News and commentary about the intersection of information technology, politics, and policy presented by the members of Digital Politics, a course at Hamilton College.
Your simple question warrants no simple answer. Do such efforts yield votes? I suppose in a few short hours, we will know –maybe.
This video has been eating away at me all day and not because of its profundity or cinematic brilliance; quite frankly, even the message seems a bit empty.
I will bashfully admit, however, that this gimmick has reached out to me. Yes, I called it a gimmick. I don’t mean to discredit the video, but as genuine an attempt as it is to speak out for change (there goes that word again) in support of Obama, I still think of it as a bit of a stunt. Don’t take me as being callous, but the video gives in to a few traps and stereotypes. Dare I say it is too racially diverse? The video is in black and white; it is star-studded with Black, White, and Hispanic celebrity men and women with blank stares and forlorn faces, it includes the mother/child image, and it plays to the tune of a simple emo-folk guitar riff. At times, I thought I was watching a Calvin Klein commercial, only instead of being peddled some new cologne I was told to Vote Hope. It is inherently gimmicky and begs to be parodied.
This doesn’t mean he will get my vote; it doesn’t mean he won’t. It does, however, mean that this goofy gimmicky video “worked” to some degree, in the sense that it spread awareness. Should Obama become the next president, regardless of my predisposition, I’ll be proud of my country. There is certainly something to be said for his charisma; just by him standing there he changes how the rest of the world views us. Plus, there’s always the legislative branch to oppose any insensible left policies.
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Your simple question warrants no simple answer. Do such efforts yield votes? I suppose in a few short hours, we will know –maybe.
This video has been eating away at me all day and not because of its profundity or cinematic brilliance; quite frankly, even the message seems a bit empty.
I will bashfully admit, however, that this gimmick has reached out to me. Yes, I called it a gimmick. I don’t mean to discredit the video, but as genuine an attempt as it is to speak out for change (there goes that word again) in support of Obama, I still think of it as a bit of a stunt. Don’t take me as being callous, but the video gives in to a few traps and stereotypes. Dare I say it is too racially diverse? The video is in black and white; it is star-studded with Black, White, and Hispanic celebrity men and women with blank stares and forlorn faces, it includes the mother/child image, and it plays to the tune of a simple emo-folk guitar riff. At times, I thought I was watching a Calvin Klein commercial, only instead of being peddled some new cologne I was told to Vote Hope. It is inherently gimmicky and begs to be parodied.
Yet still, I was moved…maybe not across the aisle, but moved nonetheless. Intrigued, I went to YouTube and watched the 12 minute speech the song was derived from. What I saw there may have been more moving and less cliché than the music video. I became enlightened to Obama and his policies.
This doesn’t mean he will get my vote; it doesn’t mean he won’t. It does, however, mean that this goofy gimmicky video “worked” to some degree, in the sense that it spread awareness. Should Obama become the next president, regardless of my predisposition, I’ll be proud of my country. There is certainly something to be said for his charisma; just by him standing there he changes how the rest of the world views us. Plus, there’s always the legislative branch to oppose any insensible left policies.
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