On Icons
Monday, November 10, 2008 at 9:39am
I've discovered a great deal about iconography, lately.
Icons are of course, what define the cult of personality.
My buddy Noel has a masterful knowledge of iconic imagry and its manipulation to serve an agenda. The rugged individualist message of 1980's action films signifying neoconservative wet dreams; the freeze-frame of Sylvester Stallone with his assault rife, sweat dripping from his muscles, symbolic of American supremacy. Or for the cross-combination of imagry: 1980s consumer product advertising employed for Communist propaganda. (Read: late Soviet-era Estonian icecream commercials!)
Also exemplary of iconic imagry are various cultural themes taken to grand new heights in the films of the immortal young Phill Skokos, who has rocked the French Woods Video Department.
Our newly elected President-elect Obama has certainly captivated the world, exploiting iconic imagry for the furtherance of his personality cult. The ominous photographs. The motivational speeches. The mantle of change.
He's created and sustained a movement, the strength of which in mass appeal has not been seen since Bobby Kennedy in 1968, and successfully ridden it to the White House. I've made many aquaintences in the hostels I've been staying at in Sydney, Melbourne, and Emerald, Vic. All have been backpacking here from different countries. All have remarked of their belief that America is being seen differently now, by the rest of the world. Even if Obama cannot effect true radical change, the very act of his ascendancy to the White House signals a change of the current.
Upon long moments of reflection have I too realized the extent to which I have used icons and iconic imagry to define the developments in my daily life and the changes in my identity over the past year. I've created icons over many abstract
The U.S. Postal Service; Postman Pat, metamorphasized into French Woods' Joe the Mailman: the archtype of the wandering persecuted fugitive as popularized by Jean Valjean in Les Miserables (the inspiration for my parapatetic backpacking journey across Australia); All popular things Australian.
I've always had a love of photography. I especially enjoy taking shots that inadvertantly take an iconic form.
This year has been a productive one for me in terms of the ways I've staged photographs:
Me, in my newly-designed "Priority Male" sleeveless shirt, raising a clenched fist; A close-up shot of my Postman Joe tshirt from Silkscreen; standing in front of Buddy Holly Drive in Los Angeles; My lovely girlfriend Sarah and I, smiles wide on our faces.
Most recently, me drinking from a bottle of the one-and-only Victorian Bitter. One of many products uniquely Australian I capture to sgnify my adventure accross the land down under.
The day following the election I had my photo taken holding in front of me an Australian newspaper declaring Barack Obama's victory. The message is clear: I am celebrating in spirit, separated geographically, and gaining my awareness through the media of the country in which I have been travelling.
In my mind I become Odysseus, Tocqueville, George Orwell, and Rickey Nelson. I'm a travelin' man...
From Melbourne, Australia
this is Joe the Mailman
Postscript:
I'm very sorry if I came off as offensive in my analysis. It was never my intention to be offensive or to insult anyone. I understand that the term "cult of personality" is unfortunately a loaded one. It carries with it a negative implication. Indeed, it has been overused, especially by the likes of right-wing hatchet men like Jerome Corsi and others, who have employed it as a label for impugning Obama's character and integrity and denigrating the great many active citizens who supported his campaign and have put so much hard work into bringing him to the White House. I confess that I had completely forgotten the existence of the screeds that Corsi and his crowd published in the months prior to the election. It is entirely coincidental that I used the same term as these detractors, so I would like to clarify for that I do not share the beliefs of them. I'm not trying to pick sides or be negative. My analysis is meant to be strictly academic. But I realize that in a political discussion it is practically impossible to be viewed as objective, as politics raises such intense feelings and passion. As the late Howard Zinn would say, "you can't be neutral on a moving train."
In fact, the study of the personality cult is not negative at all and does not render judgment about the legitimacy of a politician's or leader's ideas and beliefs. It is an often supportive reference to the leader's charisma. it means is that the leader is able to build upon his image so as to make himself accessible to the general public, as it is the nature of sustaining and expanding a mass movement.
"Cult" is synonymous with mass movement. The word "culture" derives from it: the sharing of beliefs and ideas. Of course, with the constant sensationalization of events like Jonestown and Waco, it is understandable that the term is mostly viewed in the negative.
I clearly erred in my choice of the word "exploited," as it too carries a negative connotation. Had I put more time into review and editing this piece I would have phrased it differently. What I meant is that Obama has successfully made effective use of iconic imagery, and has parlayed it into political capital.
I hope this clears things up somewhat.
A few thoughts in the last days before the election
Friday, October 31, 2008 at 7:35am
I appreciate the irony of that we are on the eve of a presidential election that promises to be the most revolutionary in the history of the United States of America—as a victory by one side will serve as a statement defining the breaking of racial barriers in terms of upward mobility, and a victory by the other will do the same for barriers of gender—and I have been so distracted by the more immediate events of my life—the many great changes that are occurring in terms of relationships and opportunities—that I have essentially sat out this process.
Sure, of course I'm diligent enough to have made sure to cast my absentee ballot prior to my departure to Australia. But beyond that, I have paid far less attention to news coverage than I normally would, and in political conversations with friends and family I have offered far less analysis. Some have noticed this change in me.
I have, however indeed had plenty of thought on the matter of the election. In the spirit of the final countdown to this historic moment, I wish to offer it once and for all.
