Government of the people according to “Madam Secretary”

In addition to movie reviews, Plugged In also reviews TV shows. Here’s one about the new political series Madam Secretary. From the review:

“Madam Secretary asks us, in our super-cynical age, to think of government as truly being of the people, the sort of people who we might pass in the supermarket—only smarter and better dressed. It suggests that Washington can be better at times than we give it credit for, and that it could be better yet with a little more common sense. And while some have called Madam Secretary a CBS commercial for a certain impending political campaign, Elizabeth’s political leanings aren’t always that clear, and not particularly alienating even when they are”

Rock the Vote: Movie Stars Meet Democracy in Action

Not only do movies and TV shows influence our political beliefs, but the actors and actresses that star in them can influence us as well. If you don’t believe me, check out the YouTube videos below, which feature celebrities encouraging everyone to do their civic duty by voting. Many of them emphasize specific political causes, like abortion, environmentalism, and prison reform, and imply that you should care about those causes too.

Rock the Vote, the non-partisan, non-profit organization that produced two of these videos, is dedicated to informing and registering potential voters. According to their website,

“Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity.”

Their website includes helpful resources and opportunities for you to get involved.

This is a pretty cool organization, and they certainly made an effective choice when they enlisted big-name actors and actresses to promote their cause.

Interstellar

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If you haven’t already seen Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, I highly recommend it.

I’ll warn you though, the movie contains so many plot twists and moves so quickly that it was often hard for me to follow it. When I walked out of the theater, I felt exactly like I did after I watched Inception, one of Nolan’s other blockbusters. It was a really entertaining and visually stunning movie, but a decent amount of the plot was confusing. Interstellar clocks in at almost three hours, so there was certainly a lot of plot to keep up with.

Nevertheless, the movie raised fascinating questions about mankind’s place in the universe, the value of humanity, the value of family ties, and the future of the human race. I was inspired, saddened, and cheered, often all at the same time. One of the things I found interesting about this movie was its complete lack of any sort of government presence. On the brink of human extinction, the characters in the movie are wrestling with ethical questions about who to save and how to save them, and the only authoritative entity that makes an appearance is NASA – an organization that most people are not even aware still exists.

One of the film’s messages is that ultimately, our destiny is up to ourselves. Not government, not outside forces. Each decision that we make has infinite ramifications, not only for us, but for those we love. Unfortunately, Interstellar makes no mention of God or other divine forces, though several astronauts and scientists speak of a group of benevolent, mysterious beings from another dimension known only as “They.” Our destiny, it claims, is ours to craft. This view is problematic, but I did appreciate the implication that government is not ultimately what will save us.

See this movie review from PluggedIn if you’d like to find out more about the film before you go see it.

ABC’s “Scandal” can be best summed up as “Grey’s Anatomy Goes To Washington”

I have heard a lot of hype about ABC’s political thriller Scandal, which premiered in 2012. I know I’m a little late to the party, but I watched the pilot episode the other day to see what it was all about. Frankly, I was bored out of my mind. Granted, it undoubtedly gets more interesting as the show progresses (the series has received numerous accolades and attention in the past two years), but just based on the first episode, I couldn’t see what all the hype was about. So I looked for articles that get to the heart of what it’s all about, and I found a pretty good one here from A.V. Club. Below I have included some of the most relevant and interesting comments from the article regarding the ideas behind the series:

In Scandal, there are only two things that hold true: No American institution—not governmental or corporate—has your best interests at heart, and human relationships are a kind of beautiful addiction, irresistible in the moment but spiraling outward to infect all they touch.

Government and corporate interests on Scandal have no one’s best interests at heart, and the few people who battle against them…are inevitably dragged into the incestuous maw created by the intersection of politics and money.

…While Olivia sees herself as a fundamentally good person—she describes herself as someone who wears a white hat—the things she does ultimately erode the rule of law and eat away at citizens’ ability to trust their government. The White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the CIA and FBI—they’re all hopelessly corrupt in the world of Scandal, and Olivia is so much a part of that world that she misses the forest for the trees.

And finally…

…The longer the series goes on, the more it seems like a deeply cynical mash-up of the worst fears Americans have had about their government post-September 11. To ask Scandal to be “realistic” is to fundamentally miss what it’s trying to do. Scandal isn’t trying to re-create Washington politics any more than the swooningly romanticized West Wing was. Like that series, it re-creates Washington politics as a dream—only here, all has been lost to nightmare, and no one yet tastes the ashes.

“Freddy Spaghetti” Provides Ample Fodder for Political Statements on the Role of Government

In episode 24 of season 2 of Parks and Rec, whimsically titled “Freddy Spaghetti” after a guest musician on the show, Leslie and Ron really outdo themselves in showing their true political colors, and the contrast is pretty humorous. On the episode, the staff of the Pawnee Parks Department is in the midst of dealing with the latest crisis – a budget shortage that threatens to shut down their whole department. Two auditors from the state are present, and while they get down to business figuring out what to cut, Leslie and Ron are left to explain to the irate townspeople why the annual “Freddy Spaghetti” concert has been cancelled (due to a lack of funds). Throughout the ordeal, libertarian Ron Swanson is absolutely beside himself with joy that a government department, albeit his own, is being slashed. As he states more than once throughout the show, he views government services as a waste of taxpayer money. Leslie, on the other hand, is heartbroken over this new development. She loves the services the Parks Department provides, and she does everything she can to preserve them. The episode ends before the crisis is resolved, but not before both Leslie and Ron emphatically (though, to their credit, civilly) disagree over the role of government in daily life.

As Ron states in the pilot episode of Parks and Rec, he hates bureaucracy, and he believes that government should only consist of one man:

Leslie repeatedly displays her enthusiasm for what she views as the positive role of government in the city of Pawnee. See her and Ron’s opposite reactions to the government shutdown below:

And there you have it. Libertarian meets Liberal. Small Government meets Big Government. The one thing NBC tells us for sure is that it is possible for even people with diametrically opposed viewpoints on a big matter to disagree in an amiable manner.