As Rachel Maddow concluded in her analysis of Herman Cain's perfect gaffes, "this is not politics. This is art about politics." Using the media, television, filmmaking, writing, and performance to critique America on the world stage, this campaign is either the most frightening of prospects for the future of this country, or the greatest criticism of what our country finds to be important. In this campaign, major questions arise, questions that make us look at ourselves, and what we contribute. Do phrases have any meaning, like 'hope' and 'change', or are they created and beaten, like 'right of return'? What is the nostalgia of the Old West in advertisements, and how does it showcase the American Dream? What are the images we always see, and in nuance show us how two-dimensional we can be.
The images of the Old West, mid-wides in front of cameras, direct addresses, working farmers, Ronald Reagan, and inspirational quotations are obvious quintessential images that evoke strong feelings of strength of the past. The Herman Cain campaign is taking those images of US lore and ridiculing it by being it, hitting a nail with a nail as it were. The hidden messages are within the everyday interactions, juxtaposed by the obvious staging of campaign candidates. The point of all this is to make us pay attention, to get real.
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