Primary

The documentary Primary was directed by Robert Drew. This documentary followed John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey around during the Wisconsin Primary. This film is a great example of the role of performance in the image of the president, or those running for president. JFK was very charming, smooth and knew how to manipulate his image so it looked good on the camera where as Humphrey did not do this so well and looked more awkward on camera. The filmmaker used observational filming in this documentary and therefore it was not scripted at all. There was a lot of cross cutting used between JFK and Humphrey. This showed the apparent differences between their images and the way they presented themselves. The film showed Kennedy seeming as if he did not have to try very hard to be charming to the people; however Humphrey appeared to have difficulty and had to try very hard. In many of the scenes, the people were flocking towards Kennedy all excited and trying to get autographs, handshakes, and etcetera. On the other hand, Humphrey was alone on the sidewalk having to go out of his way to greet people and shake THEIR hands. This may have been how it truly was, or the filmmaker might have cut out different scenes and made these scenes contrast each other to make it look as if Kennedy is the favored candidate. I also noticed that the film focused much more on Kennedy and his wife Jackie than it did Humphrey. It displayed great moments of Kennedy, for example when he was walking through the crowd shaking everyone’s hands after he gave his amazing speech, but it shows mediocre moments of Humphrey, for example when he is giving a speech at an informal restaurant. It is safe to say that this film wanted to portray Kennedy in a better light than Humphrey and that could have been one of the reasons Kennedy won.