Customer Reviews

American Feud: A History of Conservatives and Liberals

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the back and forth common to cable TV punditry, we tend to forget the serious complexities of American politics. Fary and Hall's American Feud revisits what is a deep history of American political ideology.

The book is obviously well timed for the election year cycle. But what appeals most is its refusal to reduce the discourse to focus group banalities that overwhelm reasonable discussion much less accurate definitions of the way American voters think and act.

The spectrum of writers, historians, and pundits featured in American Feud is impressive. From Thomas Frank to G. Gordon Liddy, the filmmakers have solicited opinions from the very people who shape mainstream thought.

Personally, I also liked the light-hearted format used throughout the film. It is an added benefit to have a documentary filmmaker who does not take himself too seriously.

As a professor of history with fifteen years in college classrooms, I would highly recommend the film.

The thoughtful and articulate group Hall & Fary have assembled says a lot worth hearing. Noam Chomsky alone is worth the price of admission. The content may be weighty, but the presentation never is. "American Feud" moves right along, and what's more it's fun, thanks to the onscreen antics of a miniature donkey and elephant plus the producers' penchant for interrupting interviews with rapid-fire definitions and illustrations that clarify and provide historical context. If you want to go into this fall's election (or any election) as an informed voter, "American Feud" is "must" viewing.

Highly informative and entertaining, the DVD AMERICAN FEUD is a must for any citizen who wants to learn more and think about American ideologies today: Where do we belong and why? What does it mean to be a Republican, a Conservative, a Democrat...? Hall and Fary created an efficient, artistic and thorough documentary that will give you a sober and comprehensive picture of our contemporary American political scene in 90 minutes. Never boring, organized around archives and a great variety of interviews, AMERICAN FEUD has to be shared with your family, friends and communities.

American Feud investigates the history of Liberalism and Conservativism in United States. By combining a mixture of man-on-the-street interviews, in-depth interviews with experts, and light-hearted graphics, the film makers have created a documentary that successfully speaks to everyone.

Carefully balanced and unbiased, this film moves rapidly thru history and into the modern day, providing us with an easily digestible history lesson. No fan of politics myself, I found myself quickly engaged with the film, eased into the concepts and characters, and enlightened on the topic in a way I would not have expected.

A timely film coming out at the perfect time of year, American Feud is a must see for the season.

Need to catch up on the history of partisanship in America? Tired of how liberalism and conservatism are overused labels that have lost their meaning? This movie is a concise but thorough review of how we came to the current idea of liberalism and conservatism and what they mean to today's society. This movie seeks to move beyond the idea that American is a nation where everyone can simply be labeled as "red state" or "blue state" and investigates if we really are as partisan as commonly portrayed in the media. There are interviews with liberal and conservative icons such as Noam Chomsky and G. Gordon Liddy.

I have shown the documentary "American Feud - A History of Conservatives and Liberals" at our monthly Film Club. We are a group of people who have been meeting regularly to view and discuss films and documentaries relevant to the issues our society faces.

"American Feud" occasioned the most lively and interesting discussion we ever had.

I highly recommend this informative and entertaining film to civic minded groups and for family and friends gatherings. Viewing it together will lead to an interesting conversation on the principles and values upon which the country has been established and the present state of national politics.

This film, while showing our differences, encourages us to go beyond our divisions and to find a common ground for the future.

This documentary is a fascinating exploration of the liberal and conservative movements in U.S. history through in-depth interviews, archival footage, and engaging graphics. The interviews with well-known intellectuals and commentators from both movements are fair and substantial; the filmmakers are equally comfortable engaging with G. Gordon Liddy and Howard Zinn. (In other words, you can like this film whether you love or hate the work of Michael Moore!) Historical footage is skillfully used, both to illustrate points and to entertain. And the filmmakers effectively debunk the mainstream media's false "red state/blue state" dichotomy with a more nuanced (and realistic) portrayal of how different states and counties actually voted in 20th and 21st century presidential elections.

As the general election campaign heats up - with pundits and bloggers and negative ads stoking the fires of the red state vs blue state mentality - AMERICAN FEUD is an oasis of reason. If you are ready for an unbiased look at the American political arena - and the apparent liberal / conservative divide - Don't miss AMERICAN FEUD! Along the way, the film reveals some surprising twists and turns in the history of American partisanship. I'm telling all my friends and family to see it before the upcoming party conventions...

This is not an easy review to write, because I have really mixed feelings about this documentary. On the positive side, I enjoyed watching it; and it addresses a subject that really needs to be addressed: the meaning and significance of the labels "liberal" and "conservative" in modern American politics. To the best of my knowledge, no other documentary film adequately explores this issue. This film provides some very useful information; and it tries to be fairly evenhanded in its treatment of this controversial topic. This film would probably be suitable for use in high school civics classes, or perhaps even in freshman-level college courses in American Government. However, it is far too superficial for use in upper-level college courses.

There are some significant negatives to this documentary. First, the treatment is too subjective: Basically, prominent "liberals" and "conservatives" are interviewed about their understanding of what these terms signify. There is no real attempt to come up with a genuinely objective definition of "liberalism" or "conservatism" (if such a thing is even possible). This documentary tells us how (some) liberals view conservatives and how (some) conservatives view liberals, and how (some) liberals and conservatives view themselves; but it doesn't tell us what "liberalism" and "conservatism" really mean. Nor does it explore the many varieties of liberalism and conservatism; or any political viewpoint other than liberalism and conservatism. And it doesn't even attempt to address the highly controversial question of WHY some people become "liberals" while others become "conservatives". The second significant negative is that, although the film tries to be evenhanded, there is a noticeable imbalance between left and right in the interviews. There are more "conservative" voices than "liberal" voices; and the conservative voices come mainly from the center right (with a few from the far right), while the liberal voices come mainly from the far left (with a few from the center left). The most prominent "liberal" voice in this documentary is Noam Chomsky, who is far to the left of mainstream American liberalism. (He is better characterized as an anarcho-socialist radical than as a "liberal".) The effect of this imbalance is to leave the false impression that conservatism (as a whole) is more centrist than liberalism (as a whole). The remaining shortcomings of this documentary are less significant -- forgivable annoyances rather than fatal flaws. For one thing, they make far too big a deal over the colors that have come to represent liberalism and conservatism since the 2000 election: "blue state" liberals vs. "red state" conservatives. Apparently, some conservatives are upset with this color scheme, on the grounds that red has traditionally represented socialism (which they equate with liberalism), while blue has traditionally been associated with Tory conservatism. This is a non-issue for liberals; but it really seems to bug some conservatives. This documentary panders to the whiners on this trivial point, and re-colors its electoral maps purple and yellow instead of red and blue. My final complaint is that this video tries to be too cutesy by featuring two little kids wearing donkey and elephant masks as representations of the Democratic and Republican parties. While the intended effect was to try to keep the tone of the documentary light, the actual effect is to make it seem cheesy and amateurish.

Although there are aspects of this documentary that I really like, its many shortcomings preclude me from giving it a wholehearted recommendation. I'd say it merits a grade of B-minus.

American Feud provides a highly informative and slyly entertaining tour of the great debate between conservatives and liberals in U.S. politics. A sequence showing how heartland and urban coastal areas have flipped red state/blue state status over the years is stunning and puts the current heartland vs. coastal urban standoff in a fascinating historical perspective. Students of politics, skeptics of the political process, people who identify as liberal, progressive, conservative, or independent will find this extremely thought provoking viewing.