This is a critical analysis on Joe Wright's Darkest Hour regarding media & politics and how they intertwine.
Darkest Hour is a movie depicting the life of Winston Churchill, played by Gary Oldman. It is set during World War II and Winston Churchill has to face the gargantuan debacle of exploring a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or choose to stand firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. After the departure of Neville Chamberlain, Members of Parliament frequently ridicule and criticise newly appointed Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. However, Churchill must rally his nation and withstand the darkest times of his country and attempt to change the course of world history even if all odds are against him.
Media and politics are closely related to each other. The mass media plays a pivotal role in projecting political information to society through radio and television but nowadays more so through social media. Transmitting and making people know about a politician’s agenda is easier than ever. There is still some contention regarding both the impact of the mass media on politics as well as the ethics and boundaries it may or may not cross. For example, the mass media in Great Britain facilitate democracy by allowing a broad spectrum of views to be expressed. Some people believe that the media are working for the government due to their power to manipulate the way people think about politics whether the audience is from the country or out of the country. As there are different television channels and newspapers competing for audience attraction and retention, some media outlets and companies would make certain news more captivating for audiences by treating it as entertainment rather than as an important business.
There are plenty of uses of media in the film where people would contact generals and issue statements to the public. Media such as radio broadcasts were used to communicate messages through to the public and newspapers were also used to extend messages through to the public as well as for journalists to voice their concerns. The media is shown to be an extension of the government in communicating with the public; both as a sort of 4th branch of government and as a watchdog for the people (Luberda, 2014).
The agenda-setting theory is a theory that discusses how the mass media influences in making a certain issue as a public agenda (Mohd Zain, 2014). Thus, it can further the emergence of social movements and increase public involvement towards the agenda. Agenda setting is what allows people like politicians or public relations practitioners to promote their policy. The first scene that will be broken down is at 32:40 where Winston Churchill is asked by General Ironside whether the public should be told or not regarding the capitulance of their troops and the seemingly hasty collapse of the entirety of Western Europe. The scene shows a right face shot of Churchill looking at the war map while thinking whether the public should know of that information as a white light shines from the left side of his face. Politicians and government officials to decide whether the media need to disperse that cardinal information - or at least how the information shall be told. Setting up the agenda that did not include any opposing viewpoints was a key factor in how Churchill made his decision later on in the film during the nationwide broadcast.
Framing Theory is about shifting the public’s focus and attention to feel about a topic in a certain way - to make them follow a certain mode of thought. Therefore, it influences people and makes them seem like they judge and come to a conclusion naturally as if they thought it through all by themselves. At 41:30, Churchill is preparing to speak on a nationwide broadcast. We are able to see here that the media can play a role as the 4th branch of the government or “shadow government” as previously mentioned. This is because the media has control over the public’s access to certain information and can control how information can be disseminated. During the 1940s, the public relied heavily on what is now referred to as old media or legacy media - newspapers and radio - to gain information, so the media had a substantial impact on their perceptions. During the planning of the script for his broadcast speech, we can see not only Framing Theory but Agenda Setting Theory and Priming Theory being implemented as well. Priming Theory discusses how the media affects the people by reinforcing the agenda by consistently relaying that information until it results in people eventually thinking in the way the media wants them to. By utilising the most prominent forms of media during those times, which were radio and newspaper, he made the public have faith. Moreover, with the use of radio broadcasting, Churchill’s speech will reach and influence a broader audience. He did not want to negotiate with the opposing force of Germany and wanted to instil a feeling of spirit and inspiration to stand up for the nation, prior to the broadcast speech. When the day came, he stated that there was an advance on France but in reality, his statement was misleading. Everything was a mess and their army was actually in full retreat. This was told so that there would not be more public outcry and panic. When Churchill was needed to disseminate information about the war to the public, he did so in the context of a “noble lie” and not one that is aimed to manipulate.
Media bias generally means when the media pushes a specific viewpoint, rather than being objective. There are many types of media bias such as bias by omission or by story selection. At 1:42:36, Churchill decides to take the King’s words and listen to the people of the nation. He proceeds to use the underground train to go to Westminster but while in transit, he asks the people inside the train on their opinions about fighting the German forces or negotiating with them. The people were absolutely against the idea of even considering negotiations with the Germans and would rather have their blood, sweat and tears stream down their homeland. The media is known as the gatekeeper of information between the government and the people. By removing the media itself, the government - in this case, Churchill - had direct communication with the public. This removes the act of media bias. So because of that, he understood the true feelings of the people and went forward with the decision to wage war against the tyrannical Adolf Hitler.
Going back to the train scene with Churchill and the people, though inspirational on the outside, there are signs of a subtle race agenda put into that scene. There was a singular black person in the entire movie and he was placed during a very prominent scene. He could be seen in the background of every shot Churchill was in. It was alleged that if there was no person of colour in the film, the whole film crew would not have gotten the license to film the movie. This might be due to something known as an inclusion rider. An inclusion rider is a clause in an actor’s contract that requires that the cast and crew reflect the demographics of the world today (McDormand, 2018). As an example, an inclusion rider would require that a cast be diverse; including women, people of colour, people of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as representation from the disabled community. The rise of new media has complicated the political media system with the expanding of technology (Owen, 2018). Western civilisations have affected political views and perceptions all around the globe. This has then woven itself into media such as film where creative freedom should be boundless though now limited in certain aspects. People would almost rather see a politically correct film than a beautifully crafted, free-spirited one.
In the scene when the red light goes on as the broadcast becomes active, the room dims, visually referencing the movie’s title, “Darkest Hour” - how a good chunk of the movie is shown to be dark and gritty - as well as from Churchill’s most famous speech. Director Joe Wright said that a large narrative of the film is how disconnected Churchill with the general populous and how he wanted to really put across the pressure seen in the actions and expressions of people when in wartime. Churchill’s portrayal for most of the film is the furthest thing away from a national hero; reminding the audience that people like him are human and make mistakes. He is someone who is stained by his past, the most notable example is his failure in the battle of Gallipoli in World War I.
Therefore, with the assistance of Bruno Delbonnel’s engaging cinematography, the underlying message that Joe Wright’s film shows is that even Winston Churchill, seemingly the worst of the bunch of politicians who could have become Prime Minister, can overcome adversity of many kinds for the betterment and freedom of the nation despite having dealt with many opposing forces, prominently from his own cabinet of officials.
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