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Original Articles

Are the liberal good in Hollywood? Characteristics of political figures in popular films from 1945 to 1998

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Pages 57-67
Published online: 21 May 2009
 

Previous research (Prindle & Endersby, 1993) indicated that the leaders of Hollywood are far more liberal than the average American. The question that remained to be answered was to what extent this liberal bias leaks into the Hollywood product. In an effort to answer this question we examined 124 political characters in 47 popular political films spanning five decades. The findings suggested that the charaaers who were depicted as more liberal also tended to be depicted as more intelligent, friendly, and good. However the results also suggest that the liberal bias in Hollywood is not very robust. Hollywood movers and shakers appeared to have kept their liberal bias in check to some extent. It is speculated, (similarly to Prindle & Endersby), that Hollywood was more invested in producing entertainment that is politically generic and palatable to a general audience than in making movies that promote their liberal political leanings.

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