1. “Brief, Shining Moment” What time period is Coyne referring to? 1962-1964 Why these dates? What movies does he list as examples? Five films: Advise and Consent (1962); The Manchurian Candidate (1962); Seven Days in May (1964); The Best Man (1964); Fail- Safe (1964)

2. Why was this a Shining Moment? Kennedy glamorized his profession Kennedy’s progressive, pragmatic style Hollywood was still grounded in the consensus-building liberalism of the 1950s Several popular political novels came out perfect for the silver screen Political downfall of Joseph McCarthy (Gans 1964)

3. Advise and Consent (1962)

4. Senate Confirmation of Secretary of State Accusations of communism and homosexuality Original book was highly conservative but Preminger made a more balanced (but still liberal) film In the film, everyone is flawed, but no one is really the bad guy.

5. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

6. Brainwashing (both the character and the audience) “Rallying a nation of television viewers into hysteria to sweep us up into the White House with powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy” Extreme right and extreme left are the mirror image of the same anti-democratic cancer

7. Seven Days in May (1964)

8. Insidious and ever-increasing power of the military industrial complex Military coup d’etat to prevent a nuclear arms agreement Art imitating life: Senate voted on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (all 18 votes against were reserve generals)

9. The Best Man (1964)

10. Power is not a toy that we give to good children. It’s a weapon. And the strong man takes it, and he uses it. Why is Henry Fonda a good candidate? Why is he a bad candidate? Why is Joe Cantwell a bad candidate? – “Stupid bastard” – Takes himself too seriously – No sense of responsibility to a larger entity

11. Themes in the Shining Moment Condemned extreme ideologies The threat of the wrong guy in the wrong position (all we need is one good guy) But American democracy prevails (with the help of people inside the system) Barry Goldwater blamed these movies for convincing the public to be more concerned about our own military than the Russians Depiction of minorities and women

12. Themes in the films of the 1960s Gans article (1964) Challenging formulatic myths – Moral heroism – Youthfulness – Priority of romance – Justification of social mobility Right and wrong harder to determine

13. Gans 1964 Why this change? Educated filmmakers TV took over the low brow stuff Break up of the movie monopoly Changes in the audience – Better educated – More diverse – Subcultures – Esthetic pluralism

14. Why the Shining Moment was so short: Assassinations: JFK; Bobby Kennedy; MLK My Lai; Kent State; Watergate The idea that it is just a few bad apples and the barrel (system) is fine could no longer be swallowed by the public Conspiracy theories were now more palatable Changing audience (Gans)