Frontline

 The Choice 2012:

The Choice 2012 is PBS’ Frontline’s two-hour documentary detailing the lives of both presidential candidates.

The timeline Frontline chooses to use is particularly interesting. It starts showing each candidate’s first public defeat. Then it goes back and gives each man’s background, going back and forth between each candidate and each life stage. Because I saw their vulnerability and one of the lowest points in each of the men’s political lives first, I was able to relate to them on a deeper level while learning about the rest of their lives.

It seemed the documentary tried to remain unbiased, but the longer I watched it the more it seemed to be painting Obama as a self-made man from a troubled background and Romney a natural heir to the political scene from a “perfect family.” It took me straight from learning about Obama having to leave his mom and live with his grandparents to a shot of Romney’s picturesque childhood home. The facts are all true, but the was they were juxtaposed was intended to give the viewer a certain idea or image in their heads. It also contrasts Romney climbing the corporate ladder as Obama works his way up as a much more noble community organizer.