Poliwood: a new doc on the role of media in politics

[Frank W. Baker]

I heard a fascinating interview today (on XM Radio's political channel POTUS) with director Barry Levinson about his new film, a documentary, called Poliwood. It premieres Monday November 2 on Showtime at 730pm ET. Although the film appears to address celebrity in politics, it also addresses how politics has become like entertainment and that only those (politicians) who look good and sound good get attention. Sounds like this one has tremendous potential for the Social Studies/English/Media/Journalism classrooms and beyond. You can see a trailer for the film here.

[Blake Rogers Goble]

There was an article a few months in Entertainment Weekly, and forgive me for not remembering the specifics, but they addressed this, and the most unusual things about it is that a lot of celebrities — the Pitts and the Jolies — hire political advisors. But these advisors aren't like ones that Presidents have, but rather political spin-doctors to makes sure that their clients don't bumble over the causes they "believe in" for interviews, and they get the good humanitarian photos in all the trades.