root for him no matter who he’s playing. So when he happens to be starring as a sympathetic AIDS patient caught in a wrongful firing suit and represented by a homophobic lawyer, it can make waves. HIV/AIDS research has come a long way, but even as late as 1993, it was still a taboo topic that most politicians wouldn’t address on the regular. Heck, even President Reagan didn’t mention it until 1986!
That same year, excellent TV docudrama And the Band Played On came out, solidifying 1993 as the year mainstream America finally started to tip-toe into discussing the epidemic that had gripped us for well over a decade. If you weren’t around in the ’80s, you wouldn’t know just how REAL that stigma had been. People didn’t understand it, had vague ideas about what caused it, and flat-out wrong and bigoted ideas about who could get it and why. What the disease needed was a seed to start the process of destigmatization, and Philadelphia helped begin that process. With help from Tom and Denzel. Thanks, guys. Oh, and the Oscar press didn’t hurt either.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
This conspiracy thriller following a Korean prisoner of war who is brainwashed to assassinate an American politician was adapted from a 1958 book of the same name, again adapted in 2004 with a shift to the Gulf War, and is even believed to be an influence on the TV show Homeland. It tapped into long-standing fears of brainwashing and corruption that had been embedded in American culture since the 1940s and earlier.
Conspiracy theorists found traction with the themes of The Manchurian Candidate for decades after as well, from JFK assassination theories to present day politicians. From J. Edgar Hoover to the waves of the red scare, nobody was safe from the paranoia created by this film and others like it.
The Cider House Rules (1999)
There aren’t many films that can change someone’s mind on an issue as deep-seated as abortion. But it seems the 1999 drama The Cider House Rules, which featured Michael Caine as a World War II-era abortionist performing the procedure for women during a restrictive abortion ban, did just that. Scientific studies conducted after the films release seemed to show that, after seeing a sympathetic portrayal of women in need of an abortion, audiences became more sympathetic towards safe and legal abortion, especially when incest was involved. Despite some respondents claiming that abortion was an issue on which they wouldn’t shift their views, it seems that the narrative forces of The Cider House Rules proved otherwise.
Blackfish (2013)
Nothing gets people stirred up like animals and children. Blackfish aimed to call out the controversial captivity of killer whales for entertainment, especially in amusement parks like SeaWorld. The film depicts, with horrifying detail, the physical and seemingly emotional suffering that can be a result of marine captivity, leading to aggressive and unnatural behaviors. One particular example featured the separation of a mother and her calf which led to the mother “…emitting vocalizations that had never been heard before ever by anyone… obviously Takara was gone and [Kasatka] was trying anything she could to try to locate and communicate with Takara, which is absolutely heartbreaking.”
SeaWorld took such a hit to its reputation after the release of the film that by 2015, company shares had fallen 37 percent and they had decided to shut down its popular Shamu show.
We’ll see which film will stir the nation’s consciousness next…
Catherine Clark is a Chicago-based editor and designer who spends time reading, gaming, cooking, and of course, watching movies en masse. You can find her words and work at USA Today, Nerd Wallet, Chicago Tribune, NPR, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, MSN, Offbeat Empire, and on her lifestyle blog, BijouxandBits.com.