John Adams: A serious rendering of the American Revolution
By Charles Bogle
8 January 2009
DVD release of the 2008 HBO Miniseries
Directed by Tom Hooper, screenplay by Kirk Ellis
Although the first movie about the American Revolution, D.W.
Griffith's 1776, or The Hessian Renegade, was released one hundred
years ago (1909), since that time relatively few movies on the same
subject have been produced, and fewer still have been memorable.
Hollywood has had a notoriously difficult time applying itself to or
making sense of critical episodes of US history for a combination of
reasons—ideological, cultural and purely opportunistic.
Television has been responsible for the better representations of the
Revolution—for example, 2000's The Crossing (2000), which focused on
George Washington and his decisive victory over the Hessian
mercenaries at the Battle of Trenton (1776). Even the 2002 animated
series Liberty's Kids deserves credit for presenting the ideas that
informed the revolution to children and young adults.
John Adams, first aired on HBO in early 2008 and now released on DVD,
is the latest and in some ways most satisfying rendering of the
American Revolution on film. The television series is based on David
McCullough's 2002 biography of the same name and covers the last 56
years (1770-1826) of John Adams' 90-year life. In so doing, the series
also treats the whole of the Revolution.
This is not to say that the series' depiction of its subject and
period is flawless; some important events and characters are
underdeveloped or misrepresented. Dramatically, the series reaches its
apogee by the end of the second of seven episodes, although, given the
fact that its subject's finest moments were realized during the period
depicted in that episode (which covers the first and second
Continental Congresses and the writing of the Declaration of
Independence), this relative lessening of dramatic intensity is
perhaps understandable. Nonetheless, John Adams, through dramatizing
its subject's domestic life (especially his relationship with Abigail,
his brilliant wife) and public life, manages to capture the growth of
revolutionary consciousness and the internal conflict over what kind
of nation America would become.
Paul Giamatti, Sean McKenzie and Tom Wilkinson in John AdamsOverall,
Paul Giamatti's characterization of John Adams is faithful to what we
know of the real man. Intelligent, honest and capable of overwhelming
his political opponents with powerful, searing oratory, Adams is also
stern with his five children (three sons and two daughters) and
possesses a degree of vanity that would make him appear weak and
childish were it not for the fact that the series often softens Adams'
insecurities by running them up against his wife's ability to teach a
lesson without scolding. ("Yes, John, you too are exceptional," she
assures her husband when he responds to Abigail's claim that their
friend Thomas Jefferson is an exceptional man with, "Am I not
exceptional too?").
Adams' contradictions do not stop there. Raised by a farmer and
himself a farmer as well as a respected lawyer, he hires help because
he considers slavery an abomination. Yet Adams is a firm proponent of
law and order who holds an almost Puritanical belief in
predestination: "People are in need of strong governance," he tells
Abigail, "Most men are weak and vicious." It is perhaps for this
reason that he also, at least initially in the series, is a strong
supporter of the British Crown.
That is about as far as the series goes in terms of accounting for
Adams' contradictory character, and, beyond that, the bourgeois-
democratic revolutionary as a social and psychological type. One
wishes for more, but then one recalls that the man himself was not
given much to self-reflection. Even late in the series, when he finds
his son Charles living alone in a slum and ravaged by the alcoholism
that would result in his early death, Adams refuses to consider the
role his frequent absences and parental rigidity might have played in
his son's unhappy fate.
John Adams' fidelity to the law is evident in the opening episode,
"Join or Die, 1770." After British troops stationed in Boston are
arrested for killing five colonists (including several children) who
provoked them, one of the soldiers asks Adams to represent them in
court. Adams agrees and decides to base his defense on a central
question: was the crowd a lawful assembly or a mob? During
questioning, Adams proves that the British Captain did not order his
men to fire; instead, a member of the crowd had shouted the order,
thus proving that that crowd had acted as a mob. Given that the trial
audience was comprised of working people (including Samuel Adams,
John's cousin and a radical member of The Sons of Liberty) who stood
firmly against the British, Adams' defense of the troops not only
reveals his respect for the law but a good deal of courage as well.
The series attributes the emergence of Adams' revolutionary
consciousness in part to the influence of his wife's strong,
independent character and in part to British colonial policies.
Compared to her husband, Abigail Adams (Laura Linney) displays a more
acute consciousness of the colonists' real conditions, due largely to
her harsh domestic duties and an Enlightenment education. The duties
run from teaching the Adams children Latin to the backbreaking chore
of scrubbing their wooden floors when the small pox epidemic envelops
the colonies during the Revolution (all of the children would contract
the pox, but due to Abigail's constant attention, all would survive).
Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney in John AdamsBut Abigail was anything
but a "dutiful wife." She exhibits both a keen awareness of her
husband's vanity and the colonists' feelings toward British rule when
she voices displeasure at her husband's self-serving rationale for
accepting the pro-crown office of advocate general in Massachusetts.
Later, when John returns home during a break from the Continental
Congress, Abigail famously expands upon the principles of the
Enlightenment when she admonishes him not to forget women and slaves
during deliberations over independence (the dialogue for this scene,
like a number of others in the series, is drawn from the
correspondence between John and Abigail Adams).
When British proclamations and policies begin undermining the rule of
law, Adams' own Enlightenment education forces him to reconsider his
allegiances. After the crown mandates that colonists are to deal only
with the British East India Co., Adams witnesses a group of colonists
tar and feather a representative of the Company. The British thereupon
order the colonists to provide quarters for their troops to enforce
the King's proclamation. As a result, Adams begins questioning his
original support of monarchy on the grounds that Britain is behaving
above the law. Shortly afterward, Adams accepts the nomination
tendered by his radical cousin Samuel to be Boston's representative at
the first Continental Congress, called to decide how best to respond
to the King's proclamations that had stripped the colonists of many of
their rights.
The episode devoted to the Continental Congress, "Independence," set
in 1775, is the most emotionally and intellectually stirring of the
seven episodes. One is immediately struck by the contrast between the
erudition and passion voiced during the debates and the ignorant
drivel one generally hears from today's Congress. As for Adams,
increasingly aggressive imperialistic British policy continues to rub
up against his (as well as his contemporaries') principles, with a
resulting elevation in his own thinking. After witnessing a colonial
militia beat back British troops at Concord, and the deplorable
conditions endured by Washington (played as a soft-spoken, duty-bound
man by David Morse) and his troops in Boston, Adams delivers a
blistering speech to Congress on the need to support the army and
formally declare independence.
Adams's rising consciousness is shared by many of his contemporaries
at the Congress, among whom we find Benjamin Franklin, played by Tom
Wilkinson as the wise libertine that history has handed down to us,
who in one dimly lit scene instructs the impatient Adams on the finer
points of winning delegates to his side.
We are also introduced to Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane), who
would become Adams' close friend and sometime political-ideological
opponent. Known historically as a shy, private man, Jefferson is
depicted as a shadowy figure throughout much of the Congress until
Adams, during a break in the proceedings, feels him out concerning
British policies and the need for independence. Jefferson, having just
watched British troops dragooning colonists from the streets, responds
plainly with, "I would lend my hand to sink the whole island [the
British Isles] in the ocean." (This line actually appeared in a letter
Jefferson wrote to his Tory kinsman, John Randolph, but placing it in
this context does no harm to the author's intent.)
Soon after, Adams humbles himself to persuade Jefferson to write the
draft of the Declaration of Independence. The scene in which Franklin,
Adams and Jefferson sit alone in a room, with Franklin sitting in a
revolving chair invented by Jefferson and the author of the draft
sitting in a corner of the room at a school desk, is nothing less than
breathtaking. Responding to Jefferson's original wording, "These
truths are sacred," Franklin declares, "That smacks of the pulpit, Mr.
Jefferson," and the latter agrees to change the formulation to the now
familiar "These truths are self-evident." Adams sees immediately what
Jefferson intends to promote in the declaration: "This is not just a
declaration of our independence," Adams almost shouts, "but the rights
of all men."
The conflict over what kind of nation America would become is
portrayed in episodes III, IV, V and VI, which span the years
1776-1801. During this time, Adams' public life moves from two
appointments—minister plenipotentiary to France (along with Benjamin
Franklin) and ambassador to Great Britain—to being elected America's
first vice president and finally its second president. Adams' frequent
extended duties away from home place a severe strain on his family and
especially Abigail, whose arduous family duties, including caring for
children afflicted with small pox, are often juxtaposed to her
husband's attendance at court and palace dinners. The series also
establishes a connection between Adams' absence and his son Charles'
ultimately fatal addiction to alcohol.
Revolutions require funding, but Adams's inability to follow
Franklin's advice that if he is to accomplish much at the French court
"he must appear to accomplish little" undermines any chance of
receiving funding in Paris. One scene uses a number of close-ups to
emphasize the rot of the French aristocracy—both sexes have heavily
painted faces and equally false smiles—and Adams' discomfort in their
presence.
As a result, Adams is dismissed from his post (upon Franklin's
recommendation) and is next sent to Holland, where he fares no better.
