Machiavelli goes to the movies : understanding the prince through television and film / by Eric T. Kasper and Troy A. Kozma.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince remains an influential book more than five centuries after he wrote his timeless classic. However, the political philosophy expressed by Machiavelli in his tome is often misunderstood. Although he thought humans to be rational, self-interested creatures, and even though he proposed an approach to politics in which the ends justify the means, Machiavelli was not, as some have argued, simply "a teacher of evil." The Prince's many ancient and medieval examples, while relevant to sixteenth century readers, are lost on most of today's students of Machiavelli. Examples from modern films and television programs, which are more familiar and understandable to contemporary readers, provide a better way to accurately teach Machiavelli's lessons. Indeed, modern media, such as Breaking Bad, The Godfather, The Walking Dead, Charlie Wilson's War, House of Cards, Argo, and The Departed, are replete with illustrations that teach Machiavelli's critical principles, including the need to caress or annihilate, learning "how not to be good," why it is better to be feared than loved, and how to act as both the lion and the fox. Modern media are used in this book to exemplify the tactics Machiavelli advocated and to comprehensively demonstrate that Machiavelli intended for government actors and those exercising power in other contexts to fight for a greater good and strive to achieve glory.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This book argues that the purported Machiavellian dictum "the end justifies the means" is misrepresented by his reputation as a teacher of evil. According to the authors, even though Machiavelli does counsel the use of force and fraud without regard to ethical considerations, he does so in the service of the common good. It is true that political leaders sometimes need to act against the common good, but this extenuating advice is only meant for political leaders rather than ordinary citizens. Despite popular misconceptions about Machiavelli's advice, the authors find abundant evidence to support their own interpretation of Machiavelli in popular television programs and films (almost 40 of them). The attempt to illustrate how Machiavelli's thought pervades everyday lives raises interesting questions about distinguishing between ordinary human cruelty evident in antiquity and the "common good cruelty" suggested by the authors. By considering why Machiavelli is so unique, readers are given the opportunity to begin to understand why a book like The Prince has withstood the test of time and even inspired a few private citizens to act like political leaders in order to achieve political power. Useful for faculty who have difficulty making Machiavelli's scintillating and intrepid prose more interesting to students. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and undergraduates. --Rafael M. Major, University of North Texas