Throwback TV Thursday: The West Wing

           

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I fell in love with this show easily after watching a few episodes in my editing class in college. The cinematography sold me on the show, the continuous long shot throughout the West Wing showing the chaos and constant flow of our government and how the news (and our nation’s capital) never sleeps.  You could be walking with Press Secretary C. J. Cregg (Allison Janney) down one hallway and she will bump into Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) have a quick chat and then the camera while never cutting away, follows now Josh who goes off to present the news to the next character. I believe this long continuous shot helped the audience adjust to the fast pace environment of the White House without ever losing their surroundings and the people focused in on the dialogue for that moment. Its fluid movement helps the audience to never lose focus and be able to grasp what’s happening without constant cuts that would make our heads spin.

The fast and quick dialogue adds to the pressure and the constant movement of each issue the West Wing Staff has to deal with not only from outside forces but between each other as well. When the more hard hitting moments were presented on screen an extreme close up of the profile of the character affected is held in the frame and mostly with a dark shadow representing the dark news ahead. One of my favorite shots is the circling around the room of people, whether it’s the staffers or an extremist group, it binds the audience in with the characters and we feel we are a part of the next major issue of the White House Staffers. It sometimes comes off as a ‘victory lap’ around the characters or a slow, long circle that seems to ooze bad news.

           

Like I said, I love the cinematography of this show and can dissect it all day.

           

The show ran for seven seasons from 1999-2006, which of course in our own nation’s history has had some pretty horrific moments not only from forces of nature (Hurricane Katrina) but of course the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Aaron Sorkin, the creator and writer for 155 episodes of The West Wing never took an actual headline from the news between 1999-2006, but reflected the tensions in the Middle East often in the series. He also covered national disasters by Nature (tornados) and the more nitty gritty issues even our government is trying to handle today like recession, education, tax reforms, and minimum wage and the constant battle to get anything done in Congress and Senate.

I’m not a political person but watching President Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlett (played by Martin Sheen) as the Democratic president for two terms of the United States was fascinating. He showed not only the horribly difficult decisions a president has to make like sending American soldiers into the arms of danger but also the light hearted side of being a father and a husband, and gives off the father figure type of attitude towards his staff when he is not in a bad mood. This show also tackles issues we haven’t really seen in the office yet like drugs and alcohol addiction by certain members of Congress and White House Staff, higher ups battling diseases and sometimes PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I deeply enjoyed this show and I suggest anyone who can access this show (all seven seasons are on Netflix) will enjoy the feeling they are behind the scenes of the White House and it’s staff.