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Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington Shaping the President on Television's the By: Melissa Crawley Normal price: 24.5 Our price: 23.28 + postage Bargain: save £1.22 ! Product code: 25771 ISBN: 0786424397 224 pages Format: Pb Published by: McFarland, 2015 There are no reviews available for this book Description of Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington Before the unprecedented televised presidential debates of 1960, most Americans were able to relate to their leaders in little more than an historical context. In the era of televised elections, however, the media have allowed Americans to witness the paternal, moral and intellectual qualities of their president up close. Television has been so critical to this process of political socialization that, for many Americans, the televised image of the president is the president. As the acclaimed television drama The West Wing demonstrates, fictional representations of the presidency can also be significant civic forces. This book examines how film and television drama contribute to shaping the presidency and the way most Americans understand it, and particularly the processes of political education. The text discusses The West Wing’s didactic potential, its representation of White House politics, and its depiction of race and gender, with commentary on how fictional representations of the presidency become important elements of American political consciousness. Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington - Chapter headings Preface 1 Introduction 7 One: Theorizing the Presidency 17 Learning the Presidency: The Political Socialization Studies 17 The Media as an Agent of Political Socialization 25 Processing the Presidency 29 Two: Communicating the Presidency on Screen 34 The President on Film 34 Broadcasting the President 40 Campaigning for the Presidency 45 The President in Television Drama and Comedy 51 Three: A West Wing Primer 61 Beginnings 61 Quality Television and The West Wing 63 A Note on the Issue of Quality 69 Staging the Presidency 70 Team Bartlet 76 Leo McGarry 78 Josh Lyman 81 Toby Ziegler 84 C. J. Cregg 87 Sam Seaborn 94 Four: True Fiction 107 Representing the White House 110 I’m Not a Politician But I Play One on TV 117 Reel Politics 118 Documentary Special 121 Performing the President 124 Screening the President 127 Five: The Making of a President 138 The Paternal President 142 Campaign Discourse and the Power of the Paternal 144 Bartlet as Father Figure 146 The Moral President 156 The Oval Office as Sacred Space 161 The President as Preacher 163 The Intellectual President 181 Six: End Game 188 Sounds Like... 188 Reality Check 191 Character Actor 192 Appendix: Episodes by Season, 1999–2003 195 Notes 201 Bibliography 205 Index 223 Authobiography of Melissa Crawley Melissa Crawley is the Lingnan Foundation Teaching Scholar in Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong where she lectures in media and cultural studies.