JFK Image

As one of the most popular presidents of the 20th century, John F. Kennedy has been the subject of countless books, documentaries, and portrayals on both television and in feature films. Whether depicting his exploits during World War II (PT-109), capturing crucial moments during his presidency (Thirteen Days), or providing a fictionalized account of his assassination (Executive Action), Kennedy continues to be a subject that filmmakers return to again and again. In The JFK Image: Profiles in Docudrama, Raluca Lucia Cimpean examines John F. Kennedy's representations in motion pictures, focusing on the ways in which the late president's image has been constructed to keep the myths of the Kennedy era and Camelot alive. The volume explores those myths through docudramas, which combine the aesthetic and narrative codes of documentaries with those of fiction to portray the characters and events of the Kennedy era as classic battles between good and evil. Beginning with an exploration of the docudrama and its uses, the volume analyzes the Kennedy image-with its focus on the New Frontier, Camelot, and revisionist approaches-and then provides in-depth examinations of the ways in which films such as JFK, In the Line of Fire, and The Rat Pack engage with each of those. Drawing on archival research and Kennedy letters only recently released to the public, The JFK Image will be of great interest to scholars of film and popular culture, as well as those working in political science, the culture of the 1960s, and of course, Kennedy studies.