Mr Smith Goes To Washington Analysis

The Lincoln Monument, the Capital, Mount Vernon. These are places that are featured in the patriotic movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. This movie was released in 1939 and was directed by Frank Capra. Jimmy Stewart starred as the title character, Jefferson Smith and Jean Arthur played Smith’s sarcastic, but kind-hearted secretary, Clarissa Sanders. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” uses filmic devices and a thoughtful script to showcase the concept of civic religion by illustrating the gods, scripture, and places of worship of American civic religion. The gods of American civic religion are Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and the “Founding Fathers”. Frank Capra illustrates the god-like quality of these men through a relational montage when Mr. Smith …show more content…
These sacred scriptures are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Sidney Buchman includes these documents when Mr. Smith defends himself in his climatic filibuster. The Christian Bible is also depicted as a scripture of civic religion in this film. Mr. Smith also quotes the Bible to further strengthen his position in the climax of the movie he quotes Jesus’ famous words “Love thy neighbor” to his corrupt colleague, Joseph Paine . This shows that the Christian Bible supplements other sacred documents like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” also depicts the temples that American civil religion is observed. The Senate is a key place that this religion is practiced. This is depicted in the film when Mr. Smith sees the Capitol dome for the first time and is amazed. Mr. Smith also goes to Mt. Vernon before taking his senatorial oath. Serving in the Senate is a religious experience for Mr. Smith and his attitude is the ideal for any Senator, Representative, or even mayor. The script and the acting show that Mr. Smith even treats his journey to Washington D.C. like a pilgrimage to a holy