When defining a person’s identity one would traditionally gravitate towards assessing someone’s physical appearance, desires, work ethic, and personality, as they materialize through a person’s values. Yet, with the shift towards a virtual world where nearly everyone has a presence online, the definition of one’s identity is beginning to take on a new form. With the rise of New Media, public figures and the everyday person now have to keep tabs on a new branch of their identity: their edentity. Edentity is how one is portrayed on the Internet and across New Media platforms. New media has altered the way the public, traditionally views our Presidents by closing the gap between a person’s identity and a person’s edentity. In specific, spoofs and parody accounts have become a significant manifestation of the Presidents edentity on New Media platforms.
As any political figure, the President is expected to withhold a professional public perception and a somewhat regal appearance. This has been true throughout history and stands true today. Yet, unlike in the past, New Media has an impact on the way the public interacts with and views political figures. President Obama is no exception to the shift towards New Media in our everyday lives, our new normal. This forces us to examine his representation as it is depicted in parody accounts and spoofs across platforms such as twitter, Buzzfeed, and in his television clips that have gone viral. New Media has become all inclusive in the sense that political figures and presidents cannot go without being represented and it will be interesting in years to come to consider how these spoofs, parody accounts, and appearances on common television shows will change the public’s perception of Presidents.
The liberalization of political figures having such a presence on new media platforms reminds me of the change in public perception of Presidents as a result of FDR’s Fireside Chats and the humanization that came there after. The fireside chats during the depression were intended to forge personal connections with the public by employing a conversational tone, the use of I and you, and the overall informal tone of the thirty chats. The informal way people are now viewing presidents is reflected on twitter parody accounts and has been proliferated from radio, an older new media platform.
With over 70,000 followers, Obama’s parody account, @ThePresObama, is one that has gained much popularity. Tweets that read “Man I got 50 grand riding on this Yankees Tigers game, but if I lose its coming out of the defense budget” and other similar tweets reach the public with just as much frequency as Obama’s legitimate account. There are tweets of pure humor, like the one I mentioned above, but there are also tweets that have truths buried deep within them. For example, during this winter’s record breaking weather, the parody account @ThePresObama tweeted, “This snow storm has the east cost looking whiter than congress right now”.
These tweets present truths, in a comedic way. The truth is, that congress is 80% male, 80% white and 92% Christian, nearly as unrepresentative on race and gender. Without a doubt, there is little diversity in our current congress, and even more so in our previous congressional makeup.
(the Washington post, Phillip Bumb, The Fix)
This essay is not a critique of our nation’s inequality, but it does demonstrate that parody accounts like @ThePresObama, and @InvisibleObama are popular for reasons that go beyond entertainment. They are satirical tongue and cheek critiques of our government’s policies and actions. On a shallower level, the accounts make fun of Obama’s cabinet by pinpointing sentiments that are held by the public. An example of this type of humor being represented in his parody account is a major portion of the public’s belief that Joe Biden is strange, to put it bluntly. One tweet reads “Man, Biden's been listening to that Kanye "Ain't nobody fuckin with my clique" song all day”. This tweet is particularly funny because the public is familiar with viewing Biden as kind of a joke. Biden’s behavior has been strange on many occasions, whether he is whispering inappropriate sentiments to the President before a speech on Obama’s historic passage of his controversial health care reform bill, or popping his head out during press conferences, or being creepy towards females.
Parody accounts pose the question if, parody accounts like this one have heightened the unofficial view that the people have of Obama, or if they have increased his popularity. Parody accounts may contribute to the informal view that a growing number people may hold the President in, but they are not the only contributing factor to such opinions.
With the proliferation of New Media and the overwhelming presence of social media in our everyday lives, society has forced presidents to change the way they interact with the public. In addition to Obama’s multiple twitter parody accounts, he has made a BuzzFeed video: Things Everybody Does But Doesn't Talk About. This BuzzFeed video Features Obama looking in the mirror and testing our different facial expressions, practicing speeches and mispronouncing words, doodling of the First Lady and most importantly taking selfies. New media and edentity has blurred the line between one’s true identity and one’s representation online. The Buzzfeed video attempts to portray the President in a “common” light. Obama’s appearance on many talk shows further contributes to his humanization, which may increase his popularity, or deter people from seeing him in a role of power.
Obama has appeared on talk shows such as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, Colbert Report, The View, Ellen, even on Zach Galifianakis’s “Between Two Ferns”. Dancing on Ellen bantering about pop-culture on Between Two Ferns, and bringing up Key and Peele’s spoof of his “Anger Translator”, the President is represented as anything but presidential. Key and Peele have an ongoing spoof of Obama that is a mini series featuring three minute clips ranging in topic from, from “Obama teaching Malia to drive” “Obama raps” “The College Years” “Obama Shut down”, “Obama’s anger translator” and over fifty other mini episodes of the President’s daily life. By voluntarily embracing his image in comedy and across New Media platforms, the President is attempting to harness new demographics and appeal to mostly younger audiences.
