“Do Not Forget your Dying King”: Oliver Stone’s JFK and Popular Memory
John F. Kennedy Tribute Memorial, Fort-Worth, Texas “Do not forget your dying king,” District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) pleads to the jury at the end Oliver Stone’s JFK, reinforcing the Camelot aura long associated with President John F. Kennedy. Stone’s interpretation of Garrison’s efforts to convict a businessman with conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy remains as divisive now as when the film was released in 1991. Although the fierce debates over the historical accuracy of the film provide a fascinating glimpse into the power of movies to inform audiences of their history, JFK has rarely been interpreted as a memorial to President Kennedy. While Michael Hogan argued that books and thousands of statues, murals and roads deified Kennedy across the world[i], Oliver Stone’s JFK stands as perhaps the greatest reflection of how the post-Second World War generation of Americans remembered Kennedy, and offers a unique insight into how historical […]