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.