At the end of his stay, he falls severely ill from fever, which is
filmed in a highly expressionistic style to emphasize his distorted
state of consciousness.
Following Britain's surrender, Holland finally agrees to loan $2
million to America, and a fully recovered Adams is named Ambassador to
Britain, where his plain-spoken, direct approach to politics, as well
as his disapproval of French society, gains King George's approval.
Adams, Franklin and Jefferson reunite at the Treaty of Paris, where a
striking conversation takes place. Debating the purpose of the US
Constitution, Adams' insistence on law and order as a means of
controlling the "mob" is sharply contrasted to Jefferson's faith in
man and reminder to Adams that the revolution was not meant to stop at
the American borders. Herein is miniaturized the future conflict
between Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans over the purpose of
governance. Jefferson's response, reflecting his Enlightenment
education, also looks forward to his involvement in the French
Revolution of 1789 (he would co-author the French Rights of Man and
Constitution), as well as prefiguring, in its own way, the
international perspective of socialism.
The conflict between Adams and Jefferson increases during the former's
eight-year tenure as vice president under George Washington
(1789-1797). His ambition and vanity unfulfilled by the largely
perfunctory role of vice president, Adams argues to Congress that the
title "president" is not "magisterial" enough (which draws a rebuke
from both Congress and Abigail) and inveighs against the violent, mob
behavior of the French Revolution. Jefferson, as secretary of state,
believes that Washington is behaving as a monarch in all but name and
continues to advance his belief that the revolution must be global in
scope.
The debate over America's role in the world intensifies during Adams'
term as president (1797-1801). Once again, his ambitions are thwarted
by opposing factions. "Hamilton's men," as now Vice President
Jefferson calls the cabinet led by Federalist Alexander Hamilton and
inherited by Adams from Washington, envision America becoming an
empire. With this purpose in mind, Hamilton promotes war with France
and a national standing army, while Jefferson sees empire-building as
undermining all that the revolution stood for. At this, point, Adams
exclaims to Abigail, "I am left without counsel."
When Adams signs the Alien and Sedition Act, which includes
suppression of and punishment for pro-French writings in America
(Adams explains his rationale for this inclusion with, "A mob is still
a mob, even if it's on your side"), Jefferson strongly rebukes him:
"Why damage your fragile reputation by denying the very rights for
which we fought?"
One wishes for a more realistic, less simplistic characterization of
Alexander Hamilton (Rufus Sewell). It is true that Hamilton did see
America's growth as being inextricably tied to empire and the creation
of credit, but he saw both actions as being in line with patriotism,
and he was known for refusing favors. In the series, he seems little
more than a spoiled child (albeit a highly intelligent child).
Also underdeveloped is the reason for the famous split between Adams
and Jefferson. In the last episode of the series, "Peacefield,"
Abigail reads a newspaper article penned by Jefferson in which the
author attacks Adams' recently published memoirs as "political
heresies." His vanity stung to the quick, Adams refuses to respond to
Jefferson in any manner.
Not mentioned (but included in McCullough's book) is that Jefferson
had recently received an early copy of Thomas Paine's pamphlet The
Rights of Man (a scorching response to Edmund Burke's pro-monarchical
book, Reflections on the Revolution in France) and sent it along to a
Philadelphia printer with a note promoting the book as an answer to
the political heresies contained in Adams' memoirs.
As McCullough argues in his work, the division between the two would
have a profound effect on national politics, for the public came to
see Jefferson and Adams as the embodiment of the emerging split in
American politics. Given the implications of the Jefferson-Adams
division, one wonders why the filmmakers chose to delete its impetus.
With Adams now retired from public life, the rest of the final episode
is fittingly devoted to his personal affairs. Having already endured
his son Charles' death, Adams is now forced to witness the death of
his eldest daughter, Abigail, from cancer (the episode includes a
graphic representation of a mastectomy) and his beloved wife.
Bereft of his companion, Adams resumes his correspondence with
Jefferson; and while one is privileged to hear a few of the letters
that constitute a truly magnificent correspondence, these selections
are of a personal nature, leaving one wishing for passages from those
letters in which Adams and Jefferson continued to share their thoughts
on the purpose of the revolution and the future of America.
As if scripted in a drama, the two friends and Founders die within
hours of each other on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence.
John Adams is essential viewing. Incomplete and flawed though it might
be, the series contains images and, more importantly, words that need
to be seen and heard at a time when a massive economic crisis is
creating the conditions for social revolution in America and
worldwide. Everyone needs to be reminded that, as the wordsmith for
the revolution, Thomas Paine, wrote in Common Sense on Independence,
"The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth."
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
