As we announced a few weeks ago, we’re launching a regular film club for our supporting subscribers, where we will be discussing the ramifications, messages, and ideologies of classic political movies.
And for our inaugural event tomorrow night at 7 pm ET (4pm PST), we will be exploring the 1992 political comedy The Distinguished Gentleman, starring Eddie Murphy:
We will be joined by a very special guest: the film’s writer and executive producer, Marty Kaplan, a former Air America radio host who is now a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and founding director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of the impact of entertainment on society.
While working on the script of The Distinguished Gentleman, Marty wrote a 1990 New York Times op-ed in which he noted,
I have an unusually healthy appetite for politics. I lived in Washington for eight years, I've been involved in three Presidential campaigns and I watch C-span recreationally, so it isn't easy to turn my stomach.
But all the money, the PAC's, the ads, the posturing and the slime have finally gotten to me. I feel alienated — not by any particular candidate or party, because they're all complicit — but by the whole stinky system.
Small wonder people don't vote. I have always been pious about voting, so the message on my ballot stub was tailored for me. But I no longer feel the same anger toward people who don't. I can understand how turned off they feel, because I now feel it, too. The high school civics lessons about responsibility and participation ring hollow when cash and crud are king.
The “cash and crud are king” phenomenon has gotten exponentially worse since Marty wrote that op-ed. During the 2020 U.S. election cycle, outside political groups spent $2.9 billion to sway voters, 400 times what they spent in 1990. We’ll be discussing this development and much more with Marty tomorrow night.
Like all our live chats, the event is exclusively for Daily Poster supporting subscribers, who will be able to watch the broadcast live and ask questions in real time. They can also watch a replay of the broadcast after the event.
To participate, click here to become an $8-a-month or $70-a-year subscriber to the Daily Poster.
Once you are a subscriber, you will get event login information via email.
Hope to see you there!
Rock the boat,
Sirota
