Dead Tree Alert: Meet the Obamas!
Illustration by Francisco Caceres for TIME
My column in this week's magazine looks at the media blitz surrounding America's newest TV family:
After Obama won, there was talk of a "Huxtable effect"--the idea that pop-cultural portrayals of African Americans from The Cosby Show to 24's David Palmer readied white America for a black President. But maybe there's an opposite factor at work here too--the 50 Cent effect. The impact of the Obamas comes partly from the unspoken contrast to a decades-old media archive of images of black people as problems or threats, from news to cop shows to hip-hop. Broken families, perp walks, AKs and Cristal.
Suddenly the most photographed black man in America was giving speeches and calling world leaders. Suddenly the most discussed black women in America were two adorable kids and their lawyer mom. Suddenly you had a news story involving a black man and dogs, and it wasn't Michael Vick.
Whenever a young male politician emerges on the scene, people start breaking out the JFK comparisons. (I don't know how many times after Clinton's election in 1992 I saw that old photo of Young Bill and Kennedy shaking hands, and the New York Post christened the new administration "Bamalot.") But for a President-Elect whose challenge has been getting people comfortable with his "exotic" background, Rob Petrie may be a more useful analogy to strive for.
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1
"But maybe there's an opposite factor at work here too--the 50 Cent effect." --- I don't know JP, that seems like some seriously weak reasoning to me. If anything, this "50 Cent effect" is what Mccain his cronies were trying to push... the idea that "you don't really know the Obamas", that beneath the show they're the same exact "problems or threats, from news to cop shows to hip-hop. Broken families, perp walks, AKs and Cristal." I think those decades old media images only fed into those fears and made people doubt the sincerity of the Obamas image. Unless you've got additional support for this theory, I think I'm far more inclined to believe that David Palmer helped Obama get elected... and 50 Cent, at best, didn't hurt.
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@phaedrus: I probably could have unpacked this better in that passage, but here I'm referring to the intensity of the media reaction to the Obama family *after* the election—and especially, the visceral effect of their unveiling as the First Family. (Hence, the reference to the puppy, etc.) In other words, it's not that the contrast to this history of negative images helped him get elected, but it—along with America's whole racial history—is what's added intensity and significance to the soft-media focus on the new First Family. (I think--I hope--it makes more sense in the context of the column, which is about the post-election fascination with the Obamas... maybe I should have pull-quoted the beginning rather than the middle of the column.)
One thing I had put in the column, and cut out because it was running long, was an interesting Obama quote to the New York Times magazine in its long profile of him just before the election. He said that—whereas the usual assumption is that voters get to know you and then vote for you—he felt this was impossible in the campaign and media environment. Instead, people would vote for him, and *then* get to know him. Which I think is what's happening here. And it's in this getting-to-know-them stage that this contrast with this history of negative images is really pronounced.
ADD: The night of the election, and for a while after, I remember hearing on commentator after another remark on the tableau of the Obamas at Grant Park. It seemed funny, in a way, because they had to have known intellectually that if he won (and he was probably going to), they'd be the First Family. But knowing it and actually *seeing* it were two different things... and it was in that seeing-it where I think the contrast with the history of African Americans in the media and pop culture really hit home. -
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Ok, I see what youre saying. David Palmer might have helped get him elected, but 50 Cent helped get him accepted. Well, maybe... i still don't really buy it though. I think the positive reaction to Obama comes from the contrast with George W. Bush (hallelujah my President isn't an embarrasing dumbass) and the positive reaction to his family comes mostly from the fact that they have cute little kids (we're a nation obsessed with little kids).
I could be wrong obviously, but I think the effect of comparisons with the 50 Cents and negative media imagery you're talking about (and Obama was talking about) really came and went at the beginning of the primaries when everyone saw that "he speaks so well" (nod to Chris Rock).
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Sorry, the whole thing is BS.
This is about the media's effort to justify its selection of Obama -- puff pieces about his family are just par for the course here.
But "David Palmer" (Morgan Freeman is too old -- Dennis Haysbert is just right) and "The Huxtables" (Claire and TWO Rudy's!!) are the template that the media is using. Its got nothing to do with Fiddy Cents, and everything to do with maintaining the media's mythomania about Barack Obama.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 4 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 5 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 6 hours ago
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