The 2008 Presidential campaign came down to two major parties , John McCain for republicans and Barack Obama, for Democrats. Barack Obama pulled ahead of McCain in the few months leading up to the election and won by a 52% to 48% margin of votes. According to BBC news Obama won for many reasons, but at the top of the list was that he had “masterful operations.” Obama spent three-fourths more than McCain on online marketing a few weeks before elections. Another “masterful operation” was Obama's “Empathy and genuine concern for Middle class Americans.” Obama did a great job of appearing as if he was concerned for the middle class. A major contribution to people perceiving his sympathy for middle class was a piece of political art propaganda known as “Barack Obama Hope poster” designed by Shepard Fairley, a popular graphic designer. The design was created in one day and printed first as a poster. Fairey sold 350 of the posters on the street immediately after printing them. It was then more widely distributed, both as a digital image and other paraphernalia, during the 2008 election season, initially independently but with the approval of the official Obama campaign. The image became widely iconic and one of the most widely recognized symbols of Obama's campaign message and synonymous with the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.
The Image has a picture of Obama looking up towards the sky in the middle of it so that his face is the focal point of the image. Obama is looking up towards the heavens which appeals to the American identity that America is somehow special in Gods eyes because it is an example of freedom or a city on a hill and a light to the world, as the first pilgrims to America designated it. Obama appears to be looking up to heaven to be a voice to God for Americans. At the bottom of the page we read what that voice is “Hope.”
The image consists of a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in sold red, beige and pastel dark blue, with the words “Hope” at the bottom. The posters colors draw a comparison in to the American flag by having the same colors. However, the picture seems to fall short of embodying the same values as the flag because its appeal to Social Realism.
The use of stencils gives the image a rough texture as if the picture was done with a can spray paint and the stencil. The use of stencils makes the chosen art form of this picture, street art or art designed for public spaces. This art form is connected with those of lower incomes because it is connected to graffiti and those forms of art common to those public spaces. The appeal to the lesser form of art gives the image an appeal to the middle class because it is not above them. The image is appealing but doesn’t use a complex art form such as a painting. The images give you the tone of, wondering why a man so brilliant with art is not doing higher forms of art. The artist is depicting Obama in a good light so as to show that he is good and the word “hope” at the bottom makes the viewer feel that this underappreciated, genius artist that should be doing different, better art forms feels that Obama gives American’s hope and thus Obama is hope. The image uses the intertextuality of artistic realism by using a realistic art form to depict middle class. Obama becomes more “real” because he is painted in a “real” art form, such as those that live in substandard living qualities such as those in “The Jacob A. Riis Collection” as outlined on page 21-40 of the Visual Rhetoric text book. The image is done from the point of view of the middle class American looking for what Obama represents “Hope.”
By identifying how Obama won the election and what tools he used to do it, and explicating those tools we can see how close Obama is tied to the image and its personification to the user. Now that we understand the importance of the image we can now identify why the Guy Fawkes Mask Adaptation is so very unethical.
The Guy Fawkes Mask has similar properties as the Barack Obama Hope Poster except is has a guy wearing a Guy Fawkes Mask as the focal point instead of Barrack Obama. The other difference is the words “We HOPE you are on our side Mr. President” with the words “hope” in lage capitol letters like in the Obama Hope Poster. The image is more political Propaganda that is designed to pushes the agenda of the grass roots movement, “Occupy Wall Street.”
Occupy Wall Street is a political movement that is asking for an end to political corruption in America. It has been described as a class war because it is saying that “995 of Americans did not get any money from the government to bail them out of there bad circumstances and only the wealthy 1% received the bailout.” They recognize this as political sweethearting and thus corruption in government offices.
The Guy Fowks Mask was used in the movie V for Vendetta. The movie portrays England in the 2030’s. The United States is in the middle of a civil war and the world is plagued by environmental blight. The United Kingdom is ruled by a totalitarian government. The main protagonist, “V,” exposes government corruption by taking over all the TV channels and showing the corruption on the TV. He then tells everyone to meet back in one-year to rise up against the oppressive government. At the one-year mark he plans to blow up the House of Parliament. During the one year wait he also plans to kill many of the more corrupt government officials. “V” is discovered and his plans fail.
The mask portrays a man that seeks to use promote change through anarchy and the killing of political leaders. Shepard Fairley is the man who did adaptation as well as the original. He “did not intend for the picture to be misconstrued as an attack on the president” however he has tried to change the image the new poster suggests but it has gone viral. By many who are involved in the occupy movement, the picture is perceived to be a type of resistance to political corruption but more so as a threat. We understand that ethical Confronting and resisting rhetorical images use people in action to show real events of need political corruption. This image distorts that ideal by using threats as a way to confront the issue.