The foremost thing to have captured my eye is the level of energy and effort put in by supporters of both sides, particularly young people, but true of older people as well. This election may be unprecedented in it's tapping into people's awareness and idealism. This is especially the case with the Obama campaign. And while it is something to be greatly admired, I fear that many historical lessons are not being followed.
I feel obligated to offer words of caution.
To everyone who has gotten involved:
Do not allow yourselves to become swept away by the intensity of the moment!
—Too often have people become so consumed by such an atmosphere of high-spiritedness and idealism, that it is easy to become deluded into believing that these feelings have spread so far across the country that voters will overwhelmingly flock to cast their ballot in favor of the progressive candidate.
The political leanings of your narrow group of friends does not count for the political leanings of the rest of the country.
—Four years ago I learned the hard way the simple truth that just because all my friends and I were voting for Kerry, it does not mean he was going to win!
—In 1972, the film critic Pauline Kael famously stated that she was shocked that Nixon won, after all, none of her friends voted for him.
—Interpret this as, don't be tone-deaf!!!
Remember the "Silent Majority."
—I recommend the excellent new book "Nixonland," by Rick Perlstein, as a fascinating account he events of the late sixties. It covers the lesser- remembered backlash by 'Mainstream America' against the antiwar and counterculture movements. Former Vice-President Spiro Agnew coined the term 'silent majority' to define this backlash. The 'silent majority' is credited as becoming the vanguard for the rise of the modern Conservative movement. Nixon and Agnew were successful in creating the narrative for the acceptance of such fallacies as the 'liberal media,' and 'hollywood elites,'— basically the pigeon-holiing of people into tiny, bigoted labels. This is what has shaped the divisions of the political landscape today.
—The Silent Majority is emboldened by your derision! It is easy to dismiss McCain-Palin supporters as hicks and rednecks. In a recent video put out by the Obama campaign, a young volunteer is filmed questioning McCain supporters as to why they are for him and against Obama. The film is shown to highlight the incoherence of McCain supporters' answers and the discombobulated nature of their appearance as evidence of their overall ignorance. While such images may are easy to make fun of, they allow you to fall into the trap of displaying the very "elitism" they have come to believe defines you. Remember that your dismissive feelings of people in McCain's targeted base serves as a drive to recruit more into his camp.
—The same politics of division are at work again today. If one follows the goings-on of Sarah Palin on the campaign trail, they may notice how her talking-points mirror those of Spiro Agnew from forty years ago. She has assumed his role.
POLL'S ARE SHIT!!!
—I cannot stress this enough. Remember Dewey versus Truman in 1948?
—Just because the polls have Obama at a lead, that does not make it so, no matter how things may appear. Do not allow the media to dictate the outcome. (See previously made points).
The Success of a mass movement counts on the presentability of the image of its members.
—A movement is only as successful as its ability to recruit. This means winning the hearts and minds of the 'mainstream voter.' Too often have the antiwar movements squandered the chance to appeal to a wider audience by obfuscating their message with the unconventionality of their appearance. We all like to recall with great nostalgia the zaniness of Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies. The sad truth is that public distaste at their over- the-top appearance was a major turn-off to Americans whose interests were otherwise unfavorable to the continuation of the war in Vietnam.
—We must remain presentable to the people we are trying to organize among. We must always be conscious of what is conducive toward achieving the goals of the movement as a whole. Of course that does not mean we can't retain our individuality. As a man of the arts, humanities, and social sciences, I am always the first person to believe that to possess the creative and free-spirited mind is one of the most important things. I just warn that it is crucial to make sure that we achieve the right balance between political and cultural statements; that they serve the same interests at once.
Idealism is good. But one must always keep it in check with a healthy dose of realism.
—Take from this what you will.
Remember that whenever there is a speeding train, there is always the threat of it ending on a crash-course!
–Conventional wisdom is always never to set oneself up for massive disappointment. Always prepare for a loss.
That's all I have to say. Of course, my views are not necessarily correct. It's not my intention to be dictating to them to people. I just leave my advice on the table for people to do with as they wish.
From Sydney, Australia,
this is Joe "the mailman"
(Not to be confused with Joe the Plumber!!!)
Postscript:
I don't think it's that McCain knows something that the rest of us don't know. I think that he is merely letting us think he knows something we don't, so as to influence people into feeling less certain about Obama's electability. It's a classic tactic. If he acts as though he's ahead, he can pull ahead by power of suggestion.
As my friend Noel so declaratively states, no, Obama is not and cannot be called a socialist or a marxist. He is a liberal, and liberalism is about reformism. Marxism is about revolution, total overhaul of the system. Reformism guarantees the the system's preservation. One need only read Mao Zedong's "Combat Liberalism [and Discipline]" to see what an actual marxist thinks of liberals. Mao would most likely have had Obama put in a Collective, or shot.
It is frustrating to hear in national discourse this fallacious conflation of liberalism and Socialism. But of course, the main reason it's become the case is that it has become politically expedient to do so. It's what keeps liberalism on the defensive. As I said before, it's all about shaping the narrative, and that's how the narrative has been since Spiro Agnew worked so effectively to make that happen forty years ago.
Truthfully though, conservatives know that there is no classic socialism in the United States. There is only a great configuration of liberal designs, which conservatives fear will serve the socialist agenda (though it can't).
I refer to as an example, Donald J. Boudreaux's op/ed in the Christian Science Monitor "Is Barack Obama really a socialist?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1030/p09s01-coop.html
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