Film

Significant changes in the means of film production have allowed for much wider access to filmmakers in the areas of activism and social justice over the past 2 decades, and have, in some ways, served to democratize the medium. With the advent of consumer camcorders in the mid-1980s and the accessibility of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, film production no longer requires studio infrastructure and technical personnel, reducing filmmaking costs considerably and easing tensions over social and political orientation, industry affiliations, and revenue-generating star power. The hardware and software for postproduction can be installed on a personal computer, significantly lowering the technology barrier to creating new films, and the availability of nonlinear editing, DVD technology, and consumerlevel software combine to make special-interest movie-making more widely achievable. Filmmakers can use the medium to critique or question the existing social order, and raise awareness on a global scale, in ways that previously were not possible.

However, while activism and social justice are extensively interwoven with an increasing number of films, that link is often viewed as problematic. Films advocating activism and social justice frequently must serve highly disparate goals in order to communicate their issues to audiences. On one hand, they must fulfill their mandate as art for social change by educating, empowering, and calling audiences to action. On the other, they must reach the largest audiences and generate the highest box office or retail receipts possible in order to continue production and dissemination of their messages. While the majority of films closely associated with activism are made outside of the [Page 566]studio system, significant funding is still required to support marketing and distribution strategies necessary to attain outreach goals, and for many films, this requires compromises over content, length, and funding.

Films linked to social change or activism also seek different audience outcomes, and hence, approach audiences differently, in both subject and form. Criteria used to evaluate commercial films are frequently inappropriate to films of civic engagement, activism, or social change—formal strategies, modes of address, viewing habits, and media environments developed within the framework of one socioeconomic system may not be appropriate in another. The conception, production, and viewing of film is a social practice, embedded within the workings of the wider culture, with both production and reception being framed by ideological interests. The content of a film promoting activism and social justice, therefore, cannot be considered independently of where and how it functions for target audiences. While standard studio fare stands in relationship to its audience as a commodity to be consumed, and is promoted with superlatives—riveting, spellbinding, shocking—to stand out from the array of popular offerings, social change media ask the audience to integrate their consumption of their messages with participation—questioning, problematizing, advocating—providing a framework for wider civic conversations and social change.

Films conveying ideological calls to action are as old as the industry itself, and while the majority of commercial and independent films treating themes of social justice and activism in North America are screened in alternative or art house theaters, in independent film festivals, or in educational venues, an increasing number are either intended for first-run theatrical release or are crossing over to mainstream theaters, affording wider access to audiences and box office revenue. Contemporary political messages began to be more explicitly articulated in first-run films in the 1970s, with studio productions such as The Candidate and All the President's Men. While these Hollywood blockbusters were more widely recognized for Robert Redford's leading roles than for their activist content, they bore the hallmark of films of the post–Production Code Administration (PCA) era—the ability to critically depict the U.S. administration without direct censorship. During the PCA era, political critiques were eliminated—either as the result of self-censoring by studios or demands for editing made by state boards of censorship. In the ratings era, the post-Code trend of open political critique, though often mitigated by comedy, would continue through the 1990s with the box office successes Wag the Dog and Bulworth. Hollywood took a more direct stance on activism and social change in the 1983 film, Silkwood. Powered by superstars Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher, the film dramatized the true story of safety violations at an Oklahoma nuclear facility and the suspicious death of the worker who blew the whistle. Similarly, in 1998 and again in 2000, the industry adapted true stories that highlighted public concerns for environmental safety in the face of corporate expansion—A Civil Action and Erin Brockovich. Both films reflected and informed public concerns for environmental justice that had been increasing since the 1978 to 1980 media reports surrounding grassroots activism at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, yet also mitigated their narratives of sociopolitical critique with the box office power of John Travolta and Julia Roberts, respectively.

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