The American President is a movie that was produced and directed by Rob Reiner in 1995. This film that was originally written by Aaron Sorkin is categorized as a romantic comedy-drama movie and has received massive recognition in the USA. The stars in the film are Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen, Annette Benin, Richard, and Michael J. Fox. In the movie, the main character Andrew Shepherd who is a widower is introduced as the president of the United States of America. She is approaching the end of her first term as the president of the US and is very popular with the public. Unexpectedly, she falls in love with an environmental lobbyist called Ellen Sydney Wade and this is where her problems start. He finds himself at a fixed where she is not sure of what really to do between his love for the incredible woman and his country. This movie contains various concepts and ideas that are real things we see within our society in our day-to-day lives. The paper is going to comprehensively analyze three concepts already learned in the class which are the presidency, bills and laws, loyalty, and how they are portrayed in the movie.
Film Summary
Shepherd Andrew, a popular Democratic US president is preparing to emerge successful in presidential re-election. The president and his chief of staff have an approval rating of 63% and are planning to pass a crime control deal. Shepherd together with other Democrats strongly believes that if the bill is passed then his re-election will be successful. Unfortunately, the support for the bill by the parties is tepid. Some strongly oppose it for various reasons. For instance, the liberals think that the bill is weak while the conservatives do not want it for reasons not explained. A state dinner is organized which is attended by the President of France. During the dinner, Shepherd’s attention quickly shifts to Ellen Sydney Wade. Sydney is an environmentalist hired by an environment lobbying firm to come to the dinner and talk with the president to pass legislation that will help the government to reduce air pollution especially those coming from carbon dioxide gases. During their first meeting, Wade and the President fall in love at first sight. The president expresses what he feels about Wade to his staff and best friend A.J. Shepherd has been a widower for three years and is always lonely, perhaps this is why he has committed most of his time to fully serving the nation as the president.
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After falling in love, Bob Rumson who is the Republican presidential hopeful senator learns about this and starts attacking the president with his new love Ellen Wade. Bob from the Republican party attacks the president stating that he is going against the family values and that the relationship was unethical. The president does not do anything in response to the attacks from the Republicans and this is something that causes his approval ratings. As the president’s approval ratings go lower, the future of the crime bill seems doomed to fail. Again, the environmental bill that was brought by Wade is not approved by congress and ends up massively failing. Due to the failure of Congress to pass the Environmental bill, Wade is fired by the lobbying firm for not meeting her objective. The president shortly breaks up with Wade and he goes to address the public about the accusations coming from the Republicans. The president states that he is withdrawing the crime bill which was weak and promises to write a stronger one in the future that will be important in solving gun control issues. As the movie ends, the president reconciles with Wade and handles her bouquet of roses.
Presidency Concept
The presidency is a docket that is essential in different nations. Even though some countries are led by royal families, most countries around the world use the presidential system to control their resources and management of various sectors. By definition, the presidency is the executive function or office of a state of a country. In other terms, the presidency may also refer to the whole length of time that the president serves as the head of a country. For example, we can say that President Obama’s presidency ended after two terms. Different countries have different criteria that are used to elect presidents. In some countries, it is the citizens who directly vote to elect their president while in other countries like in the US; the president is not directly elected by the citizens. According to the Constitution of the US, the presidents are chosen by electors vial a process which is known as the “Electoral College.” Again, presidents are elected after a specified period and take the responsibility to make crucial decisions directly affecting the country.
In the film “The President,” the aspect of the presidency is brought out very clearly. For instance, President Shepherd was elected from the Democrats Party and is the head of the government and state. In different countries, the president is responsible for the execution and enforcement of various laws. This is the same thing that we see in the film where Shepherd came up with the crime bill and was also approached by Wade from the lobbying firm to help in passing the environmental bill. In every country, presidential candidates are elected and can be re-elected after serving for a term. This is also portrayed in the film where Shepherd had dreams of being re-elected as the president of the US.
Bills and Laws
Bills and laws are essential to every country. Just like in a family or house where we cannot live without some protocols or simple rules, the same applies to countries. There must be some structures or mechanisms that help in regulating how different people and organizations operate. This is why bills and laws are necessary for any country. A bill is legislation that is proposed and is under consideration either by the legislature or congress. On the other hand, a law is a bill that has been passed by both the Houses and finally receives approval from the president.
In the film, there was the crime bill and the environmental bill that was proposed. The criminal bill was fighting violence and other forms of crime while the environmental bill was proposing to control the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A bill is not considered law until it is passed by both Houses. In the film, the crime bill and environmental bill were just proposals and were not successful as they were not passed by Congress. If these two bills could have been approved by the two Houses through voting then, they could have become official laws in the US.
Criminal Act
The criminal Act is a body of law that is regulating criminal offenses and works to regulate charging, apprehension, and trial of suspects. The crime Acts also work to fix modes of treatment and penalties applicable to different convicts. Under the criminal Acts, some laws are enforced by the police officers and interpreted by the courts. Generally, Criminal Acts are organized in societies to ensure the survival of people and protect the security of individuals.
In the “America President” film, we can see the importance of Criminal Acts. There is the crime bill that was proposed by the Democrats to ensure the protection of individuals. However, the bill was not passed because it was weak and did not address crucial issues in the country. Shepherd says that he will re-write the criminal bill to fully protect people. The president goes ahead to state that he will write another bill that will be significant in ensuring gun control measures. In this manner, we can see that the criminal Acts are essentially drafted to help in protecting society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the “America President” film gives various concepts and ideas that we see in real life. In the film, the widowed president of the US falls in love with Sydney Wade who is a paid political activist working for an environmental lobby firm. The relationship is known by his political opponents who use it to the president. Various concepts learned that are portrayed in this film include the presidency, bill and laws, and Criminal Acts. Countries have presidents who are either directly or indirectly elected by citizens. Citizens should be very careful when electing their president as this is the person who will help in passing bills that protect them into laws. Therefore, the citizens and other representatives involved in the election of presidents should not be bribed to vote for someone who will not care about their interests as a country.
