Bob Roberts essays

Bob Roberts essays The movie Bob Roberts is a political satire based on one mans campaign for a seat in the Senate. A British documentary crew is on hand to film Roberts' campaign and captures the frightening possibilities of a steamrolling campaign and all it can experience along its trail to Washington. Of course Bob Roberts the character is about as real as an honest politician, however the film's fiction comes closer to fact than many of todays politicians would like us to believe. Writer-director Tim Robbins plays Bob Roberts in this thought-provoking dramatic and political satire about a 1990 Pennsylvania race for the U.S. Senate. At first, it's easy to laugh at Roberts' phony-baloney public facade as he strums pro-capitalist folk songs such as "I Want to Be Rich" and "This Land Was Made for Me." Later, though, the laughs fade as we get a glimpse behind Roberts' hospitable mask and witness a snake pit of guns-for-drugs trades, cash looted from failed savings-and-loan institutions and ex-CIA campaign managers. A documentary filmmaker is along for the ride and captures Roberts sound-bite campaign against liberal incumbent Senator Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal.) The rest of the cast is sprinkled with such notable actors as James Spader, Helen Hunt, Susan Sarandon, Fred Ward and Peter Gallagher in cameo roles. Most of them play television news reporters that are as biased as Bob Roberts campaign is crooked. This is how the film allows the media to portray itself throughout. During the film the media is very biased towards both campaigns. One particular example of this is when Bob Roberts is about to go on the show Good Morning Philadelphia. Right before he goes on, the host of the show tells him that she does not support his views. This leads to the two of them having an exchange on the air about differing points of view. While this seems to be an uncomfortable moment for the candidate, it ...