A New Beginning - A Textual Frame Analysis of the Political Campaign Film

This book is a postmodern analysis of Ronald Reagan's 1984 film, A New Beginning, which marked the coming-of-age of the televisual political campaign film. The film was a landmark in the art of political filmmaking. Its thesis proclaimed a resurgence of American pride, patriotism, and prosperity under the leadership of Ronald Reagan. A New Beginning was unprecedented for a number of reasons: it replaced the traditional nominating speech for the candidate at the Republican National Convention; its form was a hybrid documentary and advertisement; it illustrated the use of televisual rebirth rhetoric to gain public support for a political ideology; and, most importantly, the masterful project documented a shift from verbal to visual rhetoric in American presidential campaigning.

The author examines the film as a cultural text and as an effective political tool. Framing, ideology, myth, and visual cliché are analytic tools used to deconstruct the film; the method combines rhetorical theory with communication theory and semiotically-based theories of film and television. Morreale gives insight into the increasingly prevalent use of television to create a political reality.

About the author

Joanne Morreale is Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at Northeastern University.

Product details

• Authors: Joanne Morreale
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.07.1991
• EAN: 9780791406083
• ISBN: 978-0-7914-0608-3
• No. of pages: 154
• Series: Suny Series in Speech Communic; Suny Communication Studies
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education