So in a rather desperate effort to be considered young and hip (or, in the case of Obama, more young and hip) the presidential candidates did an interview with Entertainment Weekly listing their favorites in entertainment. Hilariously, McCain claims David Palmer as his favorite fictional president, and - not surprisingly for a U.S. president - they both like Batman.
McCain clearly wins the pop culture race, naming Curb Your Enthusiasm and ABBA as two of his favorites. Honest opinion or political tool? I don't know. But it got me thinking, what about my other favorite presidents? If they were around to see what film has become, what would their favorite movies most likely be?
Theodore Roosevelt - One of our more iconic presidents, Teddy tried like mad to establish iconic scenery by creating national parks out of Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and the Badlands. Arguably a better cowboy than president (see "Panama Canal") Teddy's favorite movie might be The Searchers.
Vast, beautiful, open, The Searchers sort of exemplifies the idea of conservation. And who better to play cowboys and Indians with than John Wayne?
William Taft - Enter obligatory fat joke here. But seriously, this dude was fat. He would have loved this one:
Lyndon Johnson - He's evil, and yet awesome. Conniving and totally interesting. Even if you didn't like that whole Vietnam thing, Johnson makes for a really great 4 hour PBS special. Which is why his favorite movie would be The Deer Hunter. He feels like a jerk for killing all of America's youth, and yet he's still completely racist.
So there you have it. A (film) history lesson from Whitney. But we have, like, at least 15 more presidents to talk about! What would be your favorite president's favorite movie?
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4 comments:
I think you're caricaturing LBJ (he'd be angry you left out the "B"). I'm not saying that the man was Mr. Rogers, but anyone who got the Civil Rights Act into law under his presidency (after it had stalled under JFK) doesn't deserve to be villified. His Great Society programs also did lots of good, and he saw Americans circle the moon for the first time during his presidency.
I have a feeling that George Washington's favorite movie would be A Taste of Cherry.
Not because of the tree cutting incident but because he'd see it by accident, thinking it was a dirty movie.
But while he was waiting for the 'cherry tasting' he would become deeply invested in Kiarostami's darker themes surrounding brotherhood and suicide.
Being the first president is hard!
Scott
he-shot-cyrus.blogspot.com
ccopeland, did you see the PBS doc on him? I bet you'd like it. They have a lot of pictures of LBJ looking really sad and staring out windows at protesters. They talk a lot about the Civil Rights Act as well (obviously) but also how it was a political ploy (a switch from being completely against it, to being completely for) to get elected. Which I'm fine with. I'm glad it happened. Anyway, you should check it out.
-whitney
You'd think interviews like this are inconsequential. But maybe we should start paying more attention ever since back in '00 Bush said his favorite film was Dave. Seemed funny at the time...
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