Whoa, great vibe we had going there in class tonight. Since I watched Primary, I'll talk about that. Somebody mentioned that the movie painted Kennedy as the bad guy, but I didn't see it that way. If we were trying to seperate Humphrey and Kennedy by saying one really cares and the other is a phoney, Kennedy might have come off as the bad guy. However, while watching the movie, I got the impression that we were supposed to be watching both of them AS politicians. Both men are aware that politics is a game, and I feel the movie lets us watch it from the inside. With that in mind, I think the movie awards credibility as the better politician to Kennedy.
From the very begining, we see Humphry as your run of the mill hand shaker, whereas Kennedy looks like a rock star. There was one point where some campaign guy mentioned how the hardest part of a Kennedy campaign is channeling the enthusiasm he generates because everyone likes him. Compare that statement with a shot of Humphrey's audience yawning, and the message is clear- Kennedy is the unstoppable charm machine. Although this is cinema verite, there is definitely other meanings being created in the syntax, but with film, such is the nature of the beast.
All in all, I think the film could really care less about which candidate was better for the job, or even which one was the better politician. I still got an impression of what it was like to be in each of candidate's positions, but I also feel like I got to watch a movie with Kennedy as the protagonist. I didn't even realize he lost until it was mentioned in class. But in the long run, the Kennedy angle probably worked, because if the film had just been about Humphrey and some other guy, I probably would have never seen it.
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While there was unquestionably a little bias towards the aging Humphrey versus the young rock star Kennedy, can you really blame it all on the film maker? Considering the fact that Kennedy won the election, and the effect that his assassination had on the American populace, is it really that hard to believe the Humphrey was in fact the yawn fest he is portrayed as being in the film? Perhaps he didn't give the editors much to work with.
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