About This Lesson
One way to liven up your social studies and civics class to incorporate relevant and thought provoking movies. When it comes to civics and government, one of the most relevant and thought provoking ones is All the President's Men.
All the President's Men follows two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, as they unravel the conspiracy around Watergate. It's a historically accurate portrayal of how these two dogged reporters cracked open the case of one of the darker moments in American politics.
So how do you teach civics through All the Presidents Men?
The most obvious theme to focus on is the relationship of the media and the government. It's a central idea to government and politics, and this movie highlights some important things. You can use it to discuss why we need a free press, and how we can maintain a free press. You can also use it to discuss whether or not reporters should be able to use anonymous sources.
The movie is a little dated. Although the fact that it was produced in the 1970's also makes it an excellent case study of technology and gender roles in the time. It's almost contemporaneous to the actual events of the movie, rather than being a period piece produced decades later.
The slow moving nature of the plot is also purposeful. This is one of the ways to guarantee that the film was historically accurate, unlike many other historical films that take liberties with history in order to write better screen plays.
For a fuller description of the discussion questions that you can use with this movie, click through to the activity below.
For other ideas, check out this list of other great movies about politics. There are plenty of options to pick from, if for some reason you don't like All the President's Men.
