Obama Era Cinema | Little White Lies

Obama Era Cinema

Silhouetted figure of a person walking alone down a dark, snowy alley; buildings and a Cinema sign visible in the background.
Obama Era Cinema

The Rule Book – Bridge of Spies and the shifting Constitutional battleground

by Sam Adams

Steven Spielberg’s spy dra­ma is an impor­tant reminder that being Amer­i­can is not a mat­ter of where you were born but what you believe.
Illustration of a pair of boxer shorts with the text "Obama Era" printed on the front.
Obama Era Cinema

Mike Drop – How Channing Tatum and President Obama redrew the template for masculinity

by Simran Hans

Sim­ran Hans con­sid­ers the link between two of America’s most promi­nent and pro­gres­sive lead­ing men.
Two stormtroopers seated at desks, with another stormtrooper and a character in a black outfit standing nearby against a dark background with Imperial logos.
Obama Era Cinema

A New Hope – Black empowerment and symbolic casting in contemporary blockbusters

by Caspar Salmon

Our Oba­ma Era Cin­e­ma series con­tin­ues with Cas­par Salmon reflect­ing on the vit­ri­olic online back­lash to recent progress in Hol­ly­wood casting.
Stylised portrait of a woman in a red top, with a bookshelf and posters in the background.
Obama Era Cinema

White Gaze – How films of anxiety and introspection clouded America’s dominant perspective

by Stephen Winter

In our lat­est Oba­ma Era Cin­e­ma essay, Stephen Win­ter con­sid­ers the impact of two con­tro­ver­sial role rever­sal fantasies.
Graphic illustration of a person lying on the ground at night, with a cinema sign visible in the background.
Obama Era Cinema

Black Lives Matter – Social media activism and the politics of protest

by Katherine McLaughlin

How a hand­ful of film­mak­ers and a sim­ple hash­tag turned sto­ries of African-Amer­i­can oppres­sion into a nation­al concern.
Four scantily-clad women posing suggestively alongside a man wearing sunglasses and casual attire.
Obama Era Cinema

U-S-A 4EVA – An inaugural address to the Spring Break nation

by Adam Lee Davies

How might Pres­i­dent Barack Obama’s famous speech have looked had it been co-writ­ten by a cer­tain James Franco?
Stylised illustration of a young woman with dark hair wearing a red shirt, against a dark blue background with two shadowy figures in the background.
Obama Era Cinema

The New Fear – How horror cinema uncaged America’s internal monster

by Justine Smith

Jus­tine Smith exam­ines how movies like The House of the Dev­il and Lords of Salem use nos­tal­gia to expose a frac­tured nation­al identity.
Illustration depicting a silhouetted figure holding a gun against a dramatic sky. Minimal landscape in cool tones, with small figures in the distance.
Obama Era Cinema

Blue Collar Blues – Southern identity and disillusionment in the cinema of Jeff Nichols

by Glenn Heath Jr

Each of the Arkansas director’s films address­es press­ing social con­cerns affect­ing work­ing-class white voters.
Three silhouetted figures standing before a stark red and black background, with the text "Obama Cinema Era" displayed on a podium.
Obama Era Cinema

Shock Doctrine – Patriotic dissent in the unsavoury cinema of Dinesh D’Souza

by Vadim Rizov

Vadim Rizov con­sid­ers the main­stream appeal of a tril­o­gy of proud­ly racist films by one of con­ser­v­a­tive America’s most potent voices.
Stylised image depicting a person in a red coat standing on a desert landscape with a shuttle craft and other figures in the background. Striking use of red, white and blue tones.
Obama Era Cinema

End Times – How America’s war machine perpetuates a false threat to liberty

by Forrest Cardamenis

In the first of a series of essays on Oba­ma Era Cin­e­ma, For­rest Car­dame­nis counts the toll of US for­eign pol­i­cy dur­ing Barack Obama’s presidency.