Mr. Smith, Governor Blagojevich, the "political machine," and of course manipulating the press!

How ironic it is to watch "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" in times like these.

The film begins with the governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper (played by Guy Kibbee), having to pick a replacement for U.S. Senator Sam Foley, who has passed away. Hopper's corrupt political boss, Jim Taylor (played by Edward Arnold), pressures Hopper to choose his foolish choice,while the governor's children want him to select Jefferson Smith (played by James Stewart), the head of the Boy Rangers. Unable to make up his mind, Hopper decides to flip a coin and when it lands on its side, next to a newspaper story on one of Smith's accomplishments, he chooses Smith. Hopper decides that this is a good choice because on the one hand Smith's wholesome image will please the people, and at the same time his naivete will make him easy to manipulate.

This first part of the movie made me chuckle, seeing as we are in the midst of dealing with the current situation with replacing Barack Obama in the Senate. The only difference here is that in the current situation it is not the political boss who controlled the governor, but simple greed.

The movie is very funny and of course includes a (cheesy) romance, between Smith and Susan Paine (played by Astrid Allwyn), the daughter of the very esteemed, but corrupt senator Joseph Paine (played by Claude Rains).

More importantly, after Smith gains support for a bill he was pushed to pursue by Paine, Taylor and Paine try to get him expelled from the Senate. In an effort to save himself, Smith tries to save himself by executing a filibuster on the Senate floor. During Smith's attempt, Taylor orders the newspapers and radio stations in Smith's home state to not report what Smith is saying and in some cases twist the facts.

Note the following conversation between Paine and Taylor:

Paine: He (Smith) can raise public opinion against us - if any part of this sticks...
Taylor: Aah, he'll never get started. I'll make public opinion out there within five hours! I've done it all my life. I'll blacken this punk so that he'll - You leave public opinion to me. Now, Joe, I think you'd better go back into the Senate and keep those Senators lined up.

We have spoken throughout the semester (See my post on "Street Fight") about the ability of the media to transform something that is factually incorrect into a "fact". And, just like in "Street Fight," we see in this film that it is a politician, or "machine boss" who can control the media and what is portrayed to the public as "fact".

While this movie is a comedy, and for that matter is very funny, there are many issues raised which are very important to the way that we view politics through the media and to the current situation in Illinois.

Furthermore, I would argue that if in the film Smith was able to keep a blog (see Kerbel and Bloom) the effects might have been drastically differnt, and in the new media environment the opportunites for equal presentation and fact checking are greater then they ever were.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is truly deserving of its academy award for Best Screenplay (along with its 11 nominations), and its status as a part of the National Film Registry because of it is definitely "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."