Omon Imolorhe 997541067 February 05, 2010. VCC201
IMAGE ANALYSIS: OBAMA HOPE POSTER The Obama hope poster is a poster that was developed during President Obama’s campaign period. It was based on a photograph that was taken by the Associated Press in which Obama was in a thoughtful pose. The image can be viewed from two different sides. There is the messianic side which depicts Obama as the messiah who would take America from its current state of despair to a state of success. On the other hand, there is the image of terror which occurs as a result of the pronunciation of his full name, Barack Hussein Obama. The first view of the image that could be gotten depicts Obama as a uniting force for the United States of America. The colors in the image depict a united America. The myth behind that can be seen in the blending colors. The red, white and blue all combine in the image and meet at a focal point that draws the viewer to question the unity of America, and conclude that America is indeed united. The picture also gives this idea of hope as inscribed at the bottom of the picture. The picture aims to portray President Obama (then he was known as Senator Obama) as a messiah of some sort who is called to lead America, and the world, out of the mess that they found themselves in. Indeed, most Americans did think they had found their messiah because of the way Obama spoke and acted. And therefore, the picture created a myth around that idea that Obama was different from the previous crop of people who had led America. The myth that was created was born out of the idea that Obama seemed to be a
normal person just like the rest of America. To Americans, Obama was a middle class man who was also hurting from the recession. Most Americans also assumed that he understood their struggles as a result of his background. For them, he was the face of middle class America and this idea built the myth that he was the messiah that would take them from their sufferings to a point of redemption and economic rise. However, based on what is currently going on in the world today, we are often forced to believe Obama is not different from the previous crop of presidents before him. This is therefore a case of distortion. As Roland Barthes said in his essay, “myth hides nothing and flaunts nothing: it distorts.”1 The image actually distorts the identity of Obama and projects him to an almost god-like status that he does not have. As a result, most Americans see Obama as someone who knows the answers to all their questions and troubles, and will deliver them from their current downfall. On the other hand, the image could be paradoxical. The name, Barack Hussein Obama, sounds like a combination of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden2. While Obama’s full name is not in the picture, people who know his full name and are aware of the threats of America’s arch-enemies, draw similarities in the sounds of the names. In between the sounds of the names, the images of the Obama and America’s arch-enemies, there is an image of terror that pops up. Suddenly, the caption with the words, HOPE, at the bottom of the image has no meaning because of the relationship that occurs as a result of the pronunciation of the name, and the likeness with the names of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Furthermore, the red paint in the picture could also be synonymous with blood, which makes most Americans remember the wars that currently going on.
1 2
Roland Barthes, Mythologies (New York: The Noonday Press, 1958), 128 W.J.T. Mitchell, “Obama as Icon”, Journal of Visual Culture, no. 8 (2009): 125
For them, they could take that to mean Obama had come to further destroy America and take the country into a further state of deterioration. Based on these two analyses, this image can give viewers different reasons to believe or not believe in America and its future. Depending on how it is viewed, a viewer can denote that America is destined for a hopeful future. However, another viewer could also say the reverse upon learning the full name of Obama and looking at the caption of hope at the bottom. The image of a Moslem or someone with a Moslem name ruling America is one that evokes terror in America. On the other hand, when people realize that the man is a Christian, then they see the reason for the caption at the bottom.
Biblography: Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: The Noon Day Press, 1958 Mitchell, W.J.T “Obama as Icon.” Journal of Visual Culture, no. 8 (2009): 125-129