Description:
Morreale traces the development of the documentary films produced for presidential candidates from Calvin Coolidge in 1923 to George Bush and Bill Clinton in 1992. The work provides insight into today's visually oriented presidential campaign by analyzing the production of candidates' images as the films evolve from classical to modern forms. Campaign films are usually overlooked by campaign scholars, yet they provide the fullest available visual portrait of a candidate during a campaign, they encapsulate persuasive appeals and strategies, and they illustrate Republican and Democratic candidates' different approaches to mediated communication. Morreale concludes that presidential campaign films provide a lens through which we can view both changes and continuities in American politics and culture. Recommended for scholars and students of communication, political science, and history.
Brief description:
Joanne Morreale is Associate Professor in Media and Screen Studies at Northeastern University, USA.
JOANNE MORREALE is Associate Professor of Communication at Northeastern University. Her particular research interest is in campaign communication.Review Quotes: ..."rich with historical examples and evidence to support the impact of image over substance, and to show how campaigning has evolved with technology and culture. It is a well argued book that fills a large gap in our understanding about presidential campaign rhetoric. Morreale's work is thought-provoking and thorough. It is a significant contribution to the presidential scholar's understanding of image construction and of cultural responses in the modern-day presidential campaign."-Presidential Studies Quarterly