Tapas Series: Media Representations and the Presidential Election

As one of the facilitators for this event, I was a little nervous about how people would interpret the topic and where the conversation would go. When my partner and I were brainstorming about what kind of programming we wanted to do for Tapas, we knew that we wanted to do something with the election, but we weren't sure what exactly. We gathered our inspiration from the discourse surrounding the depiction of Barack Obama featured on the cover of the New Yorker magazine this summer. I have always found this image very provocative because of its context—or lack thereof. On the one hand, the image is placed on the cover of a prestigious literary magazine with the expectation that everyone who sees the image understands it to be parodying the sensationalist and often false representations of Barack Obama by the media. Yet at the same time, the magazine is a media institution in and of itself, that, by placing this image on the cover, portrays and encourages these stereotypes and misconceptions when readers glance at the cover, or when non-readers do so while looking for their preferred publication of choice. These ideas as well as many other creative and inspiring ideas were brought up during the discussion. Michelle Obama's role in the cartoon was also brought up. Someone mentioned that while the connections being drawn to Obama as a terrorist were somewhat expected due to the way he is stereotyped and accused by some, her depiction as a “black power militant” came from out of left field. We then discussed how in being paired with Barack as a “Muslim terrorist,” her depiction as a Black Panther conflates the entire Black Power movement as a form of terrorism. Someone also drew connections between the depiction of Michelle and Angela Davis, arguably the most iconic figure of the movement. The representation of Sarah Palin was also discussed. In almost all of the cartoons of her, it is her body that is the focus, first and foremost. Many of the participants discussed the paradox of disliking Palin for her views, while also being aware of the sexism within these cartoons that allows her to be represented solely by her body. It was great to facilitate this discussion – I was very impressed with what my peers shared and the quality of their analysis.