From The Handmaid’s Tale to Homeland,Designated Survivor to Madam Secretary, many TV shows are capitalizing on storylines ripped straight from the headlines — and typically pointing to the darker side of politics and government.
But during a highly charged election year in the U.S., and with Hollywood walking a fine line as it navigates a unique presidency and polarized nation, several shows are trying to find new ways to approach politics and spur audiences to consider their role in the democratic process.
“You don’t have to have a show about current events for it to be political,” said Charlie Keil, a professor with the University of Toronto’s Cinematic Studies Institute. “Sometimes politics work even better as allegory.”
The first season of the Emmy-nominated dark comedy The Politician explores the blurred moral lines as a wealthy, scheming Santa Barbara teenager runs for president — at his high school.
Ben Platt stars as a scheming high schooler trying to become student body president in The Politician. (Netflix)
Co-star Theo Germaine says while the series takes a humorous approach, it also delves into the mindset of those casting a ballot.
“We’ve gone into this to examine why they voted for who they voted for,” Germaine said.
The series is co-created by television heavyweight Ryan Murphy (Glee, Pose, American Crime Story) and stars Broadway star Ben Platt.
“It forces us to examine authenticity and what makes somebody authentic,” said Laura Dreyfuss, who plays a high school campaign staffer to Platt’s character. “So when we are trying to figure out who we want to elect as a leader, we need to examine who these people are.”
Theo Germaine, left, Julia Schlaepfer, centre, and Laura Dreyfuss, right, also star in The Politician. (Netflix)
Can’t escape reality
The Politician is one of several shows on the small screen taking inspiration from the current political climate in the U.S. while still trying to maintain a sense of fiction as Americans approach the November 2020 election.
Not too long ago, the most well-known political drama, The West Wing, took a much different approach: It seemed to idealize those in power.
“It elevated the role of the presidency and all of those in the White House,” Keil said in a Skype interview from Toronto. “And the president wasn’t seen as an obstacle to that. It’s almost like politics was a higher calling.”
Since then, portrayals have changed.
The dystopian Margaret Atwood novel-turned-series The Handmaid’s Tale has become particularly prescient after intersecting with #MeToo, the battle over women’s reproductive rights and anti-abortion laws. Veep, which ended this year after seven seasons, satirized the ins and outs of American politics as it followed a fictional vice-president trying to leave her mark while in office.
The Handmaid’s Tale, starring Elisabeth Moss as Offred, is based on Margaret Atwood’s novel and set in a fundamentalist theocracy where women and minorities are stripped of all rights. (George Kraychyk/Hulu via Associated Press)
While shows like Homeland have deliberately tried to reflect real-world drama every season, other politically minded TV series scrambled not to appear as though they were imitating real life after Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Shonda Rhimes, the creator behind the Washington, D.C.-based political thriller Scandal, said her storylines were unexpectedly starting to resemble reality.
There was the first female presidential nominee. Then, there was the unfiltered business tycoon running for president who wanted to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and crack down on migrants.
Kerry Washington starred in Scandal, whose storylines had to be altered, according to creator Shonda Rhimes, so as not to reflect what was actually happening in Washington, D.C., at the time. (ABC)
But when another storyline was supposed to reveal Russian election meddling in the U.S. — before it actually became headline news — Rhimes says she had to rewrite scripts the minute her imagination became reality.
“All of the sudden I realized we have to rebreak the entire back half of our season and turn it into something else,” she told the New York Times in 2017.
“No matter what we do,” she continued, “the audience is going to think we wrote the news.”
The series ended last year.
Showrunners from other political series that have also recently wrapped, including Veepand the dramas Madam Secretary and House of Cards, have also discussed the difficulty they had trying to avoid inadvertently mimicking the news in their final seasons.
Messiah
Messiah, which begins streaming on Netflix Jan. 1, incorporates multiple religious perspectives as it tackles larger geo-political issues affecting the U.S.
Executive produced by husband-and-wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, who have created such faith-based content as The Dovekeepers, The Bible and Touched By An Angel, the original series centres around a man who develops a following after seemingly performing miracles around the world but is seen by the CIA as an international conman and worldwide threat.
A look at a scene from the show Messiah. (Hiba Judeh/Netflix)
Bound to be controversial in part because of its portrayal of the Middle East and prophet-like central character, the cast of Messiah says part of the show’s purpose is to ignite compassion in a significant year for divided American voters.
“There are so many different opinions and it’s so easy to see things so black and white and point the finger and say, ‘Oh, you’re wrong,'” said actor Stefania LaVie Owen.
