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Writer's pictureLaurel Creighton

Populism and Frank Capra


John Cassavetes says, "Maybe there is no America; it was only Frank Capra." A true rags to riches in his own life – Frank Capra became one of the most famous directors. Capra was a filmmaker best known for his American Dream filmography. Born in Italy and moving to the United States as a small child, he had a knack for seeing the American Dream through unique eyes. Although he fought in WWI before beginning to make silent comedies for Columbia – then a laughingstock of a production company – Capra's talent and genius boosted sales and brought Columbia to be known as the powerhouse of cinema it is today.

Capra can be described as a filmmaker who can be studied along with history and film analysis. His work is central to the ideals of the Populist Party, whose ideals are self-help, individualism, anti-big government, and anti-intellectualism. Capra's films can be placed within a context of both social and intellectual political history. Capra had a unique viewpoint on the American Dream of the middle class because of his early life in another country.

After bringing massive success to Columbia pictures for his silent comedies, Frank Capra became a goliath of cinema, winning Oscars and other academy awards for his instant classics such as Lady for a Day (1933). After such success, Capra was left in a deep existential depression. Capra felt the hollowness of fame, and it was not until he was visited in a vision by a "little man" that gave Capra the needed advice always to have a "message" inside the film. After this, Capra was again inspired and changed the tone of his work in his future films.

First, it may be essential to understand the historical context that gave way to the populist party. After the American Revolution, there came to be two major dividing parties. The Federalists and the anti-Federalists. The anti-Federalists became known as the populists. In the essay Frank Capra and the Cinema of Populism, Richards writes: "Federalism soon came to stand for a warlike, industrial, Europe oriented America, with a strong central government and the New England mercantile industrial interests dominant. This was everything that populism loathed, and it provoked two successive Populist reactions, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy."

The prototype for a Caprian classical hero lives to the ideals of the Middle Class; through hard work, frugality, and improvement of ability, they may rise to a classic self-help success story. The traditional figure of the simpleton goes from the country to the city and winds up outwitting the city folk. However, later in Capra's career, he changed this. During his early sound films, the heroes derive from the city, their heart of gold secretly placed behind a demeanor of cynicism and shrewdness.

Jefferson Smith follows this classical hero myth. He is non-cynical, idealist, and fiercely defends American ideals. While a protector of the American dream, he still retains a childlike innocence. Most classic heroes are regarded as boyish with a love of family, either playing baseball or are part of the boy scouts – of which Jefferson Smith was the leader. Some ideals of such boys' groups are loving nature and self-sufficiency.

The boys in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington serve to illustrate the purity of Jefferson Smith as they are the ones who push for him to become the next senator. They represent the "little man" of the populist movement. They are grassroots organized and committed to fighting the big political machine through the small coinage collected and donated to help support the campaign and fight Jefferson Smith fought during his lengthy filibuster against corrupt media and politicians. References to American history are seen even in Jefferson Smith's name. Thomas Jefferson was one of the presidents, along with Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, that are purported to be pillars of the populist movement. In the film, we spend considerable time with Abraham Lincoln's statue, and it is the place where the most critical beat change in the film takes place. It is where Mr. Smith and Clarissa Saunders decide to fight back against the big government and media. The last name Smith is also crucial because it could be referencing Adam Smith, the economist, and philosopher who advocated for free-market economies and the division of labor laws – both seeming to be staples of freedom for populist beliefs.

The media in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is almost a conglomerate character on its own. Seen as a business in populist rhetoric, the media spreads sensational opinions to the public and works closely with the U.S. Government. They often do the senate's heavy lifting to produce mainstream support or disavow public policy. While populism works in the sense that it believes that individuals can either be good or bad, the media, for the most part, is characterized as a pitfall to populist ideals, often tending to be harmful rather than good.

Frank Capra's decision to take on this stance of anti-media and anti-politicians came at an exciting time in history. During the making of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, America was in a tense time of significant international relationships. There was the looming of World War II on the horizon, and global fascism was growing in a few countries, namely Germany, Italy, and Spain. However, the popular front's mission was to rally forces against this threat. Here, Capra takes a varying stance against this notion in his filmmaking in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

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