Roswell Political Theory

Thursday, August 25, 2011

War Room


Please share your thoughts on The War Room. Consider not only the events depicted in the film but the methods director D.A. Pennebaker used in telling this story.

posted by Socrates3000 at 2:51 PM

23 Comments:

  • "War Room" showed me a side of politics that I had never really seen before. In the past, i had always thought of the presidential canidate to be the man behind it all. This movie proved that to be wrong. Behind each canidate there is a crew who devotes much of their time to the campaign. Creating speeches, providing important issues, and making sure the canidate is staying up to par are all tasks that these people deal with daily throughout the election period.

    By Blogger ktlown, at 4:09 PM  

  • The War Room is an interesting documentary in that it truly uses "show don't tell". After watching it, it really gave me an appreciation for how much work campaigns are. I went to Girl's State this past summer, and writing short speeches, making campaign signs and talking to people to get elected (retail politics)took up most of the time there. Now that I've seen the behind the scenes of a presidential campaign, I realize that the two are almost the same. The only difference is, at Girl's State, you only had 300 people to convince. As a candidate for President, you have 300 million.

    By Blogger unidentified formulated onoma, at 4:41 PM  

  • This movie really showed a different side to a political campaign. It takes a lot more than good looks and speeches to win a campaign, as shown in the movie. It seems like the whole process is very fast paced and hard, but I'm sure in the end it feels better than anything to win the election. I actually think it would be interesting to take part in the whole process.

    By Blogger chad_mcdermott, at 6:53 PM  

  • I thought war room was interesting due to the way it was narrated. By not having a word for word play of what was happening it gave viewers the opportunity to come up with their own ideas about what was going on and what was going to happen throughout the film. It let viewers form their own opinions. Overall, i thought it was a good look into the "backstage" of whats involved in politics and campaigns.

    By Blogger kristinmcfar, at 7:10 PM  

  • This documentary showed the behind scenes of political campaigns. It was not narrorated. Rather the scenes were put in order to tell the story. I thought it was interesting seeing the different sides and how each party was trying to win the election. But honestly my favorite part was that creepy lady..."How do you feel?"
    --katie dunn

    By Blogger Katie_Dunn, at 7:17 PM  

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    By Blogger @darien_isaac, at 8:30 PM  

  • This movie helped me grasp a better understanding about the road politicians and presidents take on the road to a presidential elections. It gave the story behind it all and the processes and stress the campaigning members go through on a day to day bases. I really enjoyed watching the movie and think that i have a new found interest in politics and how it all works as a whole. Oh, and his snap back was pretty cool as well, if i must say so!

    By Blogger @darien_isaac, at 8:32 PM  

  • The war room was a relatively interesting take on how politics is carried out in America. I liked the movie and how it was put together, even though as a general rule of thumb, documentaries “aren’t my kind of television.” What I liked most about the film wasn’t even the amount of political stuff in it, but it was thinking about how the early nineties are so much different than today. (It kind of made me sad because usually when someone talks about something that happened a decade ago I still think of the early nineties even though in actuality it was 2001). Anyway, the movie was good and it’s probably the same sort of thing that they do today, except now notes are typed instead of handwritten.

    By Blogger PG-13, at 9:41 PM  

  • The documentary presented new angles on Presidential campaigns that I have never even considered before. It gave insights that not even professors holding 3 Ph.D.s could provide. The movie showed that election season is the psychological equivalent to a conventional war, complete with attacks, counterattacks and propaganda. The War Room Staff answered all attacks immediately and they shifted the focus back to the economy, eventually defeating George Bush despite his massive popularity after The Gulf War. Additionally, the documentary provided a riveting account of the campaign that changed how all future campaigns are run. After all, it's the economy stupid. D.A. Pennebaker's method, although unorthodox, was effective in that it told the story of The War Room through the eyes of a simple observer. It thus allowed the audience to experience the campaign on a personal level since there was not a narrator to explain what was going on. The audience could draw conclusions on their own, regardless of their political affiliations. Pennebaker succeeded in not only delivering a stunning view of political campaigns but his decision to serve as a medium to show the audience the internal workings of the war machine kept the audience engaged.

    By Blogger John, at 6:17 PM  

  • "War Room" showed me that once you get to see the behind the scene politics can actually be interesting. I never realized how many people it takes to put together a campaign and that every pesron in the campaign committee is important.

    By Blogger dking2022, at 7:37 AM  

  • The War Room was an entertaining documentary that clearly showed what happened during the 1992 Bill Clinton election. I didn't know how much actually goes on behind the scenes when working on a presidential campaign.The way the film was narrated and open to interpretation rather than having a word by word play. Overall, I enjoyed watching the War Room.

    By Blogger courtsport007, at 8:12 AM  

  • This documentary showed me how emotionally attached people become in political campaigns, how much some people really care about the better of America . Bill CLinton had an amazing crew behind him that spent every fiber of their being, during his campaign, to make sure that he won. We saw them cry, laugh, get angry, etc & i thought that was awesome. The other thing that this movie showed me is how vulnerable people are how we dont really listen to what some people are saying but just how they say it .

    By Blogger domdotcom, at 9:53 AM  

  • I thought that the "War Room" was a fascinating and eye-opening glimpse into the behind-the-scenes aspect of the campaign trail. It shows how much a candidate really dos lean on his campaign staff and how much the workings of a team of extremely experienced people can sway an election. Pennebaker was able to do this by focusing very little on Clinton himself and more on Stephanopoulos and Carville. The documentary also reveals how much of their personal lives the staffers would spend on putting a president in office. Lastly, it shows how the hard work of a team can sometimes be in vain when threatened by both false and valid accusations of irreverent affairs.

    By Blogger Groovey2Shoes, at 12:50 PM  

  • The "war room" displayed how a modern campaign is run. I never knew how many affairs Bill Clinton had before I watched this movie. It was interesting how the film was pieced together without any narration and still told a story. I also liked how Bill Clinton was not seen a whole lot because it allowed the viewer to see the work that went into the campaign such as defending attacks and issuing statement to the press. The movie really displays how a modern campaign is run and how many people have to be trust worthy and dedicated.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:25 PM  

  • The "war room" displayed how a modern campaign is run. I never knew how many affairs Bill Clinton had before I watched this movie. It was interesting how the film was pieced together without any narration and still told a story. I also liked how Bill Clinton was not seen a whole lot because it allowed the viewer to see the work that went into the campaign such as defending attacks and issuing statement to the press. The movie really displays how a modern campaign is run and how many people have to be trust worthy and dedicated.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:26 PM  

  • The War Room showed me a lot that goes into politics. It was interesting to see all that went on "backstage" the campaign. However, at points I did find it hard to figure out what was going on considering that was no narraration. I'd have to say the best part was the high five...

    By Blogger jhallowell, at 5:49 PM  

  • The War Room showed me a side of politics that I had never really seen before. I never knew that it wasn't all just the president who has to work hard in order to win the election but it takes so many people being involved to run a top notch political campaign. A lot of planning goes into it, and it's hugely important to have the right kinds of people on your team. I liked how the movie was really visual and everything was seen and nothing really had to be told. Most movies don't have storylines to follow like that. It's probably the only interesting political movie i've seen.

    By Blogger SNathans93, at 6:03 PM  

  • Normally, only a few people get to see what really goes on behind the speeches and appearances and debates, but in "The War Room", we all get to see that. This movie was interesting mainly because it was not staged, there were no actors, and the participants were not instructed to act a certain way, but were asked to go on as if no one was watching them. This is a very interesting story on the lives of the employees of the Clinton/Gore presidential campaign.

    By Blogger cwatson, at 6:43 PM  

  • I'm impressed that the entire concept of having a documentary with no narrator was so easy to follow. It amazed me how much the people behind the president actually represent him. It would have been pretty interesting to hear the replies to the allegations Bill would have said on his own though.

    By Blogger Sean2340, at 8:21 PM  

  • The "War Room" documentary is not the normal video and voice over style of documentaries. Instead the director chose to tell a story through a sequence of short videos put together to inform the viewer of the events that transpired during Clinton's run for office. Because of the "War Room" I got to experience how a campaign is actually run and what it takes to put one together. I was surprised to note how passionate the workers were; I'd always imagined those that worked on a campaign to be emotionless drones bent on seeing their boss appointed to office so they in turn could reap the benefits of power.

    By Blogger Lauren Telschow, at 8:22 PM  

  • The War Room rally caught my attention. Before this movie i never thought campaigns, or politics in general, were very interesting. But now that i know what goes behind the scenes, i can appreciate how much hard work there is. So maybe now id like to go see one?

    By Blogger suzieq:), at 9:03 PM  

  • The movie "the War Room" has opened my to the realities of a campaign. What really goes on behind the scenes, who controls it all, and how they do the things that they do. Very educational movie, most Americans don't even know about half of the interactions that were going on in the movie. With that I believe it was an excellent movie for all to see.

    By Blogger football42, at 7:21 PM  

  • "war room" showed the part of politics that i personally really enjoy. That is actually what i want to major in in college, political public relations and i think this movie showed how these people (a candidates PR) can influence a campaign. It was very interesting to see how Clintons campaign managers handled different situations in his campaign.

    By Blogger smayhew93, at 8:49 PM  

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