Mr.Smith Goes to Washington

Hannah Crouser 

The Ideal America portrayed in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one where people believe whole hardly, almost naively, in the idea of patriotism and opportunity. Many view the United States as a place of equality, where people get to make a better life for themselves no matter their background. More, and more people are beginning to realize how flawed the United States truly is. It is a country that was founded on White supremacy, and it is very hard for people who do not fall under the category of whiteness to advance in a way they believe they will be able to. In the film, we see that all the senators are White males. We also see that the main character is able to pass his bill, and win in the end because he has the advantage of being a White male. The way Mr. Smith became a senator was in no way conventional, he appealed to the people. He was only chosen as senator because the children liked him. He has no knowledge about politics, yet he was able to succeed in passing a bill because he was a white man. If it had been a woman or a person of color they would have never been considered for the position.    



Comments

  1. Dr. BolzendahlJanuary 18, 2023 at 4:48 PM

    Would love to see you move beyond the summary - can you explain more how the privileges of whiteness assisted the men involved? Why do you think this wasn't questioned?

    ReplyDelete

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