American Film Satire

Abstract

The five films analyzed during the course of this book sit quite comfortably in the shifting and blurred landscape of American film in the 1990s, although Forrest Gump may be considered quite unusual since it was so massively successful, and since it was the only one produced and distributed by a major studio on its own (Paramount). All the others were either independent (The Player) or semi-independent (Bob Roberts, Wag the Dog, and Primary Colors). The three latter films all occupy what King has called a hybrid location, where different sectors overlap in terms of production, distribution, and consumption, whereas the former two are studio and independent fare, respectively.² However, all films can be considered hybrids in terms of combining materials from different traditions of filmmaking.³ This kind of mixing of materials, it is interesting to note, is also a long tradition in the history of satire, where works have been considered borrowers of forms.

Every joke is a tiny revolution.

—George Orwell¹