Series, satires, biopics: US politics on the American screen

When "House of Cards" aired for the first time in 2013, many people thought things could never be that bad in reality. With Donald Trump at the helm, that has changed. The series ruthlessly portrays how election campaigns are fought and won. Today, viewers would say that sadly, it is realistic after all.

Almost 80 years ago, film directors and producers painted a very different picture of politicians: heroic, idealistic. The 1939 film "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" with James Stewart in the role of the newly appointed senator is a good example for the "hopeful" undetone of politcal dramas of that era.

Henry Fonda also made sure moviegoers felt good about their politicians. In the 1939 biopic "Young Mr. Lincoln," Fonda portrays the future president in his early years - kind and benevolent.

Director Barry Levinson's 1997 "Wag the Dog" was a veritable fireworks of political jokes and satirical side blows. The story unabashedly pokes fun at US politics: a film producer (Dustin Hoffman) and an election campaign manager (Robert de Niro) do whatever is necessary to keep a US president in power.

A year later, director and leading actor Warren Beatty took a brutally honest look at election campaigns and US politics in the political comedy "Bulworth." Idealism is sorely lacking in the portrayal of a Democratic Senator running for reelection.

US film producers and writers soon discovered politics as a topic for TV series. ABC ran "Commander in Chief" with Geena Davis starring as the first female US president - a sensational scenario - years before "House of Cards" hit the screens.

"The West Wing" tells the story of a US president's everyday life, a huge success from 1999 to 2006. The series won many awards, drew large audiences, and in seven seasons and 154 episodes gave people what experts called a realistic idea of how politics worked in the White House.

George Clooney's 2011 film "The Ides of March" was shot more in the tradition of political feature films in the 1970s. Clooney plays a democratic presidential candidate, supported by young Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling). "The Ides of March" paints an intelligent, complex picture of the mechanisms of US election campaigns.

This 2012 political satire comedy directed by Jay Roach had Americans flocking to movie theaters and reeling with laughter. With its crude humor, "The Campaign" was a completely irreverent look at politics and elections in the US.

In the 2015 drama film "Our brand is crisis" starring Sandra Bullock, US election campaign strategies make it all the way to Bolivia. The film is based on true events from the 2002 Bolivian presidential election.

The Netflix series "Designated Survivor" that premiered in 2016 took a new approach. After the president and everyone else in the line of succession die in an explosion, the administration's only remaining survivor suddenly finds himself President of the United States: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Kiefer Sutherland).

Just weeks before Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States, filmmaker Michael Moore released his documentary "Michael Moore in Trumpland." He let footage of the Trump election campaign speak for itself.