ABSTRACT
Political cinema can be conceived of as a genre. Political films are characterized by a specific purpose, and this very purpose can play a relevant role in our aesthetic appraisal. A political issue is an issue that shapes social conflict and grouping along the friend/enemy distinction, and a political standpoint is a specific position within the debate shaping the social conflict. The first function is a ‘rhetorical’ function, and the second is an ‘explorational’ function. However, political films can afford epistemic gains that are aesthetically relevant, for cinematographic features can guide our imaginative engagement, and imagination is a reliable source of knowledge. Hence, the epistemic value of a political film is the crucial component for its assessment: it determines the work’s belonging to the category – indeed, to have a rhetorical or explorational function means to aim to have an impact on the audience’s system of beliefs – and it determines the overall value of the work.
