From Back To The Future, 1985 (transcription taken from imdb.com)
Dr. Emmett Brown:Then tell me, "Future Boy", who's President in theUnited Statesin 1985?
Marty McFly:Ronald Reagan.
Dr. Emmett Brown:Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who's Vice-President? Jerry Lewis?
When did Hollywood and politics start making babies? Sure, to Doc Brown in 1955 an actor running for office may have been ludicrous but now it doesn’t seem so strange, does it?
After all remember this past year when Fred Thompson was a favored contender for the Republican nomination? Well, the term “favored” may just apply to the day he announced his run, but still. And when we all watched “Predator” did we have any idea that we were watching two future governors battle an alien menace in the jungle? Well, if I told you it was just a man in a prosthetic suit and not a real alien menace would it still impress you? What a waste of steroids!
But even when Hollywoodisn’t running for office they’re still at the booth. The celeb-endorsement is so hot right now. Back when the primaries were just crackin’ the Presidential Hopefuls put their endorsements at the forefront of their campaign. Some of my favorites:
-One of the four videos Dennis Kucinich has on his Think site is this video of Viggo Mortensen endorsing him for his Presidential bid.
http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF009BF01000170098CA27/
Thanks, Aragorn.
-Here is Mike Huckabee’s infamous ad starring Chuck Norris with Huckabee as the Laurel to Norris’ Hardy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUQW8LUMs8
-Here are some videos Will I Am made for Obama… he even won a “Webby”!
http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF009D532800170098CF1D/
http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF009D532800170098D751/
Now I know who Scarlett Johansson and Kareem Abdul Jabar are voting for, but does this make me want to vote for Barack Obama? I mean sure, these videos might look and sound cool and there are a lot of pretty faces to look at but what is the viewer supposed to take away from this?
Or any of these?
Best Case Scenario: With the celebrity endorsement, a star might be using their influence to get someone who may be on the political peripheral to take a second look and perhaps go out and get informed. There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about politics because (ideally) in part it is standing up for what one believes is right.
Worst Case Scenario: Popularity contest. Not in the way that Democracy is a “popularity contest” with a popular vote, and/or relating to populism, but in the way you elect a Prom King/Queen.
But are people really affected by celebrity endorsements? Probably not, but it is a nice nexus for the media to make a story about since it includes “news” and “entertainment” in way. Or something for talking heads to attack if they aren’t directly attacking the candidates themselves.
Host of “Wheel of Fortune”, aka televised Hangman, Pat Sajak, and others suggest that the most affected of celebrity endorsement are not the politicians but the celebrities themselves in the form of a negative backlash because of the bias the media might have against them for their political positions.
The real question is, “Who is attacking Pat Sajak?” After all he has been called the Swiss of talk-show hosts (this is a blatant lie). But we all know how cruel the game show paparazzi can be, so to that I just say Leave Pat Sajak Alone.
The reason the celebrity endorsement exists is because now Politics is a part of Show Business. Clinton, Obama, and McCain have all made appearances on this season of SNL and have done the late night talk circuit. With everything televised and the media circus continuing 24/7 it is no surprise there is a certain standard when it comes to the level of production for these candidates. Turn on any cable news media outlet and they have the recap of what the candidate did that day no matter how banal or minuscule the event was.
The last audition the candidates went to was for the part of “Regular Guy”. Even though all of the potential presidential candidates (even the President himself) are pretty much Ivy-League millionaires they reallllly want this part.
Description of Regular Guy reads:
Regular Guy (aka Media Talking Point: “Blue Collar Worker”) is the guy who votes but doesn’t like politics. In fact, one would assume regular guy decides his vote by which politician looks most like Regular Guy. Regular guy probably has a high school equivalency, loves sports, digs guns, probably likes beer, and is probably white.
This is not scientific at all, no, just a flawed theory taken from being a consumer of political news. However, this theory may explain why in the 2004 election we saw John Kerry’s life start to look a lot like this.
Or why Hillary Clinton did this.
With little actual political discourse being generated from either side at this point all that is rendered from the remains are the mascots. Just because you are a public figure does not make you a politician. I am not suggesting that politics and celebrity are mutually exclusive but in fact quite the opposite – but the photo-ops and celebrity endorsements should not be what you base your vote on - the policies should.
Here is the best analogy I can tie this up with.
Just because Scarlett Johansson made Lost In Translation doesn’t mean I should vote for Barack Obama. Like her upcoming album of Tom Waits covers, maybe instead of buying that to check him out I should just go straight to the source by getting Rain Dogs.
I never said it was a good analogy.