Lens Into the Worlds of Interesting People,

¶ … lens into the worlds of interesting people, movements, cultures, and practices. Three films, two of which are documentary, show how the presidents of the United States behaved and were involved in scandal. Although the films were effective in highlighting the lapses in judgment these former American presidents have, it did little to help the audience viewing the film understand why it was done and how it impacts the country. With the exception of the Watergate scandal, a lot of the information shown in these films was meant to drive entertainment values more than anything else. Sadly that is what the news is slowly becoming, something that is meant to grab ratings.

Unlike the news, documentaries have the ability to truly develop character and persona in their subjects of interest. There is a scene in the film, "Journey's with George" that discusses George Bush Jr.'s dietary habits. One of which is his love of Cheetos and particularly a bologna and cheese sandwich. One of the people part of Bush Jr.'s campaign gave an in depth analysis of the bologna and cheese sandwich and compared it to a republican. He said the white bread was any republican candidate or politician. The bologna was the republican's lips, and the cheese, which was Swiss cheese, had holes in it like their arguments and also represented cheesy advertising.

Looking back at the way Bush Jr. handled his administration and both of his terms, a lot of his actions were, as some may consider, pure "bologna." So it was ironic in the very sense of the word to see Bush eat the bologna and cheese sandwich in front of the filmmaker, laughing and cracking jokes. The filmmaker caught the funny side of Bush, which amidst his campaign and eventually his presidency, he was considered funny but for all the wrong reasons. That one scene in the documentary was the most important part of the film in that it reveals then, a side of Bush that metaphorically represents his scandalous history and presidential terms.

Even when they were on the bus talking, joking around, and the filmmaker mentioned his tax plan vs. McCain's tax plan, he didn't bother to discuss it and instead focus on her supposed "handholding." All the documentary was in no part meant to badmouth Bush Jr., one could see from early on in the documentary, how little Bush knew or cared about being president. He was a good speaker, and handled people well, but when it came down to being professional, and caring about the real problems concerning America, he was more concerned with making a good impression and making people laugh.

Scandal doesn't simply surround former presidents like George Bush Jr. It also surrounded other American presidents before him. One of which is the infamous cheater, Bill Clinton. The film, "The War Room," shows the campaign of Bill Clinton for presidency in 1993 documentary film. In the film, unlike with Bush, you don't really see Bill Clinton, but instead see James Carville, Clinton's strategist, and George Stephanopoulos, his communications director.

During the duration of the film the duo handles things for Clinton including the Gennifer Flowers scandal. Bill Clinton is no stranger to affairs having an iconic affair with Monica Lewinski along with several rendezvous with other women, including Ms. Flowers. He was known to lie and sweet talk his way out of possible repercussions. Even amidst the scandal of flowers, he ended up becoming president. The documentary, like others, does not really do too much in regards to defaming Bill Clinton, but does show some reality albeit in a way that entertains rather than enlightens.

"The first president from the rock and roll generation," this was one of the quotes from the trailer. This was a good indicator of what the documentary producers thought of Bill Clinton and wanted to achieve from this film. Instead of showing a bad side of Clinton, they showed the side of his crew that wanted to win, that wanted to beat the republicans. That's what a lot of these movies and documentaries and the media in general do. Instead of showing the truth of things, they spin it in a way that is the most entertaining.

Most of it has to do with the evolution of journalism. "The crusading journalism typified and inspired by the Watergate story gradually tapered off during more tranquil times. Changing news-media economic threatened the improvements in journalism" (Downie & Kaiser 22). People in news media wanted and need ratings. This was not simply to garner more attention to their shows, but to survive the onslaught of cutbacks and potential cancellations. It was then that the news evolved to not only feed the audience, but also sustain itself through advertisers.

"The three original television networks mushroomed into giant corporations, fed by the enormous revenues advertisers would pay to hawk their wares on the networks' entertainment shows and increasingly extensive news programming" (Downie & Kaiser 23). News programs became sources of headlines. People saw the news not to uncover something important, but to see chases and arrests, and serial killers. It all became a game of ratings and things reporters and journalists would do to get those ratings. And it is in this era of media change that scandals with Clinton and Bush did not have the kind of impact Nixon had with Watergate.