Obama has harnessed his inescapable presence across New Media platforms and even furthered his presence through interviews and pop culture participation. During a youtube interview Obama is asked by AlphaCat, famous Obama impersonater, how these spoofs of him on SNL, the internet and Key and Peele affect the public’s perception of him. He responds saying that he does not know how it affects the polls, but that these spoofs and parody accounts speak to the strength of the US democracy. In most countries one does have satires about people in power like we have here in the US. Our country’s freedom of speech, whether this is through parody accounts and spoofs of political figures, makes our country stronger. Whether Obama likes it or not, the President’s edentity is just as much his identity.
As any political figure, the President is expected to withhold a professional public perception and a somewhat regal appearance. This has been true throughout history and stands true today. Yet, unlike in the past, New Media has an impact on the way the public interacts with and views political figures. President Obama is no exception to the shift towards New Media in our everyday lives, our new normal. This forces us to examine his representation as it is depicted in parody accounts and spoofs across platforms such as twitter, Buzzfeed, and in his television clips that have gone viral. New Media has become all inclusive in the sense that political figures and presidents cannot go without being represented and it will be interesting in years to come to consider how these spoofs, parody accounts, and appearances on common television shows will change the public’s perception of Presidents.
The liberalization of political figures having such a presence on new media platforms reminds me of the change in public perception of Presidents as a result of FDR’s Fireside Chats and the humanization that came there after. The fireside chats during the depression were intended to forge personal connections with the public by employing a conversational tone, the use of I and you, and the overall informal tone of the thirty chats. The informal way people are now viewing presidents is reflected on twitter parody accounts and has been proliferated from radio, an older new media platform.
With over 70,000 followers, Obama’s parody account, @ThePresObama, is one that has gained much popularity. Tweets that read “Man I got 50 grand riding on this Yankees Tigers game, but if I lose its coming out of the defense budget” and other similar tweets reach the public with just as much frequency as Obama’s legitimate account. There are tweets of pure humor, like the one I mentioned above, but there are also tweets that have truths buried deep within them. For example, during this winter’s record breaking weather, the parody account @ThePresObama tweeted, “This snow storm has the east cost looking whiter than congress right now”.
These tweets present truths, in a comedic way. The truth is, that congress is 80% male, 80% white and 92% Christian, nearly as unrepresentative on race and gender. Without a doubt, there is little diversity in our current congress, and even more so in our previous congressional makeup.
(the Washington post, Phillip Bumb, The Fix)
This essay is not a critique of our nation’s inequality, but it does demonstrate that parody accounts like @ThePresObama, and @InvisibleObama are popular for reasons that go beyond entertainment. They are satirical tongue and cheek critiques of our government’s policies and actions. On a shallower level, the accounts make fun of Obama’s cabinet by pinpointing sentiments that are held by the public. An example of this type of humor being represented in his parody account is a major portion of the public’s belief that Joe Biden is strange, to put it bluntly. One tweet reads “Man, Biden's been listening to that Kanye "Ain't nobody fuckin with my clique" song all day”. This tweet is particularly funny because the public is familiar with viewing Biden as kind of a joke. Biden’s behavior has been strange on many occasions, whether he is whispering inappropriate sentiments to the President before a speech on Obama’s historic passage of his controversial health care reform bill, or popping his head out during press conferences, or being creepy towards females.
Parody accounts pose the question if, parody accounts like this one have heightened the unofficial view that the people have of Obama, or if they have increased his popularity. Parody accounts may contribute to the informal view that a growing number people may hold the President in, but they are not the only contributing factor to such opinions.
With the proliferation of New Media and the overwhelming presence of social media in our everyday lives, society has forced presidents to change the way they interact with the public. In addition to Obama’s multiple twitter parody accounts, he has made a BuzzFeed video: Things Everybody Does But Doesn't Talk About. This BuzzFeed video Features Obama looking in the mirror and testing our different facial expressions, practicing speeches and mispronouncing words, doodling of the First Lady and most importantly taking selfies. New media and edentity has blurred the line between one’s true identity and one’s representation online. The Buzzfeed video attempts to portray the President in a “common” light. Obama’s appearance on many talk shows further contributes to his humanization, which may increase his popularity, or deter people from seeing him in a role of power.
Obama has appeared on talk shows such as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, Colbert Report, The View, Ellen, even on Zach Galifianakis’s “Between Two Ferns”. Dancing on Ellen bantering about pop-culture on Between Two Ferns, and bringing up Key and Peele’s spoof of his “Anger Translator”, the President is represented as anything but presidential. Key and Peele have an ongoing spoof of Obama that is a mini series featuring three minute clips ranging in topic from, from “Obama teaching Malia to drive” “Obama raps” “The College Years” “Obama Shut down”, “Obama’s anger translator” and over fifty other mini episodes of the President’s daily life. By voluntarily embracing his image in comedy and across New Media platforms, the President is attempting to harness new demographics and appeal to mostly younger audiences.
Obama has harnessed his inescapable presence across New Media platforms and even furthered his presence through interviews and pop culture participation. During a youtube interview Obama is asked by AlphaCat, famous Obama impersonater, how these spoofs of him on SNL, the internet and Key and Peele affect the public’s perception of him. He responds saying that he does not know how it affects the polls, but that these spoofs and parody accounts speak to the strength of the US democracy. In most countries one does have satires about people in power like we have here in the US. Our country’s freedom of speech, whether this is through parody accounts and spoofs of political figures, makes our country stronger. Whether Obama likes it or not, the President’s edentity is just as much his identity.