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Compiled by "Smart Mouth" columnist Amelia Robinson, Seen and Overheard is fueled by juicy tidbits, oddball tales and strange sightings.
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Government workers glamorous in movies, UD research says
Talking about being hot for teacher, and police officer, and astronaut, and librarians …
While the stereotype is that government and civil servants are lazy, incompetent and dangerous, the camera sure does love them.
Research by University of Dayton professor Michelle Pautz and Laura Roselle from Elon University shows that government workers are most often described as good-looking, knowledgeable, well-trained and efficient in films.
“Are they ready for their close-up? Civil servants and their portrayal in contemporary American cinema” is published in the current issue of Public Voices.
The political scientists and their students examined the top ten grossing films of the year from 1992 to 2006, including Harry Potter, Star Wars, Austin Powers and Finding Nemo.
“The overall views of government were negative, but the individual actors were all good — there’s a disconnect there, and I think that’s fascinating,” Pautz said in a press release. “It would seem to parallel the experience of most Americans, who on the surface think government is bad but actually find their day-to-day interactions with government to be positive.”
It of course all depended on what sort of government worker the actor played and if he or she was a bureaucrat.
Sixty eight percent of CIA officials appeared in films that depict government negatively while 67 percent of teachers and 100 percent of astronauts were in films with a positively depicting government, the press release said.
What do you think? Are government workers generally hot tamales?
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