Politics of Cinema

Author: Aaron & Isaac

Films are cultural artifacts. There is a political and artistic message in every one and we're here to document. On each episode we pick a film; sometimes current and sometimes from the riches of world cinema's 100 year history, and take a deep dive into what the film is really saying about the world. Both overtly and covertly.
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Language: en

Genres: Documentary, Film History, Society & Culture, TV & Film

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How to Mock a Tyrant in The Great Dictator (1940)
Episode 16
Friday, 28 November, 2025

In this episode, we wrap up our look at depictions of fascism and authoritarianism on film with Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). Chaplin had the nerve to go fully anti-fascist and anti-racist at a moment when much of Hollywood was still pretending Hitler was just a distant "European problem". Chaplin mercilessly skewers Riefenstahl-style fascist pageantry and spectacle while also refusing the era's usual antisemitic caricatures. He centers half of the narrative on a working-class Jewish barber whose daily life is shattered by storm trooper raids that feel uncomfortably close to those carried out by modern ICE agents and militarized police. Follow us at: Patreon / Instagram / Letterboxd / Facebook