film

Running head: FILM ANALYSIS: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MISS SLOANE 2

FILM ANALYSIS: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MISS SLOANE 2

Film Analysis: Public Relations and Miss Sloane

Film Analysis Introduction: Public Relations and Miss Sloane

This movie exemplifies Public Relations (PR) through the lens of her lobbying efforts; the actions of surrounding stakeholders; and a court battle that ensues as a result to attack her personally and halt her efforts. The movie is a behind the scenes look of lobbying in action and serves as a worthy example that can be broken down into palatable segments for analysis of items that comprise PR.

This paper analyzes the film and identifies elements of the movie and their connective threads

to the field of public relations. The goal of the paper is to provide a glimpse of PR by providing a few examples of how the film directly aligns to the strategies, concepts, and principles within the practice of public relations. Additionally, this paper will highlight the effectiveness of the latter mentioned elements and convey the lessons that can be garnered from the film. Effective PR begins with a good strategy, thus being the first area that should be reviewed.

Film Analysis

Strategy and Principle: RPIE and Barcelona Principles 1and 2

Different strategies exist within the PR sphere. Elizabeth was a PR assassin and knew exactly how to leverage different strategies. Just one of the many examples this movie contains and that Elizabet invoked was her use of the RPIE cycle combined with the principle of measuring communication outcomes (Kelleher, 2018, p. 202). Her meticulous use of the RPIE cycle was denoted via her continuous research; planning; implementation; and evaluation of any venture related to her target efforts or goals. A concrete example was her efforts towards her campaign colleague Esme Manchurian. She performed extensive background research to find out that Esme was the victim of a mass school shooting, which identified a situation (Kelleher, 2018, p. 113) and was the reason she chose the boutique firm. She slyly tested her through questioning and aimed to predetermine Esme’s position on going public, if doing so meant the difference between losing and winning. She planned how she would force Esme’s hand in ensuring her identity was revealed publicly and would use both Esme’s and the public’s reaction as the evaluation for success, thus completing the RPIE cycle. It is the follow-on reactions, however, that lead us to Barcelona Principle’s 1 and 2-Goal Setting and Measuring Outcomes.

From a principle standpoint the actions were intended to catapult the campaign in a sensational way that yielded empathy, outrage, and a call to action. The action created a situation in which Esme unwittingly found herself at the center of the expanded gun control legislation and suddenly became the face of the campaign, which was Elizabeth Sloane’s intent and goal from the onset. The success or measurement was evident through the cognitive and attitudinal reaction of the public and in the ability to swing votes in their favor (Kelleher, 2018, pp. 100-102).” Additionally, it was measured through both quantitative and qualitative data as was discussed while they were charting their next steps and targets, as well as the use of focus groups (Kelleher, 2018, p. 194) to make determinations. The latter exemplifies another area of Elizabeth’s PR brilliance. The important concept of “managing for tomorrow (Kelleher, 2018, pp. 10-11)” and comprehending the codes of ethics (Kelleher, 2018, pp. 20-21).

Principle and Concept: The Code of Ethics and Manage for Tomorrow

PR concepts can often revolve around situations that require reactive efforts; however, an important concept is the critical need to be proactive. Although Elizabeth appeared reactive at times, she was inherently proactive. A great example of this was evident in the secondary focus of the movie which was the ethics violation hearing against Miss Sloane. (Kelleher, 2018, pp. 20-21). She understood the intricacies of the codes of ethics and what was enforceable and ways to evade violations by skimming the line and did just that in her dealings with palm oil and the Indonesian government. In doing so, however, she smartly planned for tomorrow, as was evident towards the end of the movie in the retroactive detailing of Elizabeth’s elaborate creation of a fake riff with her right-hand assistant, Jane Malloy, played by Alison Pill. Upon Miss Sloane’s exit of the old firm, she sought to take team members with her to the new boutique firm, but Jane chose to stay and not follow Elizabeth. The key element was that this alleged riff was a planned ploy to surprise the opposition and gain insider leverage in Elizabeth’s trial to keep abreast of the planned attacks against Elizabeth and to secure/plant evidence for the allegations of unethical dealings with palm oil and the Indonesian government. The shining moment of it all was an additional bonus element in Elizabeth’s calculated plan to reveal Senator Sperling’s corruption, as played by John Lithgow, was finally unleashed during her ethics hearing. She had been “managing for tomorrow from the onset. The question is was it effective and what can we learn?

Effectiveness and Lessons Learned

The strategies and tools were used masterfully. They were extremely effective because the opposition did not foresee her endgame. She consistently maintained an offensive stance and used foresight in dealing with an array of events such as failed loyalty within her own campaign camp; personal attacks and perception within her court hearings; leveraging of her personal relationships to influence people to act in her favor and carryout actions. Practitioners need to be proactive; maintain foresight; and simultaneously maintain a level of ethics (Kelleher, 2018). They must perform due diligence in research and perform varied types of analysis to holistically gauge the entire scope of their required efforts She consistently performed research and qualitative or quantitative analysis. Her actions serve as a play by play handbook for practitioner lessons learned in the art of preparation. She was a walking icon of PR models in the areas of recruitment of people; agitation to get a rise from individuals or crowd, and advocacy founded in legitimacy (Kelleher, 2018, pp. 43-46) or at least the perception of it, thus conveying that practitioner’s must both understand and never underestimate the power of relationships and the influence they have and to manage them delicately. The real message is in Miss Sloane’s opening line of the movie that provides the ultimate practitioner mantra, which was to make sure you surprise them and that they do not surprise you (Madden, 2017, 1:32).

Conclusion

Sun Tzu says that “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win” (Good Reads, 2020). This is exactly what Elizabeth Sloane embodied. Her skillful strategy elements of RPIE and Barcelona principle’s 1 and 2; her employment of a “proactive mange for tomorrow” mindset; and her tactics of persuasion and influence through her personal relationships, culminated in a fierce battle that embodies the type of PR sensationalism that movies like this are made of. Further, they are the type of actions that everyday practitioners face. The movie is a tale of lessons learned that should ignite a spark for PR practitioners to prepare to win the war before they lay one foot on the PR battlefield!

References

Amazon.com, Inc. (2017). Miss Sloane. Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Sloane-Jessica-Chastain/dp/B06XGZG3JT.

Good Reads. (2020). Sun Tzu Quotes (Author of The Art of War). https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1771.Sun_Tzu.

IMDb.com. (2016, December 9). Miss Sloane. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4540710/.

1620 /30 September 2020—renewal. VCC1 2 forms of ID and CAC.

Kelleher, T. A. (2018). Public relations engagement conversation influence transparency trust. Oxford University Press.