‘I’m just doing my job’: The First Lady and the Work of Political Mythmaking in Pablo Larraín’s Jackie (2016)

Abstract

Jackie (2016), Pablo Larraín’s biopic of Jacqueline Kennedy, is the first full-length feature film devoting serious attention to an American First Lady and the work she carries out. I argue that Larraín’s interpretation should be read as an endeavour to render visible a First Lady’s largely invisible work of image-making. Larraín’s subversion of biopic conventions combined with the use of estrangement devices enables him to posit a nuanced and complex interpretation of Jacqueline Kennedy and to lift the cinematic veil of invisibility obscuring her work. I close by considering the uniqueness and significance of Jackie, suggesting it has the potential to serve as an alternative, postmodern, and perhaps feminist, option for portraying women’s lives and labour.