Film “Nixon” Essay
The film “Nixon” is devoted to the historical figure of American politics, President Richard Nixon, who today remains one of the most controversial figures in American political history. He became the only president to have resigned before the term, under threat of impeachment because of Watergate. Decades after his death, there was a request for reconsideration of the role of the 1937 U.S. president, whose figure after Watergate was a symbol of negative, authoritarian tendencies in American politics and society in general.
The film “Nixon” is not a film about Watergate and the Vietnam War, and it can hardly be called an autobiographical work, but rather, it is a film about the dark side of Nixon. The film directed by Oliver Stone is an attempt to describe the psychoanalytic personality of Nixon, but it has a number of fictional facts to emphasize the particular nature of president, even if they are contrary to official history. T was declared that the events described in it can be not absolutely true.
“Nixon” (1995) is an attempt to study the Nixon presidency in the context of reviewing the results of Republican rule. The film describes the major milestones of life the 37th U.S. President Richard Milhouse Nixon and his political career after 1960 – the year of Nixon’s first campaign for president, particularly focusing on the events surrounding the Watergate scandal. The image of Nixon is closely connected with the theme of the American political system. One of the interesting themes in the film is the relationship between President Nixon and the next president Kennedy. On the one hand, the reason for this was the dual and ambiguous nature of the elections of 1960, when Kennedy won and there was the question of violations during the vote. On the other hand, the victory of Kennedy touched the theme of two American presidents – the real and ideal. One of the most striking statements of Nixon in the movie is before a portrait of Kennedy: “When people look at you, they see whom they want to be, when people look at me they see who they really are.” (Scott 1999)
Another very important idea shown in the film is that the war as a means of resolving political issues, must be removed from the life of mankind as soon as possible. They are paid by people, not politicians, but there could be no winners in the war.
In general, “Nixon” is one of the most interesting movies about political figures, confirming the idea that in politics people can not remain a normal person, as the policy itself is the most horrible disease of mankind, because it serves not to the interests of the people, but to the states, and within nations – to the powerful interest groups. In order to create a portrait of a hostage of political power struggles, the filmmakers turned to more than 80 major works on American history, showing Nixon from childhood, in adolescence and throughout life to the Watergate. In cinematic terms, this is one of the best works of the director Oliver Stone.
In the book “We the People: A Concise Introduction to American Politics” the author reveals the theme of American politics, namely the presidency. The author tells of the powers, rights and obligations of the United States president, to consider some examples of presidents throughout U.S. history. The author mentions President Nixon, for example in the chapter devoted to the topic of impeachment.
In general it is possible to say that both the film “Nixon” and the book “We the People: A Concise Introduction to American Politics” show Richard Nixon as an important figure in the history of the USA politics.
