Dottie Witter Communication Services Oklahoma State University (405) 744-6260 July 29, 2003
OSU Regents Professor Peter C. Rollins shows his two books on the U.S. presidency that were published this spring.
The award-winning television series "The West Wing" teaches a lot of lessons about people in American politics, according to Dr. Peter C. Rollins, Oklahoma State University Regents Professor.
"An enormous amount of attention has been directed toward the office of the presidency, and, with a national election coming up, there's tremendous discussion of leadership styles, what kind of personality best suits the president today, what kind of staff people are best for our president at this time," Rollins said.
In fact, the presidency is the subject of two new books published this spring, both co-edited by Rollins and John E. O'Connor: "The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama," published by Syracuse University Press, and "Hollywood's White House: The American Presidency in Film and History," published by the University Press of Kentucky.
The topics of the books had their beginnings when the scholarly journal, Film & History, which Rollins edits, held a conference in California on "The American Presidency in Film, TV, and History." The books are a creative offspring of his meetings with scholars and brainstorming sessions at seminars.
"I am proud to be associated with two books of lasting value that represent the work of many people," Rollins said. "The essays in the books are comprehensible to the university student as well as to the general public."
"The West Wing" was picked up by Barnes and Noble, and is being showcased nationwide. It takes a critical look at the television show from a wide range of perspectives, and the essays' authors also represent a variety of backgrounds ranging from university professors to columnists for "Weekly Standard," "Washington Post," and the New York Post."
The book explains why the show gives people hope. "If I can say nothing else about 'The West Wing,' the television program, it would be this: Typically television and news attempt to expose or undermine those who are in power and give the impression that everybody who lives inside the Beltway is out for some ego trip or financial reward. 'The West Wing' counters that picture with the notion that people in government are trying to serve their country and that governance is a noble enterprise; for that reason, if for no other reason, this show has a salutary influence," Rollins said.
In fact, according to Rollins, people who want to lead must sacrifice an enormous amount of time. "This is what we see every week on 'The West Wing.' People who are working for the betterment of their nation," he said. The essays in "Hollywood's White House" probe the limitations, strengths, and weaknesses of films and television programs portraying U.S. presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush. Ironically, Hollywood also has played a large part in educating presidents on their appearances and performances.
"It's all about character," Rollins said. "Americans tend to want a national leader in the White House who reflects their goals, and has the character type they respect. Every movie about the White House is about the character of the person who holds the position of president. That is the central issue."
How the American public perceives its government domestically and its foreign policy has been a concern of Rollins since he was in graduate school. The former Marine officer returned from Vietnam to find a country confused about the values and mission of America, a cultural struggle that he sees continuing today. He was shocked at seeing how warped and distorted the news reports were of the Vietnam War, including how distorted the public's perception of the issues had become.
According to Rollins, print media, films and television routinely misinterpret society. "American studies scholars can make films that are more authentic, more challenging, perhaps even more entertaining than the tripe that we see on television and the pabulum that we see on the History Channel," he said. "We all live in a media environment and we know what we know about the world we live in because of what we see on television and what we see in the theaters; we are the creatures of others if we don't understand how to read these visual texts."
He was determined to turn this confusion into a creative impetus, especially when he saw how massively misreported was the Tet Offensive of 1968. "I've been interested in comparing news reports, of politics and of policy, as compared to 'realities' of the events, and have worked that in, not only an exploration of contemporary life, but to key historical films, both documentary and fiction," he said.
While a graduate student, he attended his first professional meeting of the American Studies Association where the focus was Popular Culture, where he presented his first paper on the television series "Victory at Sea."
The series, a history of World War II, was an expression of the 1950s mindset concerning American foreign policy. Rollins' study launched his scholarly investigations, and the Popular Culture Association provided a forum for his work on accuracy in the media.
One of his Vietnam-related articles led to two movies. "Those films are my major statements in this area. One of the goals was to correct the errors and distortions of the 13-part PBS series on Vietnam," Rollins said.
For "Television's Vietnam: The Impact of Visual Images," produced in 1983, his goal was to compare and contrast news reports from Vietnam with the memories of soldiers, marines and diplomats.
"It was an opportunity to critique the misleading reports from those years while paying homage to the Marines who served our country and our flag," Rollins said. The seven historical films he has made since 1976, including his multi-award winner "Will Rogers' 1920s: A Cowboy's Guide to the Times," allowed him to base the stories on accurate history while exploiting the creative potential of film language to teach lessons about a national hero and commentator with Oklahoma roots.
Rollins' teaching philosophy explains why he is such a prolific writer and editor: he believes that every professor should be a researcher and a writer. "A college or university level teacher must be a researcher, or he's a poor substitute for a book or a videotape. He needs to have a grasp not only of the results of research, but of the steps that lead to understanding, and the only way you can get that is through being a researcher yourself."
His list of publications, as well as journals he has edited, is prolific, and he has a whimsical explanation for such productivity.
"Every graduate from Harvard's American Studies Program is monitored from a satellite in geosynchronous orbit by Perry Miller, who was a great Harvard scholar, and he is watching us at all times, telling us to do more, to do better," Rollins explained. "The special gift of a Harvard education brings along with it the obligation to excel. Some graduates succeed and some do not; all of us try to live up to the standards exemplified by our mentors."
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