filmmaking
“ The magic ofbeats
often
the power of words
F
rozen garlic bread for dinner, cheap
British wine for dessert and a
seven square meter bedroom to roam
around in. It’s official: the 25-year old
self is less inclined to live the student
lifestyle than the 19-year old self.
Yet, there hasn’t been a single moment that
I regret quitting my job to attain a political
philosophy master in International Relations.
Not to say I wasn’t a bit anxious at first. While
I’ve been watching election debates ever since
I can walk –and covering politics had been my
job the past year– I wasn’t sure if my International Media & Entertainment Management
(IMEM) bachelor would be valuable within
political philosophy (and vice versa). Could
it contribute to anything other than Photoshopping coversheets or pointing out production flaws in HBO-series House of Cards? I’m
thankful to discover, it certainly can.
There’s a powerful and historical interaction
between politics and us, storytellers and
media professionals; with both exceptionally
28 THE CONTRIBUTOR
‘good’ and irrefutably ‘evil’ outcome. A striking example of the latter dates back to the
first and second World War; when our ‘media
ancestors’ were shamelessly manipulated to
cultivate violent coercion. More recently, it
was George W. Bush (Jr) whom extensively
deceived the media. During the war in Iraq,
his administration hired marketers and PRfirms to produce false news segments (so
called ‘Video News Releases’) to propagandize warfare. Not the media’s finest hour. But
perhaps more often than not, storytellers
have used their skills for the greater good. The
disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow reinitiated global warming debates for instance,
the Wolf Of Wall Street contributed to discussions about perverted forms of capitalism,
the short-film Kony 2012 triggered the United
States to military contribute to the African
Union and blockbuster Independence Day
instigated debates how to deal with aliens.
Yes… that was actually a real discussion. These
examples showcase that storytellers can really
make a conscious or unconscious societal
impact, even if the main objective is entertainment. Popular culture reaches audiences that
politicians can’t access and we commonly do a
better job in engaging audiences with societal
dilemmas than politicians. The magic of
filmmaking often beats the power of words.
But there’s another reason why media and
political philosophy go hand-in-hand. I believe
all IMEM alumni agree with me there’s a life
before and after the course ‘film analysis’.
Once you debunk the storytelling formula
of Hollywood screenplays, you never look at
movies in the same way again. You know what
the story structures are, when to expect the
turning point, and that –despite a suspension
of disbelieve– it almost alw