Mr. Smith Goes : Washington Analysis

The main plot of the movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington is a conflict between Jeff Smith, Senator Paine, and Jim Taylor. A senator of a state passed away causing a new senator needing to be appointed. Jim Taylor a local publicist who had pull around the Senate, pressured the governor to select Jefferson Smith. He was appointed as the new Senator of the State, because everyone thought that he was incompetent, naive, and would not get in their way. However when Smith passed a clever bill that got in the way of Jim Taylor’s scandal, Jim and Senator Paine tried to do whatever they could to get Jeffrey expelled from the Senate.

2. In today’s world there would be some mixed reactions to a senator like Jefferson Smith. Some people would disapprove of him because he is not the characteristic senator and has no political experience. They would think that he was young, and inexperienced, and that he did not deserve to be in such a highly respected position. Other people would love that he was standing up for what he knew was right, and that he was doing what needed to be done against those people who take advantage of our

The film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” presents the Senate in a little different fashion than that of the Senate today in real life. The first obvious difference is that the Senate in the movie is still elected by the state legislature, basically the Governor, meaning that the setting of the film would have to be sometime before 1911 and the passage of the 17th amendment Senate] The difference is that today Senators are directly elected by the popular vote of the people.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Mr. Smith was too naive to survive as a senator during the time the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” took place. Mr. Smith’s naiveté was most evident in his ambitious proposal to start a national boys camp. However, when false allegations regarding Mr. Smith’s motives for starting the camp surfaced, Smith was too idealistic to defend himself from the political machine that accused him of acting in self-interest. Making matters worse, Senator Smith was a genuinely honest and simple-minded man, making it difficult for him to survive among his scheming colleagues.

In “The Rise of the Washington Establishment” by Morris P. Fiorina, he stats his overall theory about the establishment that is Washington. Fiorina mainly focuses on congress men and their wishes, but also mentions bureaucrats and voters. To start off, Fiorina makes 3 major assumptions about the establishment. First, people act in their own interest. That’s not always negative, it just means people are going to go after their own dreams and wishes. Second, the primary goal of a congressman is to be re-elected. Hopefully, it is so they can continue benefitting the people that they represent. Lastly, the voters will benefit from those they elect into power. Therefore, both sides win, the congressman gets re-elected and the people get a voice

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington follows Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) and his adventure with American politics. The film begins when a governor needs to replace a senator. The governor decides to appoint Smith because he appears to be a wholesome family man, while also being naïve—which makes him easy to manipulate. When Smith arrives in Washington, Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) becomes a mentor to Smith. Smith falls in love with Paine’s daughter, Susan (Astrid Allwyn). Smith sticks out in Washington,

George Washington became President in 1789 and since then has been regarded as America’s “Founding Father”(10). This grand and hero-like status is said to have “began gravitating to Washington six months before the Declaration of Independence, when one Levi Allen addressed him in a letter as ‘our political Father.’”(10). The preservation of Washington’s role as a national hero has been allowed by authors and the media omitting his many flaws as if they had either been forgotten or were no longer important. Yet by excluding these human faults, they have projected an almost god-like hero and inflicted him upon the nation as their Father, somebody whose “life still has the power to inspire anyone”(10).

In the 1920s, Americans were trying to figure out what was everyone’s role in society. During this time women started to take on bigger jobs then housekeeping and African Americans are finally standing up for their race. Once 1929 hit, Herbert Hoover, America’s newest president, was viewed as an ‘American Superhero’ at that time because of everything he promised society; however, America gets hit by the Great Depression leaving society in a hole. While banking systems were unstable and overproduction were leaving people bankrupt, Herbert Hoover was blaming Europe and was failing to keep society financially stable. As his presidency went on, filmmakers made film cycles and gangster pictures like Little Caesar that portrayed America’s corrupt society during the Great Depression. By the end of his campaign, Hoover was known as the worst American ever which led to the rising of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Roosevelt saw the struggling society as an opportunity to help his campaign in which he created the New Deal. America was given an opportunity that allowed them to look forward to the future. During Herbert Hoover’s presidency, America did not support the federal government, but after Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for president and promised a New Deal, they began to look more favorably on the government.

The 1930s was one of the most challenging times in US history, where the Great Depression caused millions of Americans to suffer through hardships because of the economy. Many people were out of work and unemployed, and the government at the time, believed that the best option was to stay out of its affairs, leaving the struggling people hung out to dry. It was not until Franklin Roosevelt was elected president, that the state of the country began to change. And that was due to the creation of the New Deal; a plan to alleviate the state of the country, providing help through increased government spending and programs, that led to its eventual recovery after the second World War.

In the current political climate, anything said against the government is deemed unpatriotic by certain areas of the culture. Patriotism is bandied about as a necessity by some, and derided completely by others. But what is true patriotism, and how necessary is it? The film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, made in 1939, was originally condemned for being unpatriotic as it showed the ugly side of American democratic politics at a time where democracies were falling all over Europe. However, the film presents a different view of patriotism that supports the most important part of democracy; the people. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington clearly demonstrates the failures and problems in American democracy, but paints protagonist Jefferson Smith as extremely patriotic, illustrating that patriotism is not a blind stubborn belief that a country is right all of the time, but a wholehearted passion for making said country a better place. This view of patriotism may have seemed critical in 1939, but the movie effectively shows how the citizens really are the most important part of a democracy, and how they can rail against political corruption to truly create a better country.

Jeff Smith, the most patriotic, iconic, idealistic, inovative and history knoweledgable role in the movie. Fairness is something that best describes this character and something that he stands for with pride. Being elected randomly without option of chosing wether he wants to be senator or not, Mr. Smith starts a huge war againts corrupted polticians. The biggest problem Mr. Smith has is his innocence and naive nature that he posseses. Corruage, bravery and fairness to stand in front of everyone really describe Mr. Smith as an individual that can change the world!

Politics today are very different from 160 years ago. In the 1860’s, the government was a well functioning system. We as a country were able to get a lot done over the years, one of our greatest accomplishments is aboloishing slavery. Now as a country, we are unable to agree on even the simplest of issues, even when the parties views aline.

During the years while Washington was the General Master he was never a really good one. When Washington try to be the spotlight is when he was getting a speech to his fellow people in the colonies. If he lost the war he would become the person who has lost American. Washington have won some wars, but not all of them.

Smith emphasizes on his desires for acceptance and being simulated into American society, though he gets disappointed since his desire for material success does not eliminate the challenges he faces. In addition to expressing frustrations about the insurmountable disparity between whites and blacks, Smith experiences instances of being cheated out of money and property by other blacks. He concludes by briefly describing the infirmities of his old age. Throughout colonial and antebellum history, U.S. slaves lived primarily in the South. Slaves comprised less than a tenth of the total Southern population in 1680 but grew to a third by 1790. At that date, 293,000 slaves lived in Virginia alone, making up 42 percent of all slaves in the U.S. at

The film focuses on African American historical events, with special concentration on the civil rights era. With the White House segments of the film starting in the oppressive Eisenhower years, it offers a presidential level insight into the historic freedom movements of the 1960’s, all the way through until the day that Barack Obama is elected president in 2008. I am going to argue that Daniels’ representation of history and race are much more than a ‘parody of historical drama’, as he defies the ‘conventional’ stereotypes of Hollywood (Martin 2013) through the focus on individual character depictions and rejection of generalisations seen previously in African American films.