Political Imagery in Our Favorite '80s Movies

Presenter: Ryan Wilmoth

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Anne-Louise Dierkes

Department: Art

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1aaqWZZSqsAnVN93nbmccSIHaROua0u9d

Abstract:
In this presentation I attempted to show how movie writers in the 80s gave us images to show their discontent with the government. I used the movie Trading Places, As well as the movie Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. I used some examples from the films, as well as use newspaper movie reviews in order to convey my ideas. I gave my best attempt at showing my audience that people in the 80s were fed up with the government, and I used examples that appeared on the big screen at the time. I used movies that did not immediately jump out at me as politically charged. I wanted to show that these messages were hidden in people's everyday lives and we might have never noticed it.