When our society is being affected so much by politics, it’s our responsibility to comment on it.– Actor Laura Dreyfuss, The Politician
“The show allows an opportunity to see how one situation can have so many different perspectives and the audience is able to understand why and to have empathy for each character who believes differently.”
Keil says it’s unlikely any one show can actually sway voters in a different direction. But he does believe series that test a person’s ability to decipher right from wrong — such as the science fiction anthology Black Mirror and the dysfunctional family business satire Succession — could influence how their audience looks at technology, business and morality. And that might impact their views on politics, too.
The science fiction anthology series Black Mirror, which focuses on technology’s effect on society, often presents moral dilemmas that can get viewers thinking. (Netflix)
“When you’re dealing with the principles behind the political actions and what the repercussions might be of those principles being taken to their extreme, that can make people think,” said Keil.
According to Dreyfuss, that’s one of the goals of The Politician and its cast.
“Yes, we’re entertainers and we’re artists, but we’re also citizens,” said Dreyfuss. “Our job is to reflect our society … so when our society is being affected so much by politics, it’s our responsibility to comment on it.”
The New Democrats have declared a federal byelection victory in their Winnipeg stronghold riding of Elmwood—Transcona.
The NDP candidate Leila Dance told supporters in a tearful speech that even though the final results weren’t in, she expected she would see them in Ottawa.
With several polls still to be counted, Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds conceded defeat and told his volunteers that they should be proud of what the Conservatives accomplished in the campaign.
Political watchers had a keen eye on the results to see if the Tories could sway traditionally NDP voters on issues related to labour and affordability.
Meanwhile in the byelection race in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun the NDP, Liberals and Bloc Québécois remained locked in an extremely tight three-way race as the results trickled in slowly.
The Liberal stronghold riding had a record 91 names on the ballot, and the results aren’t expected until the early hours of the morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
VANCOUVER – An incumbent BC United legislative member has reversed her decision not to seek re-election and has announced she’ll run as an Independent in the riding of West Vancouver-Capilano in the upcoming British Columbia election.
Karin Kirkpatrick has been a vocal critic of BC United Leader Kevin Falcon’s decision last month to suspend the party’s campaign and throw support behind the B.C. Conservatives under John Rustad.
Kirkpatrick announced her retirement this year, but said Monday that her decision to re-enter the race comes as a direct result of Falcon’s actions, which would force middle-of-the-road voters to “swing to the left” to the NDP or to move further right to the Conservatives.
“I did hear from a lot of constituents and a lot of people who were emailing me from across B.C. … that they didn’t have anybody to vote for,” she said. “And so, I looked even at myself, and I looked at my riding, and I said, ‘Well, I no longer have anybody to vote for in my own riding.’ It was clearly an issue of this missing middle for the more moderate voter.”
She said voters who reached out “don’t want to vote for an NDP government but felt deeply uncomfortable” supporting the provincial Conservatives, citing Rustad’s tolerance of what she calls “extreme views and conspiracy theorists.”
Kirkpatrick joins four other incumbent Opposition MLAs running as Independents, including Peace River South’s Mike Bernier, Peace River North’s Dan Davies, Prince George-Cariboo’s Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka in Kootenay-Rockies.
“To be honest, we talk just about every day,” Kirkpatrick said about her fellow BC United incumbents now running as Independents. “We’re all feeling the same way. We all need to kind of hold each other up and make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
She added that a number of first-time candidates formerly on the BC United ticket are contacting the group of incumbents running for election, and the group is working together “as good moderates who respect each other and lift each other up.”
But Kirkpatrick said it’s also too early to talk about the future of BC United or the possibility of forming a new party.
“The first thing we need to do is to get these Independent MLAs elected into the legislature,” she said, noting a strong group could play a power-broker role if a minority government is elected. “Once we’re there then we’re all going to come together and we’re going to figure out, is there something left in BC United, BC Liberals that we can resurrect, or do we need to start a new party that’s in the centre?”
She said there’s a big gap left in the political spectrum in the province.
“So, we just have to do it in a mindful way, to make sure it’s representing the broadest base of people in B.C.”
Among the supporters at Kirkpatrick’s announcement Monday was former longtime MLA Ralph Sultan, who held West Vancouver-Capilano for almost two decades before retiring in 2020.
The Metro Vancouver riding has been a stronghold for the BC Liberals — the former BC United — since its formation in 1991, with more than half of the votes going to the centre-right party in every contest.
However, Kirkpatrick’s winning margin of 53.6 per cent to the NDP’s 30.1 per cent and the Green’s 15.4 per cent in the 2020 election shows a rising trend for left-leaning voters in the district.
Mike McDonald, chief strategy officer with Kirk and Co. Consulting, and a former campaign director for the BC Liberals and chief of staff under former Premier Christy Clark, said Independent candidates historically face an uphill battle and the biggest impact may be splitting votes in areas where the NDP could emerge victorious.
“It really comes down to, if the NDP are in a position to get 33 per cent of the vote, they might have a chance of winning,” McDonald said of the impact of an Independent vote-split with the Conservatives in certain ridings.
He said B.C. history shows it’s very hard for an Independent to win an election and has been done only a handful of times.
“So, the odds do not favour Independents winning the seats unless there is a very unique combination of circumstances, and more likely that they play a role as a spoiler, frankly.”
The B.C. Conservatives list West Vancouver School District Trustee Lynne Block as its candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano, while the BC NDP is represented by health care professional Sara Eftekhar.
Kirkpatrick said she is confident that her re-entry to the race will not result in a vote split that allows the NDP to win the seat because the party has always had a poor showing in the riding.
“So, even if there is competition between myself and the Conservative candidate, it is highly unlikely that anything would swing over to the NDP here. And I believe that I have the ability to actually attract those NDP voters to me, as well as the Conservatives and Liberals who are feeling just lost right now.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Egypt on Tuesday for his 10th trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began nearly a year ago, this one aimed partly at refining a proposal to present to Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire deal and release of hostages.
Unlike in recent mediating missions, America’s top diplomat this time is traveling without optimistic projections from the Biden administration of an expected breakthrough in the troubled negotiations.
Also unlike the earlier missions, Blinken has no public plans to go to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this trip. The Israeli leader’s fiery public statements — like his declaration that Israel would accept only “total victory” when Blinken was in the region in June — and some other unbudgeable demands have complicated earlier diplomacy.
Blinken is going to Egypt for talks Wednesday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and others, in a trip billed as focused both on American-Egyptian relations and Gaza consultations with Egypt.
The tamped-down public approach follows months in which President Joe Biden and his officials publicly talked up an agreement to end the war in Gaza as being just within reach, hoping to build pressure on Netanyahu’s far-right government and Hamas to seal a deal.
The Biden administration now says it is working with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to come up with a revised final proposal to try to at least get Israel and Hamas into a six-week cease-fire that would free some of the hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Americans believe public attention on details of the talks now would only hurt that effort.
American, Qatari and Egyptian officials still are consulting “about what that proposal will contain, and …. we’re trying to see that it’s a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.
The State Department pointed to Egypt’s important role in Gaza peace efforts in announcing last week that the Biden administration planned to give the country its full $1.3 billion in military aid, overriding congressional requirements that the U.S. hold back some of the funding if Egypt fails to show adequate progress on human rights. Blinken told Congress that Egypt has made progress on human rights, including in freeing political prisoners.
Blinken’s trip comes amid the risk of a full-on new front in the Middle East, with Israel threatening increasing military action against the Hezbollah militant organization in Lebanon. Biden envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel on Monday to try to calm tensions after a stop in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has one of the strongest militaries in the Middle East, and like Hamas and smaller groups in Syria and Iraq it is allied with Iran.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged strikes across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas started the war in Gaza. Hezbollah says it will ease those strikes — which have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border — only when there’s a cease-fire in Gaza.
Hochstein told Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help get Israelis back in their homes, according to a U.S. official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu that he risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon.
Hochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israel’s northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own, the official said.
Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would “not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north.” The prime minister said Israel “appreciates and respects” U.S. support but “will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safely.”
Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, warned in his meeting with Hochstein that “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action,” his office said.
In Gaza, the U.S. says Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal in principle and that the biggest obstacles now include a disagreement on details of the hostage and prisoner swap and control over a buffer zone on the border between Gaza and Egypt. Netanyahu has demanded in recent weeks that the Israeli military be allowed to keep a presence in the Philadelphi corridor. Egypt and Hamas have rejected that demand.
The Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. Militants also abducted 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. About a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, said Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count. The war has caused widespread destruction, displaced a majority of Gaza’s people and created a humanitarian crisis.
Netanyahu says he is working to bring home the hostages. His critics accuse him of slow-rolling a deal because it could bring down his hardline coalition government, which includes members opposed to a truce with the Palestinians.
Asked earlier this month if Netanyahu was doing enough for a cease-fire deal, Biden said, simply, “no.” But he added that he still believed a deal was close.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
