… when it’s for a good cause
A slew of African-American presidents portrayed in film and television has helped US voters get used to the idea of electing the country’s first black commander-in-chief, analysts say.
Whether it’s a seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr in the 1933 comedy “Rufus Jones for President” or Morgan Freeman in 1998’s “Deep Impact,” Hollywood has been installing blacks in the Oval Office before anyone had heard of Barack Obama.
But academics believe the increasingly frequent portrayal of black presidents in blockbuster films or hit television shows has helped to make the electorate more receptive towards Obama than they otherwise might have been.
John W. Matviko, author of “The American President in Popular Culture,” believes that Obama’s overwhelming popularity amongst young voters may be partially explained by the Hollywood factor.
“One of the functions of popular culture is that it introduces ideas that are a just a little bit on the edge of what we traditionally find acceptable, so that after a while, it becomes acceptable,” Matviko told AFP. “It’s a very subtle form of persuasion.
Of course, if one criticizes Hollywood for influencing the acceptibility of violence, drugs and all manner of sex (as long as it isn’t icky married sex), cries of censorship quickly follows.
Awards! when the message coincides with Hollywood’s ideological dogma, oblivion when it opposes the acceptable narrative.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 6/29 @ 11:14 am #
☻
Comment by cjd on 6/29 @ 11:23 am #
Also known as “ideological battlefield preparation.” Sorry, just got back from my MA in Military History graduation. Terminology is going to be sticking with me for months.
Comment by psycho... on 6/29 @ 11:27 am #
A slew of African-American presidents portrayed in film and television by Morgan Freeman has helped US voters get used to the idea of electing an insufferable white douche as the country’s first “black” commander-in-chief, analysts say.
Comment by happyfeet on 6/29 @ 11:27 am #
This is a good thing when Hollywood refrains from stoking grievances.
Comment by Karl on 6/29 @ 11:31 am #
Same with advertising.
Comment by memomachine on 6/29 @ 11:49 am #
Hmmmm.
Wake me up when they have an Asian as President.
Comment by Dusty on 6/29 @ 11:51 am #
Idiocracy was the tipping point for me. :)
Comment by bergerbilder on 6/29 @ 12:36 pm #
I walked into a courtroom for the first time, saw a white male judge, and I thought I was in church!
Comment by The Lost Dog on 6/29 @ 12:43 pm #
Good post, Darleen.
Now brace yourself for the calls of “racist” for stating the obvious.
Comment by happyfeet on 6/29 @ 1:40 pm #
That’s a very interesting point about the Asians. People talk a lot glibly of the message electing a black president would send to the world. But really this is just projection. Electing an Asian though would really a lot send a message I think. A big one, no matter what spin anyone put on it.
Comment by Radish on 6/29 @ 3:25 pm #
That whole “priming America for a woman president” bit with Geena Davis didn’t work so great…
Comment by CGHill on 6/29 @ 4:46 pm #
So let’s run Dennis Haysbert for President. It probably doesn’t pay as well as shilling for Allstate, but he always sounds like he knows what he’s talking about, which puts him head and shoulders above either Hussein or Sidney.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 6/29 @ 7:48 pm #
You really want to show the world? Let’s elect a half-Asian, half-Native American convert to Judaism to the presidency. For extra credit, make it a woman. And to really get the heads a poppin’, a conservative.
Comment by twolaneflash on 6/29 @ 9:24 pm #
The Obama cult following keeps reminding me of “Fight Club”:
“Advertisements have them chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great war, or great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised by television to believe that one day we’ll all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars — but we won’t. And we’re learning slowly that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”
Comment by cynn on 6/29 @ 9:32 pm #
You guys are becoming dull. Is there anyone you DO want on your lawns?
Comment by McGehee on 6/29 @ 9:48 pm #
Tricia Helfer.
Comment by donald on 6/30 @ 4:45 am #
Ruth Reynolds and Keely Hazell…together!
Comment by nikkolai on 6/30 @ 6:02 am #
Jacqueline Bisset circa “The Deep.”
Comment by richard mcenroe on 6/30 @ 8:57 am #
If Hollywood is conditioning us to accept a black President, Morgan Freeman’s sociopathic, murdering Magical Negro in “Wanted” should be an interesting contribution…
Comment by richard mcenroe on 6/30 @ 9:00 am #
And while they’re conditioning people, howcum there isn’t one single person of color among the human characters in Disney’s WALL-E?