Movies in Social Science: An overview of the debate in Political Science

Political scientists are increasingly interested in popular culture. Movies notably reflect on social and political changes. However, movies are sometimes seen as mirrors of common ideologies and fears, such as alien attacks or zombie apocalypses. This paper gives an overview on the current importance of research of movies in Political Science; a trend that is often coined as part of the turn towards popular culture in Social Sciences. This paper discusses theoretical and empirical approaches to movies, how the usual perception of ‘quality TV’ has changed over the last years – the so called HBO-effect – and not least, why the new trend towards the interpretation of movies is of importance for political education.