Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Assignment 7

I think tactical media is a clever way of not only getting a hot point across but also good for giving underlying meanings and concrete opinions. Throughout the two terms of George W. Bush I have never seen so much negative media being pushed towards one political figure. One humongous negative media firestorm have followed him through his term. This includes parody to a dedicated television show called Lil' Bush that makes fun of George W. Bush's policies in a satirical way. One interesting thing is that the show portrays his father George H.W. Bush as the president and present Bush and his cabinet as children. In Boler's book Digital Media and Democracy, he states that tactics are an "art of the weak". This may be so but I admire it in one way because they target a subject and then cleverly develops their argument into a parody using look alikes and characteristics associated with that person. Another instance is the Saturday Night Live skit between Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin. We know Clinton to be a hard nosed, "ball busting" kind of person so the creators flipped this into portraying her as a masculine female. Palin is depicted as an un knowledgeable, outside of the box kind of person so the creators targeted her dumbfoundedness. Overall I believe tactical media is self expression that needs to be seen in heard in order for people to continually express themselves.

1 comment:

Suits said...

I agree with you and I also think that tactical media can bring a powerful message. It lets people get their opinions out there to others who may not have thought the same things.