XCity – City University Journalism Department Magazine 2010

How did we turn a senator into Superman?

©Michal Czerwonka/AFP/Getty Images

Every epoch has its heroes. In its coverage of the American elections, the Western media conjured one for our times. Rachel O’Neill gets an academic take on how the press mythologised Obama and asks how long it can last

His handsome, clean-shaven face, wrinkle-free except for a few laughter lines, looks out from countless magazine covers every day. He has been compared to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Jesus Christ. Headlines such as “A New World Dawns” leapt from front pages on election day.

The media clamour has made Barack Obama into a man of mythic proportions. But how did this happen? Could an intelligent campaign and some stirring rhetoric turn a mere mortal from Illinois into the superman we see depicted in the press?

For some, the key to Obama’s success lies at a deeper level. James Anslow is a journalism lecturer and an expert in newspaper narrative from a Jungian standpoint. For Anslow, myths satisfy our need to reconnect ourselves with some of the most basic human desires and fears. They do this because they draw on what Jung called the “collective unconscious”, a range of stories and symbols common to all cultures.

The Obama story recalls “rebirth” myths such as the biblical story of Jonah and the legend of the phoenix, a flaming bird which rises from its own ashes. “The myth projected of Obama is that this is someone and something completely different. There are the disasters of the Bush administration and then out of these flames rise this rebirth,” says Anslow.

Novelty always makes an attractive hook for the media. During the election campaign Obama was not only offering something politically different from George Bush, but he was presented as a new type of leader. Pictures of the candidate shirtless on holiday in Hawaii, and widespread coverage of his fitness regime – including a reverent spread in Men’s Health – reinforced the image of someone young, fit and virile. “You can’t imagine Bush like this” says Anslow. “[These pictures are] portraying someone who’s not what’s there. It’s simple, but then all the best political messages are. Once you scratch the surface, none of it is really relevant politically.”

But Professor Howard Tumber, author of seven books on the sociology of journalism and head of research in City University’s journalism department, says Obama’s “new broom” status was key to his political impact: “There was the Iraq war, the economic crisis and Hurricane Katrina. Bush was very unpopular. Then Obama came into this. There were other Democratic candidates but they had links with the past. Obama was a change, a break from the past.”

Whether or not he’s really a novelty, Obama has been unapologetically represented as a hero. As Anslow says: “He hasn’t fought anyone yet or killed any dragons but the point is that readers love a hero. [Before the election] some of the more astute political commentators pointed out that there were certain huge issues he would struggle to tackle, but that didn’t stop them getting behind the hero worship. It’s religious – hail Caesar stuff.”

And like an idealised statue of Caesar, Obama’s chiselled good looks project an image of power and integrity. As Anslow says: “If readers are buying into the hero myth then they want a handsome image looking back at them.”

Ivor Gaber, Professor of Political Campaigning at City University and BBC Radio producer, agrees that Obama’s image is important but he maintains that the substance underpinning the image is crucial. “Obama’s image was fresh, but he wasn’t just presentation. This is a man of substance and that’s what the books [Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope] demonstrate. He wouldn’t have got to be president if he didn’t have substance. The image would have fallen to pieces.”

A superhuman persona can’t be conjured from nowhere, or the myth will evaporate. Obama’s speech on race in March 2008, delivered in response to controversial remarks by his former pastor, consolidated his reputation as a serious politician. The Observer lavished superlatives on it, hailing “the most incisive account of race politics in America – and beyond – for a generation. It deserves a place in history as one of the most impressive pleas for a new beginning on race relations since the famous orations of Martin Luther King.”

As Tumber observes, whenever Obama speaks his tone is one of inclusivity, with plenty of reference to “us”. His campaign used the internet to focus on small communities, and focussed the media’s attention on local stories, which helped to project the idea of involvement from the ground up. “It isn’t just Democrats that bought into Obama, it’s the Republicans, it’s everybody”, says Anslow.

Obama’s wife adds a crucial element to the story. ”One can’t look at the Obama myth without looking at Michelle Obama. She is integral,” says Anslow. “To create a complete hero figure, the male needs a female counterpart. This isn’t just a couple, it’s an image where two is one… she’s very much a part of him.”

Women’s magazines have latched onto her style and confidence. As Mrs Obama’s official portrait was released, Marie Claire proclaimed her the “rising style star of the political world”, and as her husband’s image shone from every newsstand, she appeared beside him, gracing the March cover of US Vogue and a recent issue of People.

Of course, as Anslow recalls, there was another key member of the Obama family: “There was a lot in the media about the puppy. The story ran and ran. It represents inclusiveness, kindness and sensitivity, all the things that stereotypically the Bush administration weren’t. Bush is water boarding while Obama is cuddling puppies.”

Press coverage of the Obamas remains prolific and upbeat. Vanity Fair’s March issue heralds “The Obama Era” with a special inauguration issue. Newspapers follow his every move and national leaders compete to be the first to visit him. But how long before reality erodes the sheen of media reports?

As Gaber says, “We’re now in the world of real politics.” Before inauguration day the myth was sustained by hope and people’s will to believe. But Anslow warns that a myth only exists while there are people who believe in it. “He doesn’t have to go to war, but if he doesn’t conquer some of the issues and reality palpably flies in the face of the myth, it will fade. If the God image is shown to have feet of clay then they will pull him down.” Ultimately, part of the attraction of a hero is his potential to fall. The world is waiting to find out if Barack Obama will.

Related posts:

1. MYTH-O-RAMA
2. Nick Davies: Is British journalism getting worse?
3. New media and the election: Will it be “The Tweet Wot Won It”?