Films, TV, radio and books on PR – UPDATE 2

Posted by: Tom Watson on: January 4, 2011

• In: History of Public Relations | PR education | PR Research | Public Relations
• 17 Comments

[This second update update includes two new novels on PR from 1948 and 1958 referred to in Marvin N Olasky's Corporate Public Relations (1987, LEA) and a new paper on the history of film representations of PR from Australian academic Jane Johnston which was presented at the First International History of Public Relations Conference last year.]

In 2007, I asked PR educator colleagues in the UK for help in developing a list of films, television and radio programmes/series and books that either featured public relations as a core issue or referred to it in a passing way. They responded enthusiastically with suggestions that went back into the 1950s and forward to the present including films on current release and a soap opera set in a real PR consultancy in Manchester, UK. It was added to in 2008 with other references. Here’s the list we came up with – Can you add to it so that we have a world-wide resource on the visual and fictional presentation of PR?

FILMS:

Wag the Dog

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wag_the_Dog

Thank You for Smoking

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_for_Smoking

America’s Sweethearts

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265029/

The Sweet Smell of Success

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Smell_of_Success

 The Devil wears Prada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_(film)

The Control Room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Room_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391024/ 

Hancock (Alcoholic superhero cuckolds his PR man)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_(film)

The China Syndrome

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078966/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Syndrome

Sliding Doors – key character works in PR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_Doors

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/

Bridget Jones’s Diary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_Jones’s_Diary

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243155/

Days of Wine and Roses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Wine_and_Roses_(1962_film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055895/

Four’s a Crowd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four%27s_a_Crowd

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030151/

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049474/

Phone Booth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_Booth_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/

Primary Colors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_Colors_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119942/

Sex and the City (movie)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/

Waikiki Wedding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikiki_Wedding

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029742/

Jersey Girl

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300051/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Girl_(2004_film)

The Island

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)

 In the Loop

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Loop_(film)

 

DOCUMENTARIES AND POLEMICS:

Roger and Me

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098213/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_&_Me

Century of the Self

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

The War Room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Room

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/   

The Corporation

http://www.thecorporation.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation

The War You Don’t See (John Pilger)

http://www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see-trailer

Steel City

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/documentaries/stories/s200734.htm

 

TELEVISION:

Absolutely Fabulous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutely_Fabulous

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/abfab/

Absolute Power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Power_(comedy)

The Thick of It

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thick_of_It

Some Mothers do Have’Em

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Mothers_Do_’Ave_’Em – Series two, episode three – the public relations course.

Party Animals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/partyanimals/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Animals_(TV_series)

The West Wing

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200276/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing

Spitting Image

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086807/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_Image

Spinning Jenny – A new twist to PR film / TV with an interactive internet-based soap opera  set in Manchester’s Brazen PR and made by online entertainment service Manchester-live.tv

http://www.manchester-live.tv/spinningjenny.html

http://www.youtube.com/spinningjennytv

PoweR Girls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PoweR_Girls

http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/power_girls/series.jhtml

Sex and the City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159206/

Spin City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_City

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115369/

The Spin Crowd 

http://uk.eonline.com/on/shows/spin_crowd/index.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684855/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spin_Crowd

PR (CBC, Canada)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244356/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.R._(TV_series)

Kell on Earth – Kelle Cutrone’s series about her fashion PR agency, people’s republic

http://www.bravotv.com/kell-on-earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kell_on_Earth

 

BOOKS:

Christoper Buckley (1994) Thank you for Smoking. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0679431748;

Paper back Random House ISBN 0812976525

Alistair Campbell (2007) The Blair Years. Random House. Paperback August 2008, ISBN 0099514753

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Alastair_Campbell_diaries/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Years

Eric Dezenhall (2004) Jackie Disaster: A Mystery. St Martin’s Press. ISBN 0312307713

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=hHAMHQAACAAJ&dq=Eric+Dezenhall&source=an&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result

Anonymous [Joe Klein] (1996) Primary Colors. Grand Central Publishing, ISBN 0446604275

Graham Lancaster (1997) Grave Song. Coronet. Paperback ISBN: 0340667117.

David Michie – Conflict of Interest, Pure Deception, Expiry Date

http://www.davidmichie.com/index.php

http://www.twbooks.co.uk/authors/davidmichie.html

Daniel Price (2004) Slick. Villard. ISBN 1400062349

J.B. Priestley. (1996 reprint). The Image Men. Mandarin ISBN 0749322969

Mimi Thebo (2002) The saint who loved me. Allison & Busby. ISBN: 0749005041

Sloan Wilson (1955; 2002 reprint) The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Four Walls Eight Windows/ Capo Publishing. ISBN 1568582463

Charles Harrison (1948) Nobody’s Fool. Henry Holt. ASIN: B000I1UAO

Robert van Riper, (1958) A Really Sincere Guy. David McKay ASIN: B0007E5TB4

 

RADIO:

Absolute Power

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/absolute.shtml

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386149/

 

ARTICLES:

Johnston, J. (2010) A history of Public Relations on screen: Cinema and television depictions since the 1930s. Proceedings of the First International History of Public Relations Conference, Bournemouth University, July 8-9, 2010. pp. 188-209. Available at: http://media.bournemouth.ac.uk/downloads/IHPRC-2010-Proceedings.pdf

Miller, K. (1999) Public Relations in Film and Fiction. Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol 11, No.1, pp. 3 – 28

Tags: Education, Film, History of PR, History of Public Relations, historyofpr, PR History, Public Relations, Television