LBJ

The documentary LBJ was filmed in 1968 and was directed by Santiago Alvarez. This documentary’s subject matter was all about President Lynden B. Johnson who was ran our country from 1963 to 1969. The filmmakers wanted to construct Johnson as the villain in the film and as a figure of hatred. Alvarez used a lot of archival footage; however he twisted that footage in a variety of ways to make Johnson look like an evil person. The very beginning of the film opens up with dramatic horror music playing. One way that Alvarez distorted the archival footage was he showed wedding pictures of Johnson’s daughter getting married but instead of showing them normally, he cast a red shade over the picture symbolizing evil. The documentary uses a lot of cross cutting between Johnson and a dog's face. This just insinuates how ridiculous and stupid Johnson is. The documentary shows footage and pictures from the assasinations of both of the Kennedys, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. A photo of Johnson is shown holding guns, making it seem like he was indeed the one responsible for all these deaths. Alvarez uses a lot of metaphors in his film, a very significant metaphor that was used was the owl. After each assasinations, an owl sitting in a tree at night was shown. I think this symbolizes death or possibly even Lynden B. Johnson.