With the Trump presidency in loom, several factors of American culture are thinking about how they're going to be changed under the new administration, the movie business included. But let's not reinvent the wheel. Have movies in the past been affected by the presidency?
In terms of the actual distribution and allowance of movies, this isn't much the case. Of course, in the 60s with the wave of New Hollywood, movies started to get more risque, but much of that can be thanks to the social revolutions at the time taken under wing from the Johnson presidency. Despite how much we feel oppressed, we live in a country with a lot of freedoms.
So when it comes to the actual content? I usually split this into two pieces: social messages an period pieces. Period pieces like Adventureland and even Boyhood seem to go out of their way to highlight the administration at the time and its impact. This commonly happens with movies that take place in an earlier date, but a period piece doesn't necessarily mean that it only has to do with a specific period. Hollywood Cinema tends to focus on International, universal messages, while Independent goes to National issues, and several these "slice-of-life" films tend to deal with how people are affected at the ground level. For example, 2013's Frances Ha is an intimate look at how increasing tuition and college debt is affecting twenty-somethings in America today and how they cope with this. With different priorities, movies like these wouldn't be.
And then there are social issues. Some movies deal with an issue that the current president is a part of. Platoon is an interesting film because it is both a period piece and a film dealing with a social issue: the Vietnam war. Without Kennedy and Johnson, this movie obviously wouldn't be a thing, especially since it's loosely based on director Oliver Stone's experience in Vietnam.
Which segues me to my final point: presidents affect movies only if it affects the makers of these movies. It's no surprise that minority filmmakers often deal with issues surrounding minorities because that's what they've gone through. It's like one of the main writer rules: write what you know. Having this in mind, with a Trump presidency looming, you'll be sure to see many social issue films, and definitely more The Big Short-esque docu-dramedies, as it seems like the likes of satirical news haven't been as popular as it is now. Satirical news: definitely dependent on the president. Just ask Jon Stewart about the George W. Bush presidency.
With such an outspoken president-elect that seems to tantalize the media, Trump-based films might overeclipse any other past president--except for Lincoln, I guess. But no matter what happens these next few years, at least we have the movies.
