Pop Politics

The word “politics” has always been associated with a connotation of boredom and dull news. Throughout history many Americans have been more than disinterested on politics, numerous people didn’t care enough participate in political discourse issues or research political topics. However in modern political communication candidates have mixed with popular culture ideals and twisted into a strange cocktail of amusement and information. Political candidates now must portray a representation of themselves that fit pop cultural roles and mannerisms as well as be able to let the whole world mock them and their policies. Entertainment pop culture helps promote political participation, but leads voters to make unformed decisions after viewing political spoof show’s interpretation of candidates and policies. The Saturday Night Live skit featuring Will Ferrell and Tina Fey as George Bush and Sarah Palin describes the idea of braiding political figures with contemporary popular culture ideology.

The skit begins with Will Ferrell playing George W. Bush and addressing the nation as the president while attempting to endorse the McCain campaign. Ferrell starts by explaining that he has decided to talk at night because when he speaks during the day, the stock market dips. Mr. President also explains that there is an important election coming up with some very talented candidates, “the hot girl and the Tiger Woods guy.” The president continues to ignorantly verbalize his climbing approval ratings, which in truth were not rising at all. Will Ferrell illustrates all of George W. Bush stereotypes, of ignorance, arrogance, and just plain stupidity. Through these imitations American’s at first sight judgments of their president are upheld and reinforced, they really begin to believe that George W. Bush is extremely unintelligent. Ferrell also plays on George W. Bush’s apparent public speaking tribulations by squinting his eyes and rocking his head back and forth. While the president explains the hardships he had getting John McCain to appear for a public endorsement, Tina Fey as Sara Palin enters the Oval Office, blows the audience a kiss to the audience and suggestively sits on the President’s desk. She crosses her legs and has an inviting smile on her face when the President asks where is John McCain? Palin explains that the minute he heard that President Bush wanted to publicly endorse him for the presidential election, McCain could not be found. He was apparently last seen on foot in the Adirondacks, but not to worry Sarah Palin’s husband and some of his “drinking buddies” were tracking him on snowmobiles. Will Ferrell then again portrays Bush’s lack of knowledge for the American political system by stating that the president can’t do anything without the approval of the vice-president. Palin apologetically explains to him that is incorrect but doesn’t want to get all “Katie Couric” on him, all of the sudden Palin’s husband bursts in the office, snow gear and all, with rescued Senator McCain. President Bush immediately grabs him, while McCain aggressively draws away from Bush, and proclaims his endorsement for the McCain Palin presidential candidate. The president explains that a vote for John McCain is a vote for President Bush, while Sarah Palin floats behind them, smiling like a beauty queen.

Actors like Tina Fey and Will Ferrell examine political candidates in order to learn mannerisms that could be use to mock their public image. They take advantage of every public stereotype and manipulate them into their portrayal of the candidates. Sarah Palin for example was shown prancing into the room, blowing kisses and looking very sexy. She immediately placed herself suggestively onto the oval office desk, as to appear very at home and comfortable. She answered the President’s questions on the where abouts of John McCain without hesitation, never wondering why he was not there. Tina Fey demonstrated Sara Palin as her stereotypical images, beautiful, charming, and completely unaware of any sort of public policy. Will Ferrell as plays strongly to President Bush’s biggest weakness, being in the public eye. Ferrell is often very awkward and seem oblivious to people or things around him, most of the time he just acts dumb. The worst part about Ferrell’s illustration is the portrayal that every policy The Bush Administration implemented had a negative effect on our country. Not only is this completely false but incredibly disrespectful to George W. Bush, who was, as I will remind them, the president during the worst terrorist attack in our countries history and re-elected to the presidential office the next term.

The blending of popular culture and politics is unavoidable and we can never stop comedians for mocking public figures. Saturday Night Live, I would personally argue, is one of the best comedy shows on television and their use of politically motivated content helps to increase political awareness and mobilize voters, but increase awareness of what? The beauty of our American democracy is the fact that our country is built upon the ideas of freedom of speech and open political discussion, so it is possible for shows like SNL to completely mock the federal government and its officials. The problem at hand is programs like SNL are entertainment shows and are viewed more often by the American public then news stations like CNN or CSPAN. The majority of the American public is not intelligently involved in political discourse and even more citizens are unwilling to take part in deliberative, unpartisan discussion about political issues. They instead take political information and make policy decisions based off of programs like SNL and The Soup. Our political society learns to believe political figures are indeed just sexy, stupid women that think being Vice President involves sipping martinis and playing golf. These portrayals demoralize women in politics by performing Sarah Palin as a soccer mom, when in fact she is a very smart, articulate, and politically savvy women who is strong in grass root issues and very personable with her constituents. President Bush is undoubtedly the center of political entertainment ridicule; he has been called every name in the book. George W. Bush was not the best public speaker, not like Obama who just stands up and says jump, and the whole country replies how high. He was however the President of the United States, a position that should be giving respect, just as we respect President Obama. This does not mean that we are not at liberty to challenge our leader, but we always do it politely. President Bush was an Ivy League graduate and attended Harvard Business School; he is far from stupid. As an American voter I would much prefer a president that is not afraid to make controversial and difficult decisions, then a leader who is more concerned with keeping up his celebrity status.

American democracy allows for mainstream popular culture entertainment to use modern political content, and even humorously mock public officials. We as Americans have the right to freedom of expression and broadcast networks are not politically motivated, which in turn permits healthy political dialogue. Entertainment programs like Saturday Night Live are very funny and I promote their use of political policy on their programs because it encourages voter participation, but as a political society we ought to promote the message that SNL’s political communication is meant for mere entertainment value. They should not be taken seriously or applied to political decision-making, and unfortunately many people believe that these performances are politically viable. Also the teasing of political figures must be done tastefully and respectfully, no genderizing of candidates, men or women, they should be ridiculed in the same manner. The most important factor involved with mixing pop culture with progressive politics is educating the masses to realize that these political charades are not real! We as a political and intellectual culture should laugh at Saturday Night Live but take American politics seriously.