The Journey Begins

Hi! My name is Caryn May and I love politics. I love political theory. I love discussing and dissecting politics whether it is the latest move by or within the governments of the world, or the political maneuvering on TV shows like Game of Thrones.

How many times have you heard, “I avoid politics,” or , “I don’t like it when films/artists/entertainers get political.”? As a political scientist these types of statements baffle me to no end. Politics simply defined, by Merriam-Webster, is:

“1 : the activities, actions, and policies that are used to gain and hold power in a government or to influence a government. 2 : a person’s opinions about the management of government.”

 As we all live in a society and under the rule of governments, politics surrounds, and has a profound impact on, us everyday, and that includes frequent appearances in the popular media we consume.

Often times the fictional worlds we see represented in television and movies feature some form of political maneuvering. These may take center stage, as in the previously mentioned Game of Thrones, or happen more in the background, as in a film like Thor (meaning the political machinations are not the main thing the viewer is concerned with). Sometimes, the political message is overt and the purpose of the piece is to make a political point, and sometimes it offers a more subdued a commentary that is there if you want to pick up on it, but can be ignored. Sometimes the politics we see in films makes sense and acts as a truthful interpretation of a political model, and sometimes it doesn’t.

The goal here is to look at “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of politics in films, find those commentaries and determine what they have to say about the world in which we live.

In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
— George Orwell