Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thesis for First Paper
My thesis for this upcoming paper is that the parallels between Lincoln and Obama act as prime examples of Barthes' myth-making.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama and Lincoln: How Comparing Two American Heroes Leads to Barthes' Myth-making
http://video.aol.com/partner/cnn/americas-lincoln-obsession/politics:2009:01:13:am:costello:lincoln:obsession
Using my critical sociological eye I set out to see the paralleling rituals between two well-known Americans – Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln.
Their similarities first came to mind as publicity began surrounding the new President’s train ride. Resurrecting a previously popular tradition among president-elects, Obama rode an Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Union Station in Washington, D.C in Lincoln’s spirit since he, too, rode a train to meet his new office in the District.
Although inspired by Lincoln, the train ride was not similar in that Lincoln rode all the way from Illinois and he did not stop in Baltimore – as Obama did along with making a speech – because it was a city which housed slavery then.
Next Obama visited the Lincoln Memorial (as he has reportedly often done during the duration of his Senatorial term) with his family only days before his inauguration took place and spoke at the memorial during Sunday’s HBO-sponsored music festival which showcased a variety of artists Obama himself enjoys.
The President also chose to use Lincoln’s Bible for his swearing-in ceremony.
Following his inauguration, Obama attended a luncheon which featured foods Lincoln himself dined on and enjoyed during his years in office. These foods include root vegetables, seafood, wild birds and apples. According to The Wall Street Journal, guests dined off of replicas of Lincoln’s White House china.
Looking back, before becoming POTUS, Obama announced his candidacy for the office in the place where Lincoln gave his “House Divided” speech – the Springfield, Ill. state house. His announcement for his candidacy also came at a similar time Lincoln’s did – after only one Congressional term.
Often times Obama has detailed his enjoyment in reading books about Lincoln and his Cabinet.
Just like Lincoln, the President chose the second runner up (within his party) for the candidacy of the president (Hillary Clinton) to be Secretary of State.
And we should not forget that Obama’s presidency comes during the same year as the bicentennial commemoration of Lincoln’s birth.
As far as myth-making is concerned, joining Lincoln’s image with that of Obama’s seems to fall along the lines of Roland Barthes’ notion of “quantification of quality.” By so closely juxtaposing Lincoln with Obama, the historical narrative in between their two lives seems instantly erased and time has elapsed which, at least to me, negates all the individual stories of freedom-fighting for Black civil rights. Without further investigation or thought, the juxtaposition of these two lives seems to pay homage to Lincoln’s unification of a country divided by slavery. This image seems to reinforce a myth which we are all taught in grade school: Lincoln freed the slaves.
No, no children. He may have technically “emancipated” them, but it would not be until after the Civil Rights Movement when Blacks could be free from the fear of being lynched or the cultural ritual of being made explicitly subordinate to whites. It cannot be forgotten that emancipating slaves might never have occurred if not for Frederick Douglass, his various visits to the White House, and his camaraderie with Lincoln. With a more discerning eye, juxtaposing these two fuels the Lincoln myth that he alone saved Black people from subordination, when in actuality there are a plethora of people (most of them Black) who worked to save themselves! (A notion one would not instantly pick up from the Lincoln-Obama parallel).
Also by likening Obama to a white man, it seems to de-politicize the possible controversy associated with being a Black man in power in this country. As Barthes says, myth tends to depoliticize language and symbols. Looking deeper into the Lincoln association, it connotes an underlying message that a Black man cannot stand alone in his own right, which on so many levels is disheartening.
Using my critical sociological eye I set out to see the paralleling rituals between two well-known Americans – Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln.
Their similarities first came to mind as publicity began surrounding the new President’s train ride. Resurrecting a previously popular tradition among president-elects, Obama rode an Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Union Station in Washington, D.C in Lincoln’s spirit since he, too, rode a train to meet his new office in the District.
Although inspired by Lincoln, the train ride was not similar in that Lincoln rode all the way from Illinois and he did not stop in Baltimore – as Obama did along with making a speech – because it was a city which housed slavery then.
Next Obama visited the Lincoln Memorial (as he has reportedly often done during the duration of his Senatorial term) with his family only days before his inauguration took place and spoke at the memorial during Sunday’s HBO-sponsored music festival which showcased a variety of artists Obama himself enjoys.
The President also chose to use Lincoln’s Bible for his swearing-in ceremony.
Following his inauguration, Obama attended a luncheon which featured foods Lincoln himself dined on and enjoyed during his years in office. These foods include root vegetables, seafood, wild birds and apples. According to The Wall Street Journal, guests dined off of replicas of Lincoln’s White House china.
Looking back, before becoming POTUS, Obama announced his candidacy for the office in the place where Lincoln gave his “House Divided” speech – the Springfield, Ill. state house. His announcement for his candidacy also came at a similar time Lincoln’s did – after only one Congressional term.
Often times Obama has detailed his enjoyment in reading books about Lincoln and his Cabinet.
Just like Lincoln, the President chose the second runner up (within his party) for the candidacy of the president (Hillary Clinton) to be Secretary of State.
And we should not forget that Obama’s presidency comes during the same year as the bicentennial commemoration of Lincoln’s birth.
As far as myth-making is concerned, joining Lincoln’s image with that of Obama’s seems to fall along the lines of Roland Barthes’ notion of “quantification of quality.” By so closely juxtaposing Lincoln with Obama, the historical narrative in between their two lives seems instantly erased and time has elapsed which, at least to me, negates all the individual stories of freedom-fighting for Black civil rights. Without further investigation or thought, the juxtaposition of these two lives seems to pay homage to Lincoln’s unification of a country divided by slavery. This image seems to reinforce a myth which we are all taught in grade school: Lincoln freed the slaves.
No, no children. He may have technically “emancipated” them, but it would not be until after the Civil Rights Movement when Blacks could be free from the fear of being lynched or the cultural ritual of being made explicitly subordinate to whites. It cannot be forgotten that emancipating slaves might never have occurred if not for Frederick Douglass, his various visits to the White House, and his camaraderie with Lincoln. With a more discerning eye, juxtaposing these two fuels the Lincoln myth that he alone saved Black people from subordination, when in actuality there are a plethora of people (most of them Black) who worked to save themselves! (A notion one would not instantly pick up from the Lincoln-Obama parallel).
Also by likening Obama to a white man, it seems to de-politicize the possible controversy associated with being a Black man in power in this country. As Barthes says, myth tends to depoliticize language and symbols. Looking deeper into the Lincoln association, it connotes an underlying message that a Black man cannot stand alone in his own right, which on so many levels is disheartening.
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