The Relationship Between Implicitly Political Films and Political Polarization

Abstract

Throughout history, art has played a vast role in both culture and activism. With the United States having a booming film industry centered in the heart of Los Angeles and spreading all across the country, it is hard to believe that such a huge cultural phenomenon does not impact the viewpoints of United States voters and their decision making at the polls. This study dives into that impact, looking at both quantitative and qualitative research, trying to uncover the influence that implicitly political films have on political polarization and answer the question: what is the relationship between implicitly political feature films released between 2009 and 2019 and political polarization in the United States?  The quantitative research of this study exposed a correlation between the year of the presidency and the number of successful implicitly political films that were released per year. The qualitative surveys from this study uncovered that teenagers today do not feel particularly influenced by the movies that they watched growing up, therefore suggesting that if implicitly political films have any effect on political decision making, it is at the subconscious level. As times change and technology improves, it seems that there is no limit to the extent of influence. It is important to understand this influence and its implications before it is too late.