Netflix’s newest comedy-drama featuring Ben Platt is an interesting blend of politics and comedy. Ryan Murphy’s ‘The Politician’ is a television series that involves more dark comedy than the regular sitcom.
The story is that of a high school election but not the usual one we are familiar with. This involves a self-centered and egoistic student who belongs from a wealthy background. The character that bears the name, ‘Payton Hobart’ portrayed by Ben Platt is shown to be highly ambitious who aspired to become the President of the United States one day. In his journey to achieve his aspiration, firstly, he must prove himself as eligible to get elected as the head of the student’s cell of a politically-active high school, Saint Sebastian High School. The entire process of the high school elections involves betrayal, cheating, scandals, and cruel and merciless rivals.
Rahne Jones, David Corenswet, Lucy Boynton, Ben Platt (Exec. Producer), Theo Germaine, Julia Schlaepfer
An Intimate early Screening of Limited Series, “The Politician” hosted by Netflix, New York, USA – 16 Jul 2019
Ben Platt, the recipient of the Tony Award, seems pretty nervous for playing the role of Payton Hobart. This kind of adamant, ambitious, ruthless, and cold-natured character is something off-field for the young actor. He stated, “It’s the little stomach flip where it’s something you’ve never done before, and you feel like you’re going to be stretched.” He further added, “But the voice of Payton was incredibly clear; somebody aggressive and assertive who walks into a room and wants to be seen and take up space. Someone with so much confidence, who’s somewhat self-serving and borderline sociopathic.”
Platt also reveals his views about the title of the series. According to him, “the title is misleading in the sense that it is of course, on a surface level, about political discourse and high school as a microcosm for American politics.” The series, as explained by him, revolves more around the manners and ways that influences rather forces an individual to choose the path of politics. It is based on the mannerism by which an individual changes himself in order to highlight his “own star.”
Among all these serious issues, the drama assures a comical plot as well in order to deliver the lessons in a more “funny, biting, satirical, entertaining and relatable for young people.”