Politics in popular culture in America vs. other countries

[President Johnson]

Is it just me, or does politics - and the presidency in particular - play a much larger role in popular culture in the United States than elsewhere? With elsewhere I mean other Western states in particular, such as Canada, France, Germany, Japan or Australia. The UK may be sort of an exception here.

As an example, there are a bunch of political series and even more movies. Several of the most famous American actors have at least once played a president in front of the camera. There are also several films, series or novels in which the 25th Amendment plays a certain role, even in less political stories (seems like this amendment has inspired a lot of fiction writers). Contrary, I hardly recall a German actor ever playing chancellor. If it all, in a very minor role. Same with political novels. Just few books in German exist in which a fictional chancellor plays a role, in stark contrast to fictional presidents and, to a small degree, British prime ministers. However, it may actually be good for me since I started writing one.

[Damocles]

It’s partly because of our origin as an explicit rejection of British colonialism, and revolutionary fervor. Our existence has always been extremely political, and everyone has different ideas about how the country should be governed. Naturally, this is going to create a lot of people who are at least passively interested in politics.

[Santander]

When politics is turned into an entertainment spectacle, it shouldn't be surprising when the entertainment industry adopts political storylines.

[President Johnson]

When politics is turned into an entertainment spectacle, it shouldn't be surprising when the entertainment industry adopts political storylines.

That's a fair point. The news media plays a major role here, though it's not exclusively their fault. As commercial corporations, they delivering what their consumers ask for. A celebrity running for office saying outrageous things will always get higher ratings than a bland guy presenting his tax reform plan.

[Samof94]

The British themselves do it a bit too, but not to the same extent.

[Battista Minola 1616]

I don't know about most Italian actors, but sure as hell Toni Servillo has intepreted Presidents of the Council on screen!

Politics in general is also surely present in our popular culture - and for that matter, two of the five current largest parties were basically founded by celebrities.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Back in 2005 there was a short-lived German TV show called Kanzleramt (Chancellery) which probably was supposed to be a domestic version of The West Wing. I found that show to be rather dull and boring, lacking both humour and drama. The Danes did it much better with Borgen a couple of years later.

The oddest aspect about Kanzleramt probably was that they generally dodged around the question which political party the fictional Chancellor, his coalition partners and the opposition belonged to. This led to the Chancellor's political leanings and agenda either not being mentioned at all, only being described in the most general terms, or being all over the place. In the end he seemed to be a bit of a cross between a CDU, SPD, and FDP politician. Maybe this was because we Germans tend to be rather stiff about such things? If it had been a fictional CDU or SPD Chancellor it could have been quickly accussed of being a pro-CDU or pro-SPD propaganda show, leadng to a "media scandal" in itself. So, to avoid any controversy, political parties didn't really exist in that fictional universe, fulfilling Wilhelm II's old WWI-era promise of "I know no parties anymore, I know only Germans".

In 2020, there was also a political drama called Die Getriebenen (The Driven), a fictionalized account of the 2015 refugee crisis from the perspective of the Merkel government. While I mostly agreed with the movie's political stance I also found to be unintentionally funny. Most of the politicians were reduced to being caricatures. Characters in that film only seemed to possess a single trait which had been turned up to eleven, leading to everyone being a one-dimensional cardboard (e.g. Sigmar Gabriel = overly ambitious and opportunistic, Horst Seehofer = well-intentioned, but ultimately misguided). Overall, I'd say Die Getriebenen had a bit of a "so bad it is good" quality.