American politics in different media

An essay written by Emil Holte.

As the headline articulates this essay would be about American politics in different medias. This essay will discuss the representation of American politics in three different medias. The media consists of books, TV-series and Cartoons. To be more specific it is, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction (chapter 6), House of Cards and a cartoon with Obama and Romney. These three medias do all somehow have a common representation of American politics or American politicians. What do they have in common and where do they differentiate from each other?
The common thing all three different medias are representing is the overall opinion of the American politician and American politics in general. The book, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction (chapter 6), is deeper in the “theoretical” aspect than the other two. But you should not be fooled by the word theoretical. The book does describe the American politics and the politicians, but it is in a very informal and sarcastic approach. The sixth chapter describes campaigns and elections and therefore also how the American politician acts. It tells basic facts about American politics but with a twist of a subjective and sarcastically opinion. As an example “Initially, the process of conducting campaigns and holding elections was conceived as a means to an end – the peaceful transfer of power.”. Later on in the same passage “Today, running for office takes as much, if not more, time, energy and resources as holding it.”. “As you can see the start was pure facts and neutral writing while the end was subjective and sarcastic. In a political aspect the size of these campaigns are unnecessary, but it ensures that the person who most want to be president gets elected. It is a sarcastic way to make fun of the politicians and their job. It means that a good politician does not have to be good in the political aspect, but a person who is ruthless pragmatism and want to do everything it takes to become a leader. This can also be seen in a weird but somehow true sentence: “Yes, my opponent is wise, he is honorable; but is he willing to kill anybody who stands in his way?”. The book describes campaigns and elections as a process which separates the willing from the able and goes with the willing.
The book is general sarcastic about politicians spending too much money on campaigns when the campaigns is concerned with cost-savings. The book criticizes politicians as a superficial character.
The text is based on a general opinion, but do we see this opinion display in other medias?
In the TV-series, House of Cards, Frank V represents the stereotype of an American politician. He is a smart and calm leader. House of Cards puts the theoretical part from the book, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, into praxis. Frank V’s appearance is manipulative and superficial, but it is necessary if he wants to make it in American politics. This can both be seen in House of Cards and the book, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction. House of Cards shows how powerful and important factor the media plays in politics. A good politician is therefore a person who knows how to use the media in his own favor. This should not be the factor which decides a good politician, but opinion can also be seen in the book. The book shows the political campaign and their ridiculous size. People could ask themselves why the size of a campaign is important as long as you agree with the ideology and the politician is trustworthy. If you like it or not, it is a fact that the politician who led the best campaign will get the biggest percentage of the votes.
Politics is a superficial game where you have to be ruthless. You can not trust anyone in politics. Both of the above-mentioned medias gives a representation of an American politician. A good politician is a person who knows how to use the media in his or her own favor. Politics is a battle for power and the winner is the person who managed to show as much of their rivals mistakes and as few as possible of their own. This can be seen in the cartoon which shows Obama and Romney fighting with long noses which represents their lies.
The media is often called the fourth of estate. All the medias mentioned above have an identical opinion towards American politics and politicians. They are all negative minded towards politics, but somehow confesses that it can not be changed. Where do the three medias separate from each other? Instead of calling the media the fourth of estate it can be divided in each of the three estates. The book, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, is more theoretical and overall in its representation of American politics. It could therefore be compared with the executive branch. The series, House of Cards, and movies in general are not theoretical and overall in their representation unless it is a documentary. Instead they have a storyline but based on the theoretical representation as seen in the book, A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction. Series and movies shows a situation in praxis and do contains less fundamental theory compared with a book. This could be compared to the legislative branch. Cartoons and pictures shows a situation, but it is up to the individual person to judge the situation. The person is therefore the judge over the situation. This could be compared to the judicial